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For developers seeking to secure funds for multifamily housing, clearing AHFA’s threshold environmental requirements is a critical part of the application process. In addition to AHFA’s required compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) plays a key role.
To learn more about ADEM’s services, AHFA interviewed Sonja Favors, who serves as ADEM’s Industrial Hazards Waste Branch Chief. Favors explained ADEM’s role and shared how ADEM assists developers, helps local governments, and provides guidance for AHFA developments.
Favors runs ADEM’s Brownfields Redevelopment and Voluntary Cleanup program, which oversees the voluntary assessment and cleanup of contaminated brownfields sites. This provides significant liability protections during and after assessment and cleanup activities.
How does ADEM provide environmental protections for multifamily developments?
“Through our Voluntary Cleanup program, we offer what we call third-party liability protection. In layman’s terms, that means we become a part of the team when you include us in the process, and what we’re ensuring is that the work that you’re doing is overseen by environmental professionals with ADEM. In turn, we can say that the remedy is protective for the development, and we stand with that by providing a letter of concurrence saying that you’ve done everything needed for the property to be developed.”
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