ROCKLAND — Environmental assessments of Rockland’s waterfront properties in the South End, as well as properties on Camden and Park streets, will continue thanks to a new $400,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

This grant adds to the $100,000 remaining from a 2012 grant of the same name, used by the city for environmental assessments requested by property owners, and for the Tillson Avenue redevelopment project.

In a memorandum by Audra Caler-Bell, Rockland’s Community and Economic Development Director, distributed to members of the city council during its Aug. 10 meeting, Caler-Bell wrote: “This funding has identified and remediated contamination caused by hazardous substances and petroleum on sites that have sat vacant or [were] under utilized for years.

“A prime example is 65 Tillson Avenue [the former Redlon and Johnson site]. The assessment work on these sites has helped to remove uncertainties regarding the cost of cleanup and remediation, which is often a detractor for potential buyers and/or developers.”

Use of some funding will continue to be focused on Tillson Avenue, allowing for a more detailed reuse and cleanup planning assessment of several of that avenue’s properties, according to the memo.

The Community and Economic Development Department and the City’s Environmental Consultant, Ransom Consulting, applied for the 2015 grant following the realization in 2014 that the remaining funds were not sufficient in covering assessment requests by all interested property owners.

Twelve municipalities in Maine applied for this grant. Rockland is one of three that won funding, according to the memo.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com.