Tax Base Revitalization Account (TBRA)

• None

Seeding Equitable Environmental Development (SEED) grants are intended for sites within equitable development areas, as determined by the Council. SEED grants are intended for sites with or without a specific development project underway, though they must show potential for future job growth or housing development. SEED grants can be used for site investigation or cleanup.   

• Award Limits: $50,000 for investigation per project and up to 50% of amount total funding available for cleanup

• Local Match: None

• Application Limit: None   

• Geographic restriction: Sites within areas with low building permit activity, low-wage job concentrations, and concentrations of people of color and low income households as determined by the Council. Projects must also be within a city enrolled as an LCA-participant city.   

• Grant Terms: 2 years from date of award

• Term extensions: None   

$250,000 total available each cycle

• adequate cleanup funding is available from other public and private sources. 
• any part of a redevelopment site that will be funded by the State or Federal Superfund Program in the current or following fiscal year.  
• the redevelopment site requires extensive new regional infrastructure beyond that which is already planned.   
• the redevelopment concept is not consistent with the municipality’s comprehensive plan. 

 
Costs associated with asbestos and lead-based paint abatement must be for activities that meet state standards established by the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as federal standards including Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.

*If an application is only for environmental investigation, costs incurred prior to award are not eligible for reimbursement with grant funds. Investigation work incurred within 180 days before the application submission deadline may be considered as matching funds. 

**If an application is primarily for abatement and includes some recently incurred investigation costs (within 180 days before the application submission deadline), the costs for the investigation work incurred included in a cleanup abatement grant request will only be reimbursed if the SEED applicant’s overall project is recommended for funding.   

Note: Costs associated with asbestos and lead-based paint abatement must be for activities that meet state standards established by the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as federal standards including Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.  

Additional Factors Affecting Cost Eligibility 
We will consider the following additional factors when reviewing costs to be paid using grant funds.  

• We recommend applicants use separate line items when bidding work to be paid by grants to simplify the review of reimbursement requests if a grant is awarded.  

• Contractor markups for subcontractor costs are eligible but limited to 10% or less.  

The Metropolitan Council will consider how well a proposed project will meet statutory requirements and regional development goals described in the Thrive MSP 2040 plan when awarding grants. Council staff will consult with external partners, including DEED, Hennepin and Ramsey County, the MPCA, and others when evaluating applications.  

The Council will rank SEED applications according to the extent they demonstrate the potential to incentivize following:  

From the online Make-A-Map tool:

• Overview Map  
• Aerial Map  
• Parcel Map 

• Enter an address or landmark in the search bar to navigate to your project area. 

• Click “Sketch the Project” and select “Tax Base Revitalization Account SEED” from the dropdown menu. Provide a name for your project. 

• Use the zoom and pan buttons to navigate to your project site. Click “Sketch a Boundary” and, using the crosshair as a guide, draw the project boundary. A gray polygon with a red outline will begin to appear. Once you have finished outlining the boundary, double click to close the polygon. If there are multiple, non-contiguous parcels that are part of your project, you have the option of sketching another boundary. 

• Select “Print” and “Create the maps”. The system will generate three maps for TBRA; a Parcel Map, Overview Map, and Aerial Map. Please be patient – depending on your connection, it can take up to one minute to generate the maps. 

• Click each PDF to download them separately. 

Quality of Assessments and Cleanup Plans 
If contaminants are found and need to be cleaned up, RAP approval by the MPCA is required for future requests for cleanup funding once a redevelopment project is identified. Investigations of soil, ground water or soil vapor paid using grant funds must follow MPCA investigation guidelines and enroll in an MPCA voluntary program to ensure the quality of the site assessments.  

For more information on the investigation and RAP development process contact staff in the Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) program, Petroleum Brownfields Program (PBP) at 651-296-6300. More RAP information is also available through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. 

If the investigation finds that an abatement is needed, future TBRA cleanup grant requests for abatement are limited to asbestos and lead-based paint. Future cleanup reimbursement requests for other hazardous or regulated materials are not eligible.  

