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EGLE grant to help clear the docket for a new county courthouse
July 28, 2025
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is awarding a $450,000 Brownfield Redevelopment Grant to Otsego County to help turn a former industrial site into a new county courthouse in downtown Gaylord. The property at 540 South Illinois Avenue was home to a factory from 1894-1940. It was later used as a Civilian Conservation Corps dump, and a Department of Natural Resources storage facility. It is mostly vacant now and used as a park.
The site is contaminated with metals, solvents, and chemical compounds. The county paid for site assessments in 2010 and 2015 as well as for the removal of 13 buried drums in 2011.
The EGLE grant will be used to pay for further site assessments, transportation and disposal of contaminated soil, removal of any remaining underground storage tanks or drums, and a vapor mitigation system if one is necessary. Otsego County is using $4.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $2.2 million from the county’s general fund to pay for the redevelopment.
The county believes building a new $6.9 million court complex downtown will bring new customers to shops and restaurants in Gaylord. It will also make the area more walkable, especially with the Iron Belle Trail adjacent to the property. It will reduce overcrowding in current county buildings and leave space to build a new jail in the future. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2025 and be finished in summer 2026.
More than half of EGLE’s annual budget supports local projects, protects public health and the environment, and helps create economic growth and jobs for Michigan workers. Redevelopment increases the value of brownfield sites and other nearby properties. In 2024 EGLE awarded $25.1 million in brownfield incentives to 87 projects around Michigan.
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