FL - Margate to declare CRA district a brownfield

In another step that may help make it more palatable for businesses to develop along State Road 7, Margate commissioners are preparing to designate a brownfield area of the city that would bring state and federal funds for businesses located there.

The City Commission will vote before the end of the year to declare that most of the property in the city's Community Redevelopment Agency is a brownfield. According to Karen Hamilton, a regional planner with the South Florida Planning Council, a brownfield is a property that has been polluted by chemicals and must be cleaned up to prevent harm to the environment or people living in the area.

Under the State of Florida's Brownfield Redevelopment Act, designated properties thought to contain some sort of contamination or stigma because of previous businesses located there become eligible for federal clean-up funding and other economic and regulatory incentives, according to CRA Assistant Director Dennis Holste.

[MORE]

University of Mississippi buys Whirlpool Brownfield Site in Oxford, MS

The 69-acre Whirlpool brownfield site in Oxford, MS has been sold to the University of Mississippi for $3.4 million. To ensure the property is safe as well as marketable, Whirlpool entered into an agreement with MDEQ in October, 2010 under the Mississippi Brownfield Program to clean up an area in the defunct plant that showed the presence of hydraulic fluid, which has contaminated a 500 square foot area. The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality, during the October Meeting, also approved the sale of the site to the University of Mississippi.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office approved the university’s purchase, provided Whirlpool agreed to pay for any problems caused by hydraulic fluid contamination. The state’s College Board has also approved the deal. Whirlpool first announced the Oxford plant’s closure in July 2008 and that production of its built-in cooking appliances would transition to the Cleveland, TN facility. The Mississippi site closed in March 2009.

Read more: Cleveland Daily Banner - Whirlpool plant sale in Oxford a local lesson

NC - TCE in Fuquay-Varina Groundwater

Silence fueled their skepticism

BY TED RICHARDSON
Cary News (NC)
November 23, 2010

FUQUAY-VARINA - On a cold night four years ago, Denise Copper sterilized
the inside of a Mason jar and attached a long rope. She donned a black
sweatshirt and drove to the end of her street, near an open field below
a fiber plant owned by Guilford Mills.

She stepped cautiously through the wet grass, toward the middle of the
field, approaching a monitoring well that Guilford had dug to determine
the extent of groundwater contamination below its property.

But before she could get to the well with her jar, she saw a flashlight
moving toward her. She scurried back to her car with no water sample, no
new information. Just a close call with a security guard...[MORE}

Hickory, NC - Targets Tracts for Cleanup, Redevelopment

The city of Hickory is checking nine brownfield sites to determine how much it will cost to clean them up.

The city has obtained $200,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the properties to determine the extent of the pollution.

The goal is to redevelop at least some of the properties.

Read more: Hickory targets nine tracts for cleanup, redevelopment | Charlotte Business Journal

 

SC - Home Depot Foundation Sustainability Project

AOE Sust. Comm. Dev. '09 - No. Charleston, SC from The Home Depot Foundation on Vimeo.

US Conference of Mayors Unveil National Brownfield Report

New Report Shows Brownfield Redevelopment in Cities Leads to More Jobs, Increased Tax Revenue: 99 Cities Surveyed on the Merits of Recycling America's Land

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) today unveiled a national brownfields report, entitled Recycling America's Land: A National Report on Brownfields Redevelopment (1993 - 2010). This new report estimates the progress 99 cities have made over the past 17 years as it relates to the number of brownfields that have been redeveloped, acres of land reclaimed, new jobs that were created, and additional revenues that have been generated. The Conference of Mayors brought the issue of brownfields to the attention of Congress and the Administration back in 1993 and worked hand in hand with the Federal Government to establish a national brownfields program.

Brownfields, abandoned or underutilized properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by either real or perceived environmental contamination, present a major challenge to cities both large and small, primarily because of the lack of public and private sector resources that are necessary to redevelop these properties back into productive use.