Applicants that are applying for asbestos or lead-based paint cleanup must submit an assessment report that meets standards set by the Minnesota Department of Health For hazardous materials assessments, applicants must use contractors currently licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health.   

Hazardous materials assessments must include information regarding the   

• Location, estimated quantity and condition of suspect asbestos-containing materials (ACM) based on analysis of bulk samples and/or lead-based paint (LBP) based on analysis of bulk samples and/or X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry  

• Figures of samples identified on floor plans  

• Classification of suspect ACM according to potential for damage, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) categories, and response action ratings  

• For asbestos samples with an asbestos concentration of three percent or less, a quantitative analysis, commonly referred to as a "point count," is required for the assessment costs to be reimbursed using grant funding.  

Local Support 
Any application for funds under this program must include a resolution supporting the application from an eligible applicant. The resolution must confirm that the project would not occur through private or other public investment without Council funding. A sample resolution (Word document) and budget (Excel file) are available in the Applications Resources accordion on the Apply to LCA page. 

Recipients of all TBRA grants must submit progress reports for active grants.   

Recipients of Tax Base Revitalization Account SEED grants used for investigation must submit copies of the environmental reports generated using Council funding once they are complete along with approval of the response action plan by regulatory agencies.  

Recipients of Tax Base Revitalization Account SEED grants used for abatement or other cleanup must submit progress and annual reports. Semiannual progress reports are required during the grant term for active grants.   

When can I incur costs to be paid using SEED grant funding? 
To be eligible for grants, all eligible assessment or cleanup activities must occur after the grant award date but before the grant term ends.   

Projects that are awarded a SEED grant last for two years. (No grant extensions will be considered for SEED grants.) Investigations of soil or ground water to be reviewed by the MPCA Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) program are required to submit a sampling work plan to VIC for review and comment prior to submitting a RAP to the MPCA.  

Exceptions    

• Costs included in a cleanup/abatement grant request may include reimbursement for site investigation activities incurred up to 180 days before the date of application.  

How does the Metropolitan Council define ‘affordable housing’ for grant applicants? 
Affordable housing is defined as ownership or rental housing affordable to households earning 60% of the area median income (AMI) or less. Units must be affordable for 15 years or more.  You can find more information on housing affordability limits from the Metropolitan Council housing information. 

My site may be developed for housing. What are the ‘Fair Housing’ requirements? 
A Fair Housing Policy is a locally adopted policy that outlines the municipality’s obligations to address fair housing. Policies may include but aren’t limited to procedures for complaint identification and referral, designating a fair housing officer, and outlining internal and external actions the municipality will undertake to advance fair housing. More information about Fair Housing Policies is available in the Applications Resources accordion on the Apply to LCA page. 

Applicants for SEED funding on land guided as residential must have adopted a local Fair Housing Policy prior to the disbursement of LCA funds. (For more information about Metropolitan Council requirements on Fair Housing policies contact Maia Guerrero-Combs at m[email protected] or 651-602-1060.)  

• New in 2024: grantees may now request up to $250,000 per city to conduct multiple site investigation over a 3-year period. Cost still require a 25% match and are limited to $50,000 maximum per redevelopment site. Project sites not known at the time of application may be added after a grant is awarded but must be identified before costs are incurred. 

Site Investigation grants are intended for redevelopment sites suspected or known to include contamination. They can help determine if contamination exists, what type of contamination is there, how much, and where it is located. They can also help inform how the contamination could affect redevelopment plans and the potential costs of cleanup.  
 

• Award Limits: $50,000 per project; up to $250,000 per applicant for multiple sites within a Target Area. Grant funds will be available until expended on a first come first served basis
• Local Match: 25%   

• Application Limit: Applicants with an open grant for multi-site investigations with less than 80% of the funds awarded expended are ineligible to apply

• Grant Terms: 1 Year (single site) 3 years (multi-site)(no extension) 

