Brownfields & Brownfield Redevelopment

Brownfields are abandoned or underused properties that have been contaminated with hazardous waste from past commercial or industrial uses. They are difficult to redevelop because of the liability issues involved. A property owner may find it more advantageous to leave the property abandoned because development or sale may require a costly clean-up or spur a lawsuit.

But this is changing. State and federal environmental laws and policies over the past few years have been focusing on how to turn brownfields into opportunities for investment. Redeveloped brownfield sites attract new business, create jobs, improve the neighborhood, and increase the local tax base. The regulatory changes include defining legal liabilities (eliminating some potential lawsuits), extending financial protections to lenders involved with brownfield redevelopment, and offering grants, low interest loans and tax incentives for clean-up of contaminated sites.

Local governments can take a pro-active role in redeveloping brownfield properties. They can match potential businesses and developers with reuse sites. Local governments can coordinate funding, assume some financial responsibility for site remediation costs, offer incentives, and serve as links between private developers and state/federal environmental regulatory agencies. Some local governments have publicly acquired brownfield properties and handled the redevelopment on their own (such as Tacoma and their Thea Foss Waterway development project).

Growth management laws, rising development fees, and escalating real estate prices are making brownfield properties a more attractive option. And redevelopment offers improvements to communities in the form of rejuvenated neighborhoods, businesses and public ways. For more complete information on Brownfield Redevelopment we recommend a visit to the Washington State Department of Ecology Brownfield Program , and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or contact the MRSC Library.

If you have information to share (such as ordinances, issue papers, policies) from your city or county on this topic, or are aware of other web sites that we should link to, please contact Sue Enger, MRSC Planning Consultant, at senger@mrsc.org , or simply press the "Comments" button to contact MRSC in general via E-mail. We also invite any suggestions you may have for improvements and additional topics.

Reference Sources

• Federal Statutes
  • Asset Conservation, Lender Liability, and Deposit Insurance Protection Act of 1996 (HR3610; Sections 2501-2505, September 30, 1996) - As part of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 1997 signed by President Clinton on September 30, Congress enacted the Asset Conservation, Lender Liability, and Deposit Insurance Protection Act of 1996 (the "Act"). The Act includes lender and fiduciary liability amendments to CERCLA, amendments to the secured creditor exemption set forth in Subtitle I of RCRA, and validation of the portion of the CERCLA Lender Liability Rule that addresses involuntary acquisitions by government entities. The amendments made by the Act apply to all claims not finally adjudicated as of September 30, 1996, which include all cases that are in the process of being settled.
• HUD Brownfields Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
• Selected MRSC Library Holdings - Brownfields and Brownfield Development [Note: Clicking on this link will take you to a list of documents available on loan through the MRSC library.]

Documents

• "Brownfields Resource Guide Draft," WA State Dept of Ecology, Updated 2002
• "Brownfields and Utility Sites: A Primer for Local Governments" - Download free report about redeveloping properties owned or formerly-owned by oil, gas, and electric utility companies from The International City/County Management Association (ICMA)
• Brownfields Assessments
• "Brownfields Revisited", by Bob Hallenback, ECS, Inc. - a good overview of brownfields and environmental insurance. {Reprinted by permission}.
• "Recycling America's Land: A National Report on Brownfields Redevelopment," U.S. Council of Mayors

Links

• The Brownfields Center - Carnagie-Mellon Institute/University of Pittsburgh - Collection of case studies, state-level regulations, and research papers, mainly in Pennsylvania
• Brownfields to Parks Resources - sponsored by The Trust for Public Land. This site contains resources on the reuse of brownfields as gardens, parks and open space, including funding and financing issues.
• Brownfields tech.org - sponsored by EPA's Technology Innovation Office (TIO). It is hosted and maintained by Public Technology, Inc. (PTI), the technology development arm of the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and the International City County Management Association. The site focuses on the demonstration, dissemination, and promotion of innovative brownfield characterization and remediation technologies. Its goal is to help local governments increase efficiencies and reduce costs associated with brownfield redevelopment.
• International City Manager's Association BrownfieldSource.org - A news and information site with regular updates
• International City Manager's Association Brownfields Issue page - includes news, online documents, & forums
• Northeast-Midwest Institute. An especially good collection of reports, legislative activity, lessons from the field, and contacts.
• Trust for Public Lands - Information on restoring brownfields to community parks and open space.
• U.S. Conference of Mayors Brownfield Information - Click on "search" on the home page and type in "brownfields" for a good collection of legislative udates and news articles on brownfields
• U.S. Department of Housing Brownfields Information Site (Includes information on HUD's Brownfield Economic Development Initiative, grant programs, tax incentive eligibility , showcase communiites and HUD reports)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - includes federal law information on clean-up, liability, pilot programs, and tax incentives.
• Washington State Department of Ecology Toxics Clean-Up Program - includes information on underground storage tanks, state clean-up programs, clean-up grants, permits, insurance, bonds, and current brownfield sites in Washington being rehabilitated.

Brownfield Clean-Up Funding Sources

• EPA Brownfield Funding Sources
• Washington Coalition Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund, CTED
• EPA Region 10: The Pacific Northwest Brownfields
• "Brownfields Financing Basics: Opportunities for San Diego" (601 KB), Northeast-Midwest Institute, 2002