Hazardous Waste Program

Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Program

What is a brownfield?

GET IN...CLEAN UP...MOVE ON

 

 Thumbnail size map icon Interactive map and Brownfields Voluntary Cleanup Site Specific Information with more Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Progarm site information and document links.

Empire Theater Before Remediation   Empire Theater After

Mainstreet Theatre before and after cleanup was completed.  

The historic Mainstreet Theatre, later renamed the Empire Theatre, was built in 1921 as a vaudeville and movie house. After closing in the 1980s, the theatre sat vacant for more than 20 years. The City of Kansas City Planning and Development Department entered the site into the Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Program, or BVCP, for investigation of hazardous substances in soil and groundwater and cleanup of asbestos and lead-based paint.

The Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Section addresses and handles brownfields cleanup and redevelopment for the department. First established by the state legislature in 1994, Missouri's Brownfields/ Voluntary Cleanup Program is administered by the Hazardous Waste Program's Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Section to provide state oversight for voluntary cleanups of properties contaminated with hazardous substances. Many of the sites entering the BVCP are not heavily contaminated, and are contaminated by sources not addressed by any of Department of Natural Resources' regulatory programs such as Emergency Response, Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act or Petroleum Storage Tanks.

Nevertheless, the property owners, business operators, or prospective buyers want the property cleaned up to standards acceptable to the state, and to receive some type of certification of the cleanup from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. This certification can greatly reduce the environmental liability associated with such properties. The Hazardous Waste Program's Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Section also administers the Dry Cleaning Environmenal Response Trust Fund, also known as the DERT Fund.

Have a Site?  Have Questions?
Do you have a piece of property you think might be contaminated with  hazardous substances?  Do you want to clean it up so it's safe but aren't sure where to start?  Are you concerned about disclosing the contamination to DNR or are you wondering what your legal obligations are?  Are you considering buying a piece of property that may be contaminated?  Have you done soil testing but aren't sure how to interpret the results?

If you have these kinds of questions, the BVCP might be able to help.  The BVCP is a non-enforcement program designed to help property owners and provide "closure" when the property is clean to approved specifications, thereby facilitating property transactions.

The staff of the BVCP are available to answer questions about how the program works.   Although not everything can be answered over the phone without reviewing site assessment reports, the information you need to decide how to proceed is available from department staff.  Call 573-526-8913 or email

More information and downloadable documents

Note icon. The department has changed all fill-in forms to PDF fill-in. You will be able to save and reuse these PDF forms. However, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 or higher to save the PDF fill-in form. Also, at this time the department does not accept digital signatures. If your Acrobat Reader prompts you to use one, we ask that you don't.

For more information about the department's voluntary cleanup and Brownfields redevelopment activities, contact the Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Section at 573-526-8913.

BVCP Publications

Additional BVCP documents and Hazardous Waste Program publications are available on the department's Web publications page.

Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Program Brochure

Related Sites

*Official copies of the Code of State Regulations are available from the Missouri Secretary of State's Office. Call 573-751-4015 for assistance.