•  Term extensions: None   

• Applications may also be determined ineligible for funding if
  • Individual project sites are not approved by the Council staff prior to incurring eligible costs. Changes to the eligible Target Area will require a grant amendment prior to incurring costs to be reimbursed for grant funds
  • adequate investigation funding is available from other public and private sources;   
  • any part of a redevelopment site that will be funded by the State or Federal Superfund Program in the current or following fiscal year  
  • the redevelopment requires extensive new regional infrastructure beyond that which is already planned  
  • the redevelopment is not consistent with the redevelopment component of the municipality’s comprehensive plan

* The costs for the investigation work incurred within 180 days before the application submission deadline may be considered as matching funds.   
** Costs associated with asbestos and lead-based paint assessments must meet state standards established by the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as federal standards including Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.  
** *Response Action Plan (RAP) - and amendments, if any - must be submitted to the MPCA or MDA for the redevelopment being proposed.   

Additional Factors Affecting Future Grant Cost Eligibility  
The Council considers the following additional factors when reviewing future costs to be paid using grant funds.  

• In order to minimize the amount of funds needed to replace contaminated soils, applicants are encouraged to design and implement projects in a way that minimizes the amount of backfill needed to replace the contaminated soils (e.g. underground parking, basements). Any underground use must be consistent with the approved RAP.  

• Future mitigation costs associated with soil vapor mitigation must be based on data provided that shows soil vapors are over 33 times the MPCA intrusion screening value thresholds.  

• Contractor markups for subcontractor costs are eligible but limited to 10% or less. 

The Metropolitan Council will consider how well a proposed project will meet statutory requirements and regional development goals described in the Thrive MSP 2040 plan when awarding grants. Council staff will consult with external partners, including DEED, Hennepin and Ramsey County, the MPCA, and others when evaluating applications.  

The Council will rank investigation applications according to the extent they demonstrate the following

From the online Make-A-Map tool:

• Overview Map  
• Aerial Map  
• Parcel Map 

• Enter an address or landmark in the search bar to navigate to your project area. 

• Click “Sketch the Project” and select “Tax Base Revitalization Account” from the dropdown menu. Provide a name for your project. 

• Use the zoom and pan buttons to navigate to your project site. Click “Sketch a Boundary” and, using the crosshair as a guide, draw the project boundary. A gray polygon with a red outline will begin to appear. Once you have finished outlining the boundary, double click to close the polygon. If there are multiple, non-contiguous parcels that are part of your project, you have the option of sketching another boundary. 

• Select “Print” and “Create the maps”. The system will generate three maps for TBRA; a Parcel Map, Overview Map, and Aerial Map. Please be patient – depending on your connection, it can take up to one minute to generate the maps. 

• Click each PDF to download them separately. 

Quality Site Assessments 
If contaminants are found and need to be cleaned up, RAP approval by the PCA is required for future applications for cleanup funding. Investigations of soil, ground water or soil vapor paid using grant funds must follow MPCA investigation and RAP development guidelines and enroll in an MPCA voluntary program to ensure the quality of the environmental site assessments. 

For more information on the investigation and RAP development process contact staff in the Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) program Petroleum Brownfields Program (PBP) at 651-296-6300. More RAP information is also available through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. 

More RAP information is also available from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Brownfields programs. 

For hazardous materials assessments, applicants must use contractors currently licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health. Hazardous materials assessments must include information regarding the   

• Location, estimated quantity and condition of suspect asbestos-containing materials (ACM) based on analysis of bulk samples and/or lead-based paint (LBP) based on analysis of bulk samples and/or X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry  

• Figures of samples identified on floor plans  

• Classification of suspect ACM according to potential for damage, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) categories, and response action ratings  

• For asbestos samples with an asbestos concentration of three percent or less, a quantitative analysis, commonly referred to as a "point count," is required for the assessment costs to be reimbursed using grant funding. 

If the investigation finds that a cleanup is needed, future TBRA cleanup grant requests for abatement are limited to asbestos and lead-based paint. Future cleanup reimbursement for other hazardous or regulated materials is not eligible.  

Local Support 
Any application for funds under this program must include a resolution supporting the application from the local unit of government within which the proposed project is located. The resolution must confirm that the project would not occur through private or other public investment without Council funding. A sample resolution (Word document) and budget (Excel file) are available in the Applications Resources accordion on the Apply to LCA page. 