This study is the ninth in a series of reports that have documented brownfields redevelopment by local communities throughout the United States and the potential revenue that could be generated. According to the study, fifty-four cities reported 161,880 new jobs created through the redevelopment of 2,118 sites with 64,730 jobs in the pre-development / remediation stage and 97,150 permanent jobs. Further, fifty cities said that since 1993, $309 million in additional local tax revenue was generated from 654 redeveloped brownfield sites. Significantly, 58
cities estimated if their brownfields were redeveloped, potential revenue could range from $872 million to $1.3 billion annually.

For the entire release, see
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101109007526/en/Report-Shows-Brownfield-Redevelopment-Cities-Leads-Jobs

SC - City Approves Moving Forward with Mill Clean-up Strategy

For quite some time questions have loomed over the old Greenwood Mills site No. 5 located on Kitson Street in Greenwood, SC. However, Monday night the City of Greenwood took the first steps to initiate a cleanup of the old mill which is now primarily reduced to rubble....[MORE]

FL - Historic Bartow cigar factory might not go up in smoke

By PHIL ATTINGER
News Chief (FL)
November 4, 2010

BARTOW - The Thompson & Co. Cigar Factory may have its chance to live again.  The Polk County Commission voted Wednesday to give the city of Bartow 180 days to do assessments to determine what sort of environmental cleanup the site will need.  If the city can do preliminary assessments by that time, then the county will convey the entire site - the building and the land - to the city. If not, Assistant County Manager Jim Freeman said, the county has a demolition permit and could go ahead and tear the building down [MORE].

SC - Structure and Site Create Beautiful Vistor’s Center in Greenville, SC

A former 165-acre camp and brownfield site will soon be transformed into a lush and restorative visitor's center for the Blue Ridge Escarpment in Greenville, South Carolina. Studio Gang Architects is leading the design team that will create not only the visitor's center, but transform the surrounding landscaping, which serves as an extension of the building. Once complete, individuals can enjoy and explore the naturally lit, LEED Platinum Blue Wall Center filled with "living exhibits" of the region's flora, fauna, and geology and immerse themselves in the surrounding
eco-system. [MORE]

Buying & Selling Contaminated Properties: Equations For Success

[POUNCEY, GERALD] Significant opportunities continue to exist in today's commercial real estate market for the purchase of environmentally contaminated properties at a price substantially below the real impact of the contamination on the property's value. The key aspect to taking advantage of the opportunities presented by environmentally contaminated properties is conducting the appropriate due diligence in order to quantify the risks and impediments associated with the contamination. Once that due diligence is complete, the purchaser is able to use a combination of the risk allocation devices described above to reduce or eliminate the risks associated with the contamination while obtaining the property at a reduced price...[MORE]

Webinar: Creative Financing and Partnerships for Brownfield Redevelopment

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/717000785   Despite the downturn in the U.S. economy and financial regulatory changes, brownfield redevelopment projects across the country are taking advantage of creative ways to get the financing and support needed to move forward.  Evans Paull will discuss the array of alternative financing mechanisms available, with examples of how they are used in specific projects.  Charlie Bartsch will discuss creative financing and interagency partnerships in land reuse and revitalization.  Speakers: Evans Paull, AICP Principal, Redevelopment Economics Charlie Bartsch Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response EPA       Title: Creative Financing and Partnerships for Brownfields Redevelopment   Date:   Wednesday, November 3, 2010   Time:   2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT   After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.   System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server   Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Creating Rural 'Smart Growth'

What does “smart growth” mean to rural communities?

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report titled "Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities." It was written by EPA staffers and people with the International City/County Management Association. And it was meant to give smaller communities an idea of how smart growth principles can work in their towns and counties.... [MORE]

Environmental Liabilities Settlement with GM

WASHINGTON, DC – After months of negotiation, the United States, along with 14 states and a tribal government, have reached an agreement with Old General Motors (now know as Motors Liquidation Company or MLC) to establish a trust to cleanup and repurpose 89 properties left behind in the GM bankruptcy.  Under this agreement, Old GM will commit $773 million to cleaning up property sites – two thirds of which are known to be contaminated with hazardous waste – in fourteen states (state by state breakdown below).

