Louisville Metro Government is getting $200,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency to create a master plan for an area of the city that abuts a rail corridor.It’s part of the agency’s brownfields program, meant to rehabilitate former industrial sites that are contaminated to some degree. Theresa Zawacki runs Louisville’s program, and says the federal money will go toward developing a master plan for what they’re calling the “Germantown-Shelby Park Rail Corridor.” The area follows the rail bridge from Broadway to the University of Louisville, and contains several legacy industrial sites.“It gives us an opportunity to take a focused look on the area from the lens of the EPA’s Brownfields program,” Zawacki said.Louisville has done master plans around Brownfields before, and Zawacki says this new projectwill model those done for other neighborhoods.“It’s the type of conversation that we’ve had in the Park Hill neighborhood and the California neighborhood about how their vision for their neighborhood sort of shapes the city’s efforts, and we want to do the same thing here,”The EPA funding will provide technical help for the project, which Zawacki expects to begin in the fall. The University of Louisville's Center for Environment and Policy Management will also be a partner in the project.In all, the EPA awarded $4 million in funding to 20 grant recipients in 16 states. Louisville Metro Government was the only entity in Kentucky to receive funding.