Recipients of all TBRA grants must submit progress reports for active grants.  

Recipients of Tax Base Revitalization Account Investigation grants must submit copies of the environmental reports generated using Council funding once they are complete along with approval of response action plans by regulatory agencies.  

Why is the Metropolitan Council proposing a pilot scattered site investigation grant program?
We have been told that although site investigations can provide helpful information when starting a redevelopment, the grants usually aren’t available during the short due diligence period when the grants would be most useful. The grants have been offered twice a year in May and November. The state statute guiding the distribution of TBRA grants does not allow us to award grants on a rolling basis. To improve the usefulness and more quickly respond to ongoing needs of developers and city partners, we are proposing allowing grantees to ask for more funding up front to be used as needed throughout the grant term.

What type of environmental investigation costs will the grant reimburse?  
Investigation funding is intended to help properties understand the type, extent and costs related to contamination that are barriers to redevelopment. Grants can be used to pay for the cost of completing a Phase I or Phase II Environmental Site Assessment, a Hazardous Materials Assessment, an Asbestos or Lead-based Paint Survey or Abatement Plan or plan for cleaning up identified contaminants often called a Response Action Plan or RAP.

Who could benefit from allowing applicants to ask for scattered site environmental investigation grants?
A potential beneficiary of this pilot program could be entities that own multiple developable sites, including municipalities, non-profit organizations and major for-profit developers. Other beneficiaries could be cities that receive several requests for help determining if properties throughout the city have environmental concerns limiting or preventing redevelopment. Or cities with larger redevelopment sites (e.g., 30+ acres) that will be built by different developers over in phases over the next three years.

The application will require a Target Area. How big can the Target Area be?
A Target Area could potentially be as large as an entire city or it could be smaller areas like a large redevelopment site, a higher volume transportation corridor, or a business district. (Grant selection will prioritize specific Target Areas that demonstrate evidence of need for the grants and short-term redevelopment interest.)

Can I identify more than one Target Area in a single grant request?
Yes, you can list more than one area in a city as a Target Area.

Can I ask for more than one investigation grant for sites in my city?
Yes, but we will limit the total awarded for all investigation grants in a single city to $250,000 or less.

Can I ask for a scattered site investigation grant without a project site?
No. You must identify at least one property that has redevelopment potential and needs the type of information provided in an environmental site assessment. However, you can ask for additional funding for sites that will be identified after the grant is awarded but before the grant term ends.

I’m not sure exactly how much the environmental site investigation will cost. How much should I ask for?
An environmental engineer can help you estimate some average costs for site investigation activities. You can ask for up to $250,000 in a single city but costs are still limited to $50,000 per site redevelopment site. Note, applicants are required to pay 25% in matching costs.

I am thinking about requesting funding to help do some environmental investigation on several sites. I know the maximum is $50,000 for environmental investigation on a single site but what if I don’t think I will need that much for each site? Can I spend less on one site and more on another?
Yes. If you ask for funding for multiple sites, you could spend less on some sites (e.g., Phase I ESAs) and more on other sites (e.g., Phase II ESA and RAP development). However, we will only reimburse up to $50,000 per redevelopment site. For example, if a city received a $250,000 investigation grant, the city could spend up to $50,000 per site investigating 5 sites or $25,000 per site investigating 10 sites. Or request $80,000 to investigate 2 sites, spending $50,000 on one that seems more ready to redevelop and $30,000 on another seems less ready to proceed with a future cleanup.

I only know one redevelopment site that would benefit from a site investigation? Can I still apply for a grant?
Yes, you can still apply for up to $50,000 in TBRA funding to investigate a single property if that is all you need. (Fill out the same form but list only one site in your request.)

The Metropolitan Council is offering up to $500,000 for environmental investigation in 2024. Will you offer the funding in the spring (May) and the fall (November)?
We will offer all $500,000 in the spring. If there is funding remaining, we will offer the rest in the fall.

