Paducah’s Columbia Theater will need contaminates removed before any renovations can begin. Paducah grants administrator Sheryl Chino said the city is applying for a two hundred thousand dollar federal Brownfield Field Clean-up Grant to remove toxins from the historic theater.
“We’ve got to do this before we can do anything, any other type of restoration,” Chino said. “The asbestos and lead-based paint particularly has to be abated before any kind of renovations can be done on the facility.”
“The Brownfield Program is funding set aside by the federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency to take abandoned sites that could potentially have contaminates located there and identify those contaminates and then provide funding for clean-up,” Chino said.
Chino says toxin removal will cost an estimated two hundred fifty-nine thousand dollars. The city of Paducah will contribute ten thousand dollars and a forty-nine thousand dollar state Brownfield Grant will provide the matching funds required for the larger federal grant.
