Vienna Gets $196,000 from EPA

Big money is coming to Dooly County to clean-up the former Vienna Elementary School.

The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding the city’s development authority $196,000 to clean-up the building. According to Community Development Director Janet Joiner, the money will be used to remove asbestos and lead paint from the building.  They hope to give it new life as a community center and are working to get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The school opened in 1957 and closed in 2004.

The money was awarded through the EPA’s Brownfields program, which seeks to encourage local communities to redevelop abandoned properties, especially where contaminants are present.