I see the grant term is 3 years for investigation requests with multiple sites. What happens if I don’t spend all the funding before the 3-year term is finished? Can I get an extension?
No. You have up to 3 years to spend the grant. If you don’t think you will spend that much, consider asking for less. If you have unspent funding left over, it will be relinquished and used for future investigation or cleanup grants.

Can I spend the funding on any property in the city?
Most properties, yes, but not all of them. You will need to tell us which property you would like to investigate before spending any of grant on that site. We will check if the property meets our basic program eligibility rules such as properties that are not part of a Superfund site, or have a viable responsible party for the contamination, or properties that will be used for tax-exempt purposes in the future. We will provide a short form for you to tell us about the property so we can quickly confirm the eligibility of the site.

I would like to request funding for multiple environmental investigation sites. Does each property need to be owned by the same entity?
No. A multi-site grant may be requested for 2 or more sites with separate ownership. The properties could also be owned by the same “parent” entity. The grants would be coordinated, as they are now, through a single grantee: the public applicant – usually a city or a public development authority –  that re-allocates the funding to individual properties.

My lender tells me I need a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment to sell or buy a property. Can you pay for it with a scattered site investigation grant?
No. The grant program is intended for properties that will be redeveloped in ways that increase the tax base, add jobs, or add affordable housing. The grant funds are not intended for sales of properties that are not intended to be redeveloped.

Can investigation grants be used on publicly-owned property that will be sold to the public?
Yes, but only if there is some other type of significant investment in the redevelopment of the property prior to the expected sale of the property.

If my city is awarded an investigation grant in the spring, can I apply for another in the fall?
Maybe. The city must spend at least 80% of the funding from the grant it already has before asking for another investigation grant. If the funding has been spent and there is still funding available to award in the fall, the city can submit another grant request. (We will consider the overall distribution of funding to all applicants that year when reviewing the request.)

When can I incur costs to be paid using grant funding? 
To be eligible for grants, all eligible investigation activities must occur after the grant award date but before the grant term ends (one year). No grant extensions will be considered. Projects that are awarded an investigation grant for soil or ground water investigations under review by the MPCA Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) program are required to submit a sampling work plan to VIC for review and comment prior to submitting a RAP to the MPCA.  

Exceptions  

• Investigation costs for eligible site investigation activities incurred up to 180 days before the date of application may be included to meet matching fund requirement.  

What is required as match?  
Matching funds are required for Investigation grants. The applicant or other public or private partner must pay for at least 25% of the total estimated investigation costs as a local match. Matching costs may include eligible investigation activities incurred up to 180 days prior to the date of application.  

How does the Metropolitan Council define ‘affordable housing’ for grant applicants? 
Affordable housing is defined as ownership or rental housing affordable to households earning 60% of the area median income (AMI) or less. Units must be affordable for 15 years or more.  You can find more information on housing affordability limits from the Metropolitan Council housing information. 

My site may be developed for housing. What are the ‘Fair Housing’ requirements? 
A Fair Housing Policy is a locally adopted policy that outlines the municipality’s obligations to address fair housing. Policies may include but aren’t limited to procedures for complaint identification and referral, designating a fair housing officer, and outlining internal and external actions the municipality will undertake to advance fair housing. More information about Fair Housing Policies is available in the Applications Resources accordion on the Apply to LCA page. 

All applicants proposing to build or renovate housing that receive a Livable Communities Act grant must have adopted a Fair Housing Policy prior to the disbursement of LCA funds. (For more information about Metropolitan Council requirements on Fair Housing policies contact Maia Guerrero-Combs at m[email protected] or 651-602-1060.)  

My project will include housing. Are there requirements for marketing the housing? 
Yes. All proposed redevelopments that include housing – market-rate or affordable – must have an affirmative fair housing marketing plan in place before offering the units for rent or for sale. See the following example of typical considerations to include in a marketing plan: Minnesota Housing Sample Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan. For additional information see the Affirmative Marketing Toolkit. 

• None

Cleanup grants are intended for applicants with projects that have recently completed their environmental site investigation and are seeking public funding to assist with the cost of implementing a cleanup plan for eligible activities and beginning construction on a specific redevelopment project.   

