Request to Apply for an Environmental Protection Agency Community-wide Assessment Grant in the Amount of $500,000City of Dubuque
City Council
CONSENT ITEMS
# 17.
Copyrighted
January 20, 2026
ITEM TITLE: Request to Apply for an Environmental Protection Agency
Community -wide Assessment Grant in the Amount of
$500,000
SUMMARY: City Manager recommending City Council approve the
request to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Community -wide Assessment Grant in the Amount of
$500,000.
RESOLUTION Authorizing The Filing Of A Grant Application
With The Environmental Protection Agency To Assist With
Funding Community -Wide Brownfield Assessments
SUGGUESTED Receive and File; Adopt Resolution(s)
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
1. MVM Memo
2. Staff Memo
3. Letter of Support from IDNR
4. Resolution of Approval
Page 933 of 1459
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TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Request to Apply for an Environmental Protection Agency Community -
wide Assessment Grant in the Amount of $500,000
DATE: January 16, 2026
Economic Development Director Jill Connors is recommending City Council approve the
request to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community -wide
Assessment Grant in the Amount of $500,000.
If awarded, the grant would provide up to $500,000 in reimbursement for eligible
expenses related to assessing and planning the redevelopment of the sites, as well as
any additional sites identified during the grant period and approved by the EPA for
inclusion.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Mic ael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:sv
Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Jill Connors, Economic Development Director
Page 934 of 1459
Dubuque
THE CITY OF
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TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Jill M. Connors, Economic Development Director
Economic Development
Department
1300 Main Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4763
Office (563) 589-4393
TTY (563) 690-6678
http://www.cityofdubuque.org
SUBJECT: Request to Apply for an Environmental Protection Agency Community -
wide Assessment Grant in the Amount of $500,000
DATE: January 16, 2026
INTRODUCTION
This memorandum requests City Council authorization to apply for an Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Community -wide Assessment Grant in the Amount of $500,000.
BACKGROUND
Over the past 20 years, the City of Dubuque has successfully secured multiple EPA
Brownfields grants. These grants have supported the assessment, planning, and cleanup
of several key properties in the greater downtown area. The impact has been
transformational, including:
• North Port Area: Leveraging more than $500 million in private and public investment.
• Comiskey Park: Complete redevelopment into a modern community asset.
• Blum Site (1500 block of Elm Street): Significant progress in remediating the former
scrapyard.
DISCUSSION
The City of Dubuque now has the opportunity to apply for a $500,000 Community -wide
Assessment Grant. The key sites identified in the application we intend to submit are:
• 201 East 5th Street — This 12.5-acre North Port parcel (located in a federal flood
zone) has served as a fill site, with contamination from heavy metals, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) expected.
With access off U.S. Route 61/U.S. Highway 151, the property has redevelopment
potential as a hotel. Demand for overnight accommodations in Dubuque will
Page 935 of 1459
increase with the $80 million expansion of the Field of Dreams baseball attraction in
nearby Dyersville, Iowa.
• Alliant Energy Power Plant — A coal -powered electric generating station sat at this
14-acre waterfront site in the North Port until it was decommissioned and torn down
in 2020. Located along Kerper Boulevard, the utility likely contaminated the lot with
heavy metals, PAHs, PCBs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and cyanide. The
City intends to reuse the site as a storage site for the municipal Engineering and
Public Works departments.
• South Port Parcels — Several South Port industrial sites within a federal flood zone
are ripe for renewal, including a 1.4-acre auto repair facility at 30 Jones Street, a
1.3-acre former Sinclair Oil property at 211 Terminal Street, a 1.2-acre marine rental
equipment shop along the Chicago -Central & Pacific Railroad tracks, and a 0.4-acre
fertilizer storage shed on Terminal Street. Expected contaminants include heavy
metals, PAHs, VOCs, tetraethylhydrazine (TEH), ammonia, asbestos, and lead -
based paint. Per the 2017 South Port of Dubuque Brownfield Area -Wide Use Plan,
these brownfields are targeted for mixed -use development.
• 1550 Elm Street and 455 E. 15t" Street — These two parcels are located on the Blum
Site, which is still in need of further assessment in order to facilitate the
redevelopment of the property, a portion of which has recently been acquired from
the City by the Greater Dubuque Impact Investment Fund.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has provided a letter of support for the City's
application for this grant, which is attached to this request.
