By Benjamin Rothstein

DOVER—U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., visited the Downtown Dover Partnership Wednesday morning to celebrate the partnership receiving a $1 million EPA Brownfields Community Cleanup Grant. While there, Sen. Carper also discussed and visited the sites of a couple major projects being worked on by the partnership.

“We have a great story to tell here. We’re less than a quarter of a mile from where the Constitution was ratified, where the longest living Constitution in the history of the world was written, was adopted, and sent on its way,” said Sen. Carper. “We have a national park. It tells the story of the early settlement, and then the founding of our country.

“If people around the country and, really around the world, knew the stories that have been generated here, emanated here, they would want to come here. They would want to bring their families; they would want to eat in our restaurants ... And today, working together, we’re going to make the story even better,” he added.

Todd Stonesifer, Downtown Dover Partnership president, explained the importance of the grant received to the organization’s goals.

“We’re here to celebrate the beginnings of the future of the city of Dover, and there’s many spokes to the wheel of revitalization and one of those many spokes is to clean up the mess that is here that has been here for so long,” said Mr. Stonesifer.

He thanked the many visitors at the event, which included city council members, Dover Mayor Robin R. Christiansen, Levy Court Commissioner Allan Angel, as well as representatives from local business and government organizations.

Brownfields are sites that had development at one time but are no longer used due to possible contamination. Joe Rossi, operations manager for Environmental Alliance, a part of Montrose Environmental that focuses on brownfield projects, later spoke on the grant.

“This funding is going to assist with the DDP in covering costs for community engagement activities and prioritizing these (brownfield) sites,” said Mr. Rossi. “This could include facilitating brownfield advisory committee meetings, hosting public meetings, conducting outreach campaigns, meeting with property owners, businesses and developers, and preparing webpage content, fact sheets social media posts, etc.”

Mr. Rossi noted that around 40% of the money is being put toward site assessments at up to six priority sites in and around Downtown Dover that DDP may acquire, while over 50% is being put towards cleanup of brownfields that DDP already owns.

Mr. Carper toured the future sites of the projects along South Governor’s Avenue, namely the parking structure and mobility hub, and the massive mixed-use building located on the grounds of the former Acme. Partnership officials expect the building to have 170 apartments, a grocery store, a coffee shop, daycare and a fitness center.

According to Partnership Executive Director Diane Laird, many of the units would be workforce housing targeting families with a median income of $65,000 or lower.

Dover City Council President David Anderson and Councilman Gerald Rocha discussed plans for a riverwalk along the Saint Jones River. The property is contaminated, but Councilman Rocha said that Sen. Carper is working with him to secure the funds for remediation and construction.

Construction on the parking garage is set to begin in the next 8-10 months with completion in 2026, while the mixed-use building would likely begin construction before the parking structure is done.