FLAGSTAFF — Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials announced today a Brownfields Grant award of $72,489 to the Pine Forest Education Association (PFEA) to perform an asbestos and lead-based paint abatement at a vacant church located at 2257 E. Cedar Ave in Flagstaff in support of the Pine Forest Charter School (http://pineforestschool.org/) expansion plan to accommodate increased enrollment. Constructed in 1967, the 23,000-square-foot multistory, multi-material building is located on an approximate 3.5-acre property. The charter school plans to modify the existing structure as well as construct new buildings to provide its K–8 curricula to more students.

Redeveloping brownfields has the potential to reduce environmental hazards, mitigate public health threats, create new business opportunities, increase tax revenue and restore habitats and blighted areas to productive use. Program funds are limited and available to eligible applicants in the order that they apply and qualify.

Established in 2003, ADEQ’s BAP conducts projects through Arizona’s State Response Grant using funds provided by the Environmental Protection Agency. The program has funded more than 70 projects, assisting entities from local governments, schools, hospitals and nonprofits to tribes in completing environmental assessments, cleanup and restoration.