• Award Limits: 50% of total available funding per city and no more than 75% of total available funding within Minneapolis and St. Paul (Limits apply to the sum total of all requests from a single geography which may include one or more projects.)  

• Local Match: None   

• Application Limit: None  

• Geographic restriction: Projects must also be within a city enrolled as an LCA-participant city.   

• Grant Terms: 3 years from date of award   

• Term extensions: up to 2 years

• adequate cleanup funding is available from other public and private sources;   
• any part of a redevelopment site that will be funded by the State or Federal Superfund Program in the current or following fiscal year  
• the redevelopment requires extensive new regional infrastructure beyond that which is already planned   
• the redevelopment is not consistent with the redevelopment component of the municipality’s comprehensive plan  

*  The costs for the investigation work incurred included in a contamination cleanup grant request will only be reimbursed if the TBRA applicant’s overall project is recommended for funding. Investigation costs must be incurred within 180 days prior to the application date or later to be eligible for consideration.

**  Costs must be for activities included in a Response Action Plan (RAP) - and amendments, if any - approved by the MPCA or MDA for the redevelopment being proposed. (Projects working with the Voluntary Investigation Cleanup (VIC) Program and/or the Petroleum Brownfields Program (PBP) should start early. The MPCA requires a minimum of 45 working days before the TBRA application deadline to respond to a request for approval in time to apply for a grant.)  

***  Costs associated with asbestos and lead-based paint abatement must be for activities that meet state standards established by the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as federal standards including Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.  

Additional Factors Affecting Cost Eligibility 

We will consider the following additional factors when reviewing costs to be paid using grant funds.  

• Eligible activities for contaminated soil remediation include excavation, transportation, disposal fees for removal of contaminated soil conducted according to the RAP submitted with the application. 

• The costs for replacing contaminated fill with clean back fill and grading of clean soil are eligible as long as the volume of clean soil added matches the volume of contaminated soil removed.  

• To minimize the amount of funds needed to replace contaminated soils, applicants are encouraged to design and implement projects in a way that minimizes the amount of backfill needed to replace the contaminated soils (e.g., underground parking, basements). Any underground use must be consistent with the approved RAP.

• Costs associated with soil vapor mitigation must be based on data provided that shows soil vapors are over 33 times the MPCA intrusion screening value thresholds.  

• Actions documenting environmental monitoring systems or the successful implementation of a RAP such as technical writing are eligible for reimbursement.  

• We recommend applicants use separate line items when bidding work to be paid by grants to simplify the review of reimbursement requests if a grant is awarded.  

• Contractor markups for subcontractor costs are eligible but limited to 10% or less.  

The Metropolitan Council will consider how well a proposed project will meet statutory requirements and regional development goals described in the Thrive MSP 2040 plan when awarding grants. Council staff will consult with external partners, including DEED, Hennepin and Ramsey County, the MPCA, and others when evaluating applications.  

 The Council will rank cleanup applications according to the extent they demonstrate the following
 

From the online Make-A-Map tool:

• Overview Map  
• Aerial Map  
• Parcel Map 

• Enter an address or landmark in the search bar to navigate to your project area. 

• Click “Sketch the Project” and select “Tax Base Revitalization Account” from the dropdown menu. Provide a name for your project. 

• Use the zoom and pan buttons to navigate to your project site. Click “Sketch a Boundary” and, using the crosshair as a guide, draw the project boundary. A gray polygon with a red outline will begin to appear. Once you have finished outlining the boundary, double click to close the polygon. If there are multiple, non-contiguous parcels that are part of your project, you have the option of sketching another boundary. 

• Select “Print” and “Create the maps”. The system will generate three maps for TBRA; a Parcel Map, Overview Map, and Aerial Map. Please be patient – depending on your connection, it can take up to one minute to generate the maps. 

• Click each PDF to download them separately. See “Saving Documents” as a reminder for how to name each of the three Make-a-Map documents. 

