The City of Parchment, Michigan was built around a single industrial development that defined the character of the city and provided its wealth for nearly a century: the Parchment Paper Mill. When the mill closed in 2000, it left a large Brownfield site in its wake, including PFAS contamination of the city’s water supply. This poster highlights the city’s efforts to revitalize not only the site, but the whole community, after taking responsibility for the property. Through U.S. EPA grant funding, a State of Michigan loan, and City of Parchment funds, environmental sampling, cleanup, and demolition has begun, but there is ongoing and future work that must be accomplished to understand the extent of the environmental impact directly to the site and to the surrounding community in order to recognize the redevelopment challenges to come. Specifically highlighted here are the community engagement efforts, known environmental impacts and upcoming contamination investigations, and a roadmap towards equitable redevelopment designed to bring environmental justice to a Small City with a Big Brownfield.
Small City, Big Brownfield - Parchment Mill Site, Parchment, MI