This kind of environmental trust is unprecedented in size, speed of settlement, and level of local involvement.  It will give local communities the opportunity to participate in designing the strategy for repurposing these properties in accordance with their specific development objectives, using these funds to both properly clean them up and quickly return them to productive use creating jobs and restoring communities.  The Agreement was filed with the bankruptcy court that is overseeing the final dissolution of Old GM.  It is expected that final approval will take place early next year.

Administrator Lisa Jackson said of the trust: “We’re happy to have a path forward that addresses the needs of former auto communities.  This trust − the largest environmental trust in our history − provides support for aggressive environmental cleanups at these sites, which will create jobs today and benefit the environment and human health over the long-term.”

Secretary of Labor and co-chair of the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers Hilda Solis highlighted the trust’s impact on local community development: “These funds will create much-needed jobs in the communities directly affected by the General Motors restructuring.  This trust will create jobs not only through the direct hiring of clean up personnel, but also by generating private investment through locally-driven solutions that repurpose the sites toward new productive uses.”

“This settlement holds accountable those responsible for contaminating certain properties and ensures they help transform these communities by supporting the necessary cleanup,” said Gary G. Grindler, Acting Deputy Attorney General of the United States.  “The agreement marks a new beginning by responsibly addressing hazardous waste contamination in impacted communities, and at the same time creates jobs to help clean up and return these sites to beneficial uses.  It also shows how the federal government can work successfully in concert with states and tribes to resolve environmental legacy issues in their communities.”

The largest environmental trust in the U.S.

· This trust is the result of an agreement between the United States, Motors Liquidation Company, fourteen states and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

· The trust will be the largest and most inclusive environmental trust in the United States.

· Despite the size and complexity of the issues, the parties were able to agree to the terms of the settlement with unprecedented speed, allowing the cleanup and administrative funds to be quickly put to use in the communities adversely affected by the GM bankruptcy.

Unprecedented support for left behind communities

· The $773 million trust will be divided as follows:

o   $431 million will be used directly in the states for cleaning up the Old GM properties.
o   $68 million will be placed in a pooled account for environmental cleanup that may arise at any of the 89 properties, transferred to the trust on account of unforeseen conditions.
o   Approximately $12 million will be credited to Old GM for approved cleanup activities.
o   $262 million in cash and other assets will be used to cover various administrative activities and activities that help return these properties to beneficial use such as demolition.

Working with local communities

· Mr. Elliott Laws, who previously served in the Environmental Protection Agency as Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, will be named the Managing Member of EPLET LLC which will be the Trustee and oversee administration of the funds in the trust.

· Federal and the state environmental agencies will work closely with the Trustee on budgeting for implementing the cleanups.

· The Trustee will work closely with the local communities when selling or repurposing the properties.  In addition to generating sale proceeds, the Trustee will consider both the potential for the reuse to create jobs in the applicable state and the views of the applicable state and affected communities.

 

Breakdown of the $773 Million Announced Support

Breakdown of the $773 Million Announced Support
Cleanup Funding for Sites in each of the State
Delaware	$11,728,473
Illinois	$5,258,489
Indiana	$25,174,482
Kansas	$4,786,321
Massachusetts	$2,325,836
Michigan	$158,698,888
Missouri	$1,724,806
New Jersey	$24,708,069
New York	$153,864,758
Ohio	$39,394,990
Pennsylvania	$3,299,231
Virginia	$25,922
Wisconsin	$210,857
Total Site-Specific Payments		$431,201,122
Cushion Fund		$68,233,823
Cleanup Costs Paid by Old GM		$11,565,055
Administrative Costs		$262,000,000
TOTAL		$773,000,000