Quality of Cleanup Plans 
For soil and/or ground water or vapor intrusion contamination, it is required that applicants have a RAP approved by the MPCA. It is recommended that applicants start working with the Voluntary Investigation Cleanup Program and/or the Petroleum Brownfields Program (PBP) early and that they submit the reports by those programs to the MPCA a minimum of 45 working days prior to the TBRA application deadline. (The MPCA requires this lead time to assure a review of a RAP.) For projects with RAPs that do not include tables of the soil, ground water and/or soil vapor sampling results, applicants must also submit a Phase II environmental site assessment (ESA) as an attachment.  

Applicants that are applying for asbestos or lead-based paint cleanup must submit an assessment report that meets standards set by the Minnesota Department of Health identifying asbestos or lead-based paint content of the building material (e.g., percentage), the quantities of materials to be abated, condition of the materials assessed and include maps of sampling locations and laboratory analysis results.  

Local Support 
Any application for funds under this program must include a resolution supporting the application from the local unit of government within which the proposed project is located. The resolution must confirm that the project would not occur through private or other public investment without Council funding. A sample resolution (Word document) and budget (Excel file) are available in the application resources section of the Apply for LCA Grants page.

Recipients of Tax Base Revitalization Account grants must submit progress and annual reports. Semi-annual progress reports are required during the grant term for active grants. Additional annual reports are required in the spring after the termination of the grant period and three years annually thereafter to the Metropolitan Council. Annual reporting includes:   

• the site cleanup and/or development activities completed in the previous calendar year,  

• the amount of net tax capacity and the total property taxes paid on this parcel(s) (land and buildings) for the preceding year, and  

• the number of full-time equivalent jobs (FTEs) including both part-time and full-time jobs on the site at the end of the previous year, and the number of the FTEs that are at or above living-wage level.  

​2023 Annual Report Form 

When can I incur costs to be paid using grant funding?  
To be eligible for grants, all eligible cleanup activities must occur after the grant award date but before the grant term ends (three years). 

Exceptions  

• Costs included in a cleanup grant request may include reimbursement for site investigation activities incurred up to 180 days before the date of application.  

• Supplemental TBRA grants may include cleanup work performed up to 180 days prior to the grant application due date with a written eligibility determination from Metropolitan Council staff.​

What is required as match?  
The need for matching funds depends on the type of sources requested for cleanup funding: 

• There is no matching fund requirement if 100% of the eligible cleanup cost will be requested using TBRA contamination cleanup grants. (This option is often true for projects requesting funding for abatement activities only.)  

• If DEED and TBRA funding will be requested for projects with the seven-county metropolitan area, TBRA funds may be requested to provide up to 13% (or more) of the total eligible project cleanup costs as part of the 25% local match for cleanup costs required in DEED's Contamination Cleanup Grant Program. 

• If DEED, TBRA, and Ramsey County or Hennepin County ERF funding will be requested, TBRA funds and county funds used may be used as part of the minimum required match for grants from DEED.  

• Not all TBRA costs (e.g., abatement) will be eligible for use as matching funds to meet DEED’s requirement. In this case, the TBRA request may include cleanup activities that will not be used as matched funds for DEED 

My site may be developed for housing. What are the ‘Fair Housing’ requirements? 
A Fair Housing Policy is a locally adopted policy that outlines the municipality’s obligations to address fair housing. Policies may include but aren’t limited to procedures for complaint identification and referral, designating a fair housing officer, and outlining internal and external actions the municipality will undertake to advance fair housing. More information about Fair Housing Policies is available in the Applications Resources accordion on the Apply to LCA page. 

All applicants proposing to build or renovate housing that receive a Livable Communities Act grant must have adopted a Fair Housing Policy prior to the disbursement of LCA funds. (For more information about Metropolitan Council requirements on Fair Housing policies contact Maia Guerrero-Combs at m[email protected] or 651-602-1060.)  

My project will include housing. Are there requirements for marketing the housing? 
Yes. All proposed redevelopments that include housing – market-rate or affordable – must have an affirmative fair housing marketing plan in place before offering the units for rent or for sale. See the following example of typical considerations to include in a marketing plan: Minnesota Housing Sample Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan For additional information see the Affirmative Marketing Toolkit.