Motorists passing Pass Road and Veterans Avenue will soon see a project underway to remove age-old underground gas tanks at the site of a former gas station at that intersection.
The work is part of the city’s federally-funded Brownfields Program, which seeks to rid properties of potential environmental hazards and render the sites suitable for future redevelopment.
The city is also seeking to identify other properties for the program, which the city launched in 2014 after receiving a $400,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Any property in the city may apply for assistance, but the program ends Sept. 30, 2017.  Those interested should contact Biloxi Federal Programs Manager Susan Pickich at (228) 435-6269 or spickich@biloxi.ms.us.
Environmental site assessments, including all phases of assessment and removal of underground storage tanks, as well as testing of lead-based paint and asbestos, are conducted at no cost to the property owner. Typical environmental assessments range in cost from $4,500 to $50,000. All properties in Biloxi are eligible.
“Environmental site assessments are normally required by lenders, especially for the sale of commercial or industrial properties,” Pickich said. “This program allows an owner, regardless of whether they are selling their property, to get a clean bill of health for a property. You’ll have clearances from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA. In cases where issues are discovered, those costs for redevelopment planning of a site are also covered by the grant.”
“This is about economic development,” Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich said. “Our overall goal with this program is to turn any problem properties into usable land.”
Learn more about the city’s Brownfields Program
