CHEVY COMMONS 300 North Chevrolet Avenue Flint, Michigan Chevy Commons Design Plan The 60-acre historic automotive manufacturing site is undergoing transformation from a fenced, abandoned brownfield into an urban park. Located in downtown Flint and connected to regional non-motorized trails, the restored property includes open grasslands, woodlands, walking trails, and views of the Flint River. SITE CHARACTERISTICS AND HISTORY with trails, parking, and native vegetation. Kettering Car manufacturing began here in 1904. The plant was University will use 20 acres of the former manufacturing one of two General Motors body-stamping factories. In complex as a student automotive research test track. 1936, to protest low wages and harsh working FUNDING AND INCENTIVES conditions, the new United Auto Workers union called a $2,850,000 USEPA Revolving Loan Cleanup Funding sit-down strike against GM. The 44-day strike resulted in $4,000,000 USEPA Removal Action and Site Specific GM’s recognition of the UAW, a union-GM contract, and Grant (GM Bankruptcy Settlement Funds) wage increases and benefits for workers. The strike was $1,225,000 U.S. Forest Service – USEPA Great Lakes a key event in unionization, making this a significant site Restoration Initiative Grant in Michigan’s automotive history. The factory closed in $3,250,000 DEQ Surface Water Quality Initiative Fund the 1990s and buildings were eventually demolished. $550,000 Local match and support ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND REMEDIATION OUTCOMES Its industrial past left the property contaminated. 24 of 60 acres redeveloped to date Abandoned factory floors and paved surfaces will be Local strategic plans implemented buried under a protective cap to isolate subsurface Safe environment for public use with trail connections contamination, limit the movement of water, and protect and river access people and wildlife. Hundreds of storm sewers and Storm water managed and runoff to Flint River outfalls to the Flint River are being abandoned to prevent minimized migration of contaminants to the river. Blight removed, spurring nearby investment Future development and programming facilitated by REDEVELOPMENT capping contamination Located three blocks from downtown, bordered by the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Flint River, and surrounded by several of the City’s key CEDAM Bright Side Chevy Commons Video institutions, Chevy Commons is vital to Flint’s MLive Chevy Through the Years Photo Essay revitalization. Chevy Commons is part the Flint River USEPA Region 5 Cleanup Site Restoration Plan, a vision that transforms the neglected Flint River Restoration Plan riverfront into a community asset for recreation and NY Times Article economic development. The capped surface is finished Sit-Down Strike History 517-284-5113 www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields January 2017 #mibrownfields .