The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says Wausau, in Marathon County, will receive brownfield assessment services for several city-owned parcels along East Thomas Street.
The help comes through the department's Wisconsin Assessment Monies program, which pays for contractor work to investigate environmental conditions at eligible brownfield sites. A brownfield is land where reuse can be held back by real or suspected contamination.
City officials want the ground checked before money is put into new housing. The parcels sit between Cleveland Avenue and the Wisconsin River, in an area that was once residential but surrounded by industrial uses, and the city has acquired pieces of it over time.
Mayor Katie Rosenberg said city staff, council members and neighborhood advocates had pushed for the project for years, and called the award a step toward safe and affordable single-family homes in the neighborhood.
A DNR brownfields manager said the testing will show whether past activity affected the area and will guide cleanup planning and later decisions. The state program has provided more than $3.3 million in services and grants to more than 70 Wisconsin communities since 2009, with no local match required.