BUDGET IMPACT
If awarded, the grant would provide up to $500,000 in reimbursement for eligible expenses
related to assessing and planning the redevelopment of the sites mentioned above, as well
as any additional sites identified during the grant period and approved by the EPA for
inclusion.
RECOMMENDATION
I respectfully request City Council approval to submit an application to the EPA for its
Community -wide Assessment Grant in the amount of $500,000.
2
Page 936 of 1459
I OWA DNR
IOWA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
January 14, 2026
Tarah Vaughn
Regional Brownfield Program
EPA Region VII
1201 Renner Road
Lenexa, KS 66219
RE: FY26 Brownfield Community -Wide Assessment Grant Application
For the Downtown/South Port/North Port District, City of Dubuque, Iowa
Dear Tarah:
GOVERNOR KIM REYNOLDS
LT. GOVERNOR ADAM GREGG
DIRECTOR KAYLA LYON
This letter is submitted as a statement of acknowledgement, review and support for the City of
Dubuque's brownfield community -wide assessment grant application for $500,000, through funding
authorized by §104(k) of CERCLA. This application and brownfield assessment initiative is
designed to provide needed resources to the City to develop and carry out a comprehensive,
community -wide approach for environmental assessment within areas of the City of Dubuque that
have had a detrimental environmental and community -quality impact due to vacant and
underutilized brownfield sites.
Dubuque is Iowa's oldest city, and one of the first industrialized cities west of the Mississippi River.
While the City had a manufacturing history for more than 150 years, by the mid-1980s the closing
and downsizing of many of the city's historic manufacturing industries resulted in Dubuque seeing
a 10% population loss by the 1990s. Many of the city's older residential, commercial and industrial
districts have still not recovered from the loss of jobs and population, and within the last 20 years,
additional changes in the city's transportation infrastructure, consolidation of industries, and
general market changes have resulted in additional abandoned and underutilized property and
infrastructure; the divestment in these areas have created many brownfield sites, particularly in the
city's downtown residential area, as well as the South Port and North Port area.
Over the last 25 years the City of Dubuque has made significant investment in highly successful
brownfield redevelopment projects in partnership with past EPA and IDNR 128(a) grant support;
however, the daunting task of these larger districts and a needed community -wide approach for
comprehensive brownfield assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment planning will require
significant investment, beyond the dedicated resources that the City has already put forward and
received.
The IDNR appreciates the opportunity to have been a supportive partner for brownfield
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment projects in the past with the City of Dubuque, and we
support the City of Dubuque's assessment application with the highest degree of endorsement and
confidence.
ASincerells
Executive Officer
Iowa Brownfield Redevelopment Program
6200 PARK AVE STE 200, DES MOINES IA 50321
Phone: 515-725-8200 www.IowaDNR.gov Fax: 515-725-8201
Page 937 of 1459
Prepared by Jill Connors 50 W. 13th St., Dubuque, IA 52001 (563) 589-4213
Return to Adrienne N. Breiffelder, City Clerk, 50 W. 131h St., Dubuque, IA 52001, (563) 589-4100
RESOLUTION NO. 15-26
AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF A GRANT APPLICATION WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY TO ASSIST WITH FUNDING COMMUNITY -WIDE BROWNFIELD
ASSESSMENTS
WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has allocated funds for
Community -wide Assessment Grants to be used for a grant recipient to inventory, characterize,
assess, conduct a range of planning activities, develop site -specific cleanup plans, and conduct
community engagement related to brownfield sites; and
WHEREAS, the City of Dubuque (City) desires to assist in the redevelopment of downtown
properties; and
WHEREAS, City staff have identified several public and privately held properties that are
approaching readiness for redevelopment, particularly in the South Port, North Port, and
Washington Neighborhood areas; and
WHEREAS, the City is seeking funding through the Community -wide Assessment Grants
program to assist with funding the described project in order to achieve the purpose outlined
above.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
DUBUQUE, IOWA AS FOLLOWS:
City staff are hereby authorized to file the grant application on behalf of the City with the
Environmental Protection Agency for the Community -wide Assessment Grants to assist with
funding the assessment of projects identified in the forthcoming application.
Passed, approved, and adopted this 20th day of January, 2026.
Cavanagh,•
Attest:
Adrienne N. Breitfelder,�City Clerk