Cherry Hill, NJ – Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) announced today the Camden Redevelopment Agency was selected for two federal grants totaling $944,710 to clean up and redevelop contaminated properties in Camden City. 

Awarded under the EPA’s Brownfields Area-Wide Planning program, the funding is designed to assist communities with planning for cleanup and reuse of properties where moderate contamination threatens environmental quality, public health and potential for economic development. The funds were awarded on a competitive basis to 147 sites nationwide, for a total of $54.3 million. 

“Last month, the president designated Camden a Promise Zone, and with this grant, the promise of a better tomorrow is being kept,” said Congressman Norcross. “The people and businesses of Camden are determined to build on recent improvements. Those efforts include residents improving their neighborhoods, house by house, block by block.”

“With these funds, Camden can move forward in converting these dangerous abandoned properties into real assets for jobs and economic growth,” added the congressman. “We have a lot of work to do to restore Camden to its full potential, but today we have another clear indication that Camden is on the right track and brighter days are ahead for all those that live, work and study in the city.”

The first grant totals $600,000 and will be used to clean up hazardous materials at three sites throughout the city: the APM site at East State Street and River Avenue; the Harrison Avenue Landfill Lot 18 at East State Street and Harrison Avenue; and Building 8 at 100 Cooper St.. The APM site – formerly used as a warehouse, experimental laboratory and toy assembly plant – is contaminated with arsenic, metals, and poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. 

The Harrison Avenue Landfill site is now vacant, but the former city dump is contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds and dieldrin. Building 8 is also vacant, but was once used for radio manufacturing and office space. It is contaminated with PCBs, chlorinated volatile organic compounds, dioxin, and inorganic contaminants.  

The second grant, in the amount of $344,710, will be used for environmental assessment and demolition work at the Camden Laboratories property at 1667 Davis St.. The funds will supplement a recent $200,000 award for the Camden Laboratories cleanup announced by the congressman in March. 

Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields Program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $22 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities.