Information, Community Involvement, and Sustainable Development Opportunities of Brownfields

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• Information, Community Involvement, and
  Sustainable Development Opportunities of
  Brownfields
• September 6, 2004
• Charles Bartsch
• www.nemw.org/brownfields.htm

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What Are Brownfields? What is Sustainable
Development?

• Brownfields -- real property, the expansion,
  redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
  complicated by the presence or potential presence
  of a hazardous substance pollutant or
  contaminant.
• Sustainable Development A growing economy that
  provides equitable opportunities for satisfying
  livelihoods and a safe, healthy, high quality of
  life for current and future generations. Our
  nation will protect its environment, its natural
  resource base, and the function and viability of
  natural systems on which all life depends."  

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• Common Threads of Successful Sustainable
  Redevelopment The People Piece
• Defining a community vision
• Encouraging community involvement
• Fostering public-private partnerships

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Community Involvement and Brownfield Real Estate
Development

• What Can Public Participation and Partnerships
  Address?
• Fear of uncertainty that land owners or
  prospective purchasers have over their investment
• Reluctance of owners and lenders about assuming
  perceived higher levels of risk associated with
  contaminated sites
• Distrust of those adjoining brownfield sites
  targeted for reuse

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Factors Influencing Public Reaction to Brownfield
Reuse/ Redevelopment at Specific Sites

• Development pressures that the community may be
  facing
• Determining when the public should be involved,
  which partners should be involved, and how often
• Determining who should carry out the public
  participation process, and how
• Type and extent of direct benefits that the
  neighborhood will realize (such as jobs and
  access to services) from brownfield reuse

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Factors Influencing Public Reaction to Brownfield
Reuse/ Redevelopment at Specific Sites
(continued)

• Deciding who will determine how clean is clean
  for a specific site, and how this decision will
  be reached
• Potential for displacement because of
  re-gentrification
• Extent of quality of life costs attributable to
  brownfield site preparation, construction and
  redevelopment

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Key Questions for Developers to Consider

• When should the public be involved, and how
  often?
• What will the impact of community involvement be
  on project costs?
• Do potential site reusers perceive that
  involvement as causing any delays, and what will
  this mean for the project?
• Which party is the public involvement process
  owned or driven by, and what are the
  implications of that ownership for the overall
  project?
• Who should carry out the public participation
  process?

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Key Questions for Developers to Consider
(continued)

• Who will determine how clean is clean for a
  specific site, and how will this decision be
  reached?
• How much outreach and public relations should be
  carried out, and what is the best way to do it?
• How can this whole process be paid for, and who
  will pay for it?

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Brownfield Stakeholders Who Should Be Involved
in Framing the Redevelopment?

• Local planning and economic development,
  planning, and zoning entities
• Development interests
• Local and neighborhood residents
• Political, civic, religious, and community
  betterment groups and their leaders
• Existing and prospective business owners, and
  developers
• Lenders and investors
• Technical and legal experts and activists
• County, regional, and state agencies

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Building Blocks for Partnerships and Visioning

• Necessary information
• on sites, cleanup technologies, public health
  concerns, and other issues, provided in a usable
  form that various community stakeholders and
  prospective partners can understand and use.
• Adequate staff and other resources
• expertise and logistical support such as access
  to and time of city/county planning staff, maps,
  computer and GIS access, and office space in
  which to work.

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Building Blocks for Partnerships and Visioning
(continued)

• Responsiveness of local officials
• to concerns like planning, zoning, and allocation
  of resources and incentives.
• Responsiveness of state officials
• to locally determined plans and intentions --
• from a regulatory standpoint (i.e., VCP/ land use
  controls)
• from an economic development resource/incentive
  allocation standpoint

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Tools and Approaches to Foster Participation and
Partnerships

• Task forces, panels, and blue ribbon committees
• Institutions with tradition and acceptance in the
  community churches, community service
  organizations, business councils, or Chambers of
  Commerce
• Stakeholder focus groups charged with defining
  key concerns and identifying acceptable
  approaches
• Role playing exercises or charettes complete
  with maps, models, technical resource persons,
  and information on zoning provisions, regulatory
  constraints, possible incentives, and other
  factors
• Cable access television to get information out
  to more isolated parts of a region, to invite
  broader awareness and involvement on planning,
  financing, and other processes.

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Potential Stakeholder Roles in the Brownfield
Redevelopment Process

• Pre-Development Stage
• Supporting preparation of environmental
  assessments
• Reviewing environmental documents
• Helping to determine
• acceptable site end-uses
• levels of cleanup
• Institutional/land use control option
• what type of long-term monitoring is needed
• Working with the developer to finalize design
  plans
• Participating in public meetings for project and
  public funding approvals
• Securing additional benefits compatible with the
  overall project

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Potential Stakeholder Roles in the Brownfield
Redevelopment Process (continued)

• Site Prep, Construction and Redevelopment Phases
• Participating in various aspects of site
  monitoring
• Carrying out community-wide information/education
  efforts
• Promoting community benefits
• Conducting outreach and monitoring activities
  related to construction

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What Questions Should Developers Address During
the Brownfield Construction Phase to Allay
Community Concerns?

• When will the job start, and how will the
  neighborhood be notified?
• How long will cleanup take?
• Will there be a lot of noise during the cleanup?
• Will any of the waste be treated on site? What
  process will be used, and will any chemicals be
  released during the brownfield cleanup?
• Will waste be trucked through the neighborhood?
  What happens if some of it spills or falls off
  the truck?
• Where is the waste being taken?

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What Questions What Questions Should Developers
Address During the Brownfield Construction Phase
to Allay Community Concerns? (continued)

• Will the brownfield site be dusty during cleanup?
  How will the dust be controlled? Is it
  dangerous?
• What kind of signs will be posted while work is
  going on? Will they have pictures? Will
  children be able to understand them? Will they
  posted in languages that reflect the ethnic
  composition of the area?
• Will there be guards at the street crossings to
  help with truck traffic?
• Will there be a night watchman at the brownfield
  site to control access during off hours?
• Will the site be fenced off?
• If something is wrong who should neighborhood
  residents inform?

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Success Stories Doing It the Brownfields way

• Bridgeport, CT
• Jenkins Valve/Harbor Yard
• Trenton, NJ
• Circle F
• Milwaukee, WI
• Sherman Perk
• Greenfield, NH
• East Coast Steel
• Minneapolis, MN
• Johnson Street Quarry

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Harbor Yard Ball Park Bridgeport, CT

• The abandoned and contaminated Jenkins Valve site
  has been revitalized into a sports complex.
• With community backing, Bridgeport issued
  general obligation bonds, as part of a larger
  public-private financing strategy, to help
  finance the 21 million Harbor Yard Ball Park,
  and the local match for an adjoining intermodal
  transit center on Long Island Sound
• Bridgeport is using its share of gate and parking
  receipts to help retire the bonds   

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Circle F Senior Housing Project Trenton, NJ

• Developed by non-profit community organization,
  to address neighborhood need for affordable
  housing
• Provides housing, reusing a former industrial
  building for 70 units
• Blended and leveraged public and private funding,
  including CDBG, LIHTCs, and lender equity

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Sherman Perk -- Milwaukee, WI
Before
After
Tank Removal
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East Coast Steel Greenfield, NH

• Consistent with local plan and community wishes,
  2.5 acre East Coast Steel site redeveloped as a
  community septic system and open space park
• Residents authorized a bond issue to pay for part
  of site purchase, cleanup, and redevelopment
• Key public leverage came from NH Department of
  Transportation, Environment, and USDA Rural
  Development

22
Johnson Street Quarry Minneapolis, MN

• After extensive community involvement, as well as
  strong public/private cooperation, several major
  national retailers have opened in The Quarry
  retail center including Target, Pet Smart, and
  Rainbow Foods
• The redevelopment of this property has spurred
  redevelopment in the surrounding area, created
  over 2,000 new jobs (much above original
  estimates) and increased property and sales tax
  bases in excess of 3 million a year.

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Community Involvement and Brownfield
Re-development Lessons from the Field

• Cities need to consciously push themselves to
  change old patterns to broaden stakeholder
  involvement and attract new partners
• Know your community and its leadership at all
  levels, so an effective stakeholder process can
  be built
• Make sure that key interactions take place
  among diverse local stakeholders and with public
  officials at all levels and in all areas

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Community Involvement and Brownfield
Re-development Lessons from the Field

• Recognize the staffing and resource requirements
  to effectively do it the brownfields way
• Develop close communication with the local
  political leadership.
• Document milestones and give credit where its
  due.
• Promote and publicize successes
• And finally..

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• bring the donuts!!
• Its often the little things that break the
  logjam and build trust among partners,
  facilitating the brownfield reuse process and
  its progress.