State targets contamination clean up
For the second time in a month, a low-interest state loan goes to a developer
For the second time in three weeks, the state Environment Department has made a substantial loan to clean up contaminated land for commercial development, this time for the Sawmill neighborhood near Old Town in Albuquerque.
The $225,000, low-interest loan will help the Sawmill Community Land Trust clean up a former wood-products manufacturing site for use as an affordable housing development and retail center. Earlier this month the state Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund made $500,000 available to a commercial developer to clean up an old city landfill in northeast Albuquerque for eventual use as a business park.
Brownfield development is a trend in land use that allows formerly contaminated lands to be used again for commercial and residential use.
The Sawmill land trust was created in 1997 to redevelop the former Ponderosa Products manufacturing plant, which is just west of 12th Street and south of I-40. The trust purchased 27 acres in the neighborhood, including the plant site, and has already built dozens of single-family and town homes along with a community plaza in an affordable housing development called Arbolera de Vida.
“The cleanup of the historic Ponderosa Products site is important for the vitality of downtown Albuquerque,” said New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry in a news release. “This project will provide affordable housing in this growing part of the city that is an ideal location for redevelopment.”
The land trust will use the loan to clean up soil that was contaminated by activities along a rail spur in the area. An artisan village to be built at the site will include housing, artist studios, and space for stores and restaurants.
Financing for the project is available through the department’s Brownfields Clean up Revolving Loan Fund program. The department receives funding for the loan program from a grant with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support cleanup and revitalization of properties with actual or perceived environmental contamination.
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