Vermont Business Magazine The Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC) has been awarded a $3 million grant from the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development. These are disaster recovery funds that come through the state from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The funds will be used to help towns as they buy out flood damaged properties from the 2023 floods. Most of this work will be concentrated in Lamoille and Washington counties but will also take place around the state where floods hit hard.
Kevin Geiger, TRORC’s Chief Planner, will lead this effort. Kevin was instrumental in managing HUD funds for the state after Tropical Storm Irene.
Ann Karlene Kroll, the Federal Programs Director at the department expressed confidence in the regional planning commission, noting that, “We have worked together with TRORC a long time and have a strong relationship with a history of successful outcomes.”
As part of purchasing a site from an owner whose property was damaged, towns need to also ensure they are not unwittingly buying any soil contamination they will need to clean up. Sites with known or suspected contamination are called brownfields.
TRORC has decades of managing brownfields assessment and remediation on sites. Where needed, these new HUD CDBG-DR funds will also support any cleanup that has to occur.
Peter Gregory, TRORC’s Executive Director stated, “By looking at sites and doing any needed testing, we can help buyouts not get hung up because of concerns about what is in the ground. Devastated owners want to be able to move on.”
For general information on this grant, please contact Kevin Geiger, Chief Planner, 802-457-3188 ext. 3003, or at [email protected].
TRORC provides professional planning, mapping, facilitation, grant writing, and project management services for its thirty member towns in east-central Vermont.