County seeks $1M for Cottage Five cleanup

Jefferson County plans to apply for a federal grant to remove asbestos and lead paint from Cottage Five on the Montana Developmental Center campus, extending its long quest to convert the 10,900-square-foot former dormitory into a health and medical center.

Leah Lewis, the Jefferson Local Development Corporation project officer who coordinates the county’s grant activities, described the proposed application for a Brownfields Cleanup Grant of up to $1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at an Aug. 8 meeting of the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee.

The conversion of Cottage Five into medical offices and a new home for the county’s Public Health Department, first envisioned in 2023, appeared to face a setback in March, when the state Legislature declined to approve a $500,000 historic preservation grant. Without that funding, the county faced a shortfall in funding for the project’s estimated $3.1 million cost.