Last week Leah Thill, Senior Environmental Planner from MACOG (Michiana Area Council of Governments) and County Plan Director Ty Adley appeared before the Marshall County Commissioner to discuss a Memorandum of Agreement for the Brownfields Coalition.
Adley told the commissioners back in 2018 the county worked with MACOG to bring $600,000 to the region including Marshall, Elkhart, St Joseph, and Kosciusko counties. The money was used for Brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach. In May of this year, the Coalition was awarded another $500,000 for use from 2022 through 2025.
Thill told the commissioner the Reginal Coalition Board typically meets monthly and reviews sites for funding. Over the last three years, there were two properties they worked on in Marshall County, 415 West Garro Street and 220 North Center Street in Plymouth. The Garro Street location is where Habitat for Humanity has targeted to build single-family homes. This was a clean-up project to make the area safe for future residents. The second project was a Phase One Environment Assessment of the Historic Firehouse at Center and Washington Streets in Plymouth. This was the original site Marshall County Economic Development Corporation was looking at the site for an Entrepreneurial Hub. Since that time a new site has been found. She said this environmental assessment will help to repurpose the property at a future date. These two projects were expensed at $17,000.
The memorandum of agreement presented allows the county to be able to participate in the decision-making process on the new $500,000 grant awarded for 2022 and submit projects for use of the funds. She noted there are no local matching funds needed for projects the coalition approves.
The motion was made to allow Commissioner Overmyer permission to sign the Memorandum of Agreement.
