Thursday, April 25, 2013

Small Communities, Big Challenges: A 2013 Series on Problem Properties


Vacant and abandoned properties remain a major challenge facing municipalities across the nation. To help get knowledge and resources to combat this problem into the hands of city officials, practitioners, and funders, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has partnered with Greater Ohio Policy Center to host a series of events and webinars in 2013.

A February kick-off meeting in Cincinnati highlighted uses of data for more strategic community rebuilding efforts. Three one-hour webinars—to be held in April, June, and August—will showcase specific strategies local and regional government officials and community development organizations can use to help stabilize and restore Ohio neighborhoods.

Sessions in this problem properties series are tailored to communities with populations of 60,000 and less—smaller communities that face revitalization challenges similar to their big-city brethren, but that lack the same resources as their larger counterparts. Participants will gain valuable insights on tools and strategies they might employ to tackle vacant property issues in their communities and regions.

Participation in the webinars is free, but registration for each session is required. Upon successfully registering for one, two, or all three webinars, you will receive a confirmation email with the webinar link, call-in number, and a calendar attachment with the link and call-in number included.
For more information contact Mary Helen Petrus at mary.h.petrus@clev.frb.org or at 216/579-2443.


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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Reach for the Stars - SkyHouse® Midtown Apartments, #Brownfields Success

Reach for the Stars - SkyHouse® Midtown Apartments, Brownfields Success

SkyHouse Midtown, a 23-story high-rise mixed-use tower built on a former brownfield, was recently completed at 12th and West Peachtree Streets in Atlanta. The luxury development by Atlanta-based partners Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Co. took top honors as the “Residential Deal of the Year” in the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Best of Atlanta Real Estate Awards announced in February of 2013.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Brownfields 2013 - Mobile Workshops - SIGN UP!!


Don't miss your chance to go on a mobile workshop!
Brownfields 2013 has eight wonderful mobile workshops planned to showcase some of the most innovative techniques and end-uses in the Atlanta region. Four mobile workshops are sold out but there are four more with remaining space!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Missouri State Auditor to look at hazardous waste, brownfield programs

By JEREMY KOHLER
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
By J. Kohler
April 5, 2013

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich says his office will audit the state agency assigned to protect the environment and public health from hazardous waste, after Post-Dispatch stories that exposed problems with oversight at the cleanup of the former Carondelet Coke site in St. Louis that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Through a spokesman, Schweich said his audit team would examine what role the Hazardous Waste Program played in the problems identified in the newspaper?s stories last year. Two auditors will spend at least four months reviewing records, according to memos provided by the
program. The program pledged to assist them.

The Post-Dispatch investigation showed that another state agency, the Department of Economic Development, had committed $12.3 million to the cleanup with little public notice. Meanwhile, former owners Laclede Gas Co. and SGL Group were each paying just $471,250 and Carondelet Coke owner J. Donald Crane was paying nothing for the cleanup of what state officials said were 42 acres of the most polluted land in the state.

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Friday, April 19, 2013

#Brownfield Conference Update - Hotel Deadline

Book your Hotel Before April 24

The hotel reservation deadline is April 24, 2013, so book now to take advantage of our conference rates and stay at one of the official Brownfield Conference hotels. Many of our hotels are offering government rate or better, so make sure you book before the deadline!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Whirlpool submits revised TCE mitigation plan

City Wire (AR)
by R. Saylor
April 8, 2013

Whirlpool has submitted a revised remediation plan for the company's former Fort Smith manufacturing site and surrounding areas contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE), a potentially cancer causing chemical that Whirlpool has admitted leaked from its facility on the city's south side.
In a document provided to The City Wire by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Whirlpool's environmental consultant, ENVIRON,  says it will participate in an "active site remedy."
The site Whirlpool says is polluted is an area of impacted soil and groundwater approximately 50 by 250-feet, located west of the company's former degreasing facility where TCE was used to degrease equipment until the 1980s.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

FY2013 HUD: Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development's Choice Neighborhoods program has announced availability of Planning Grants to support the development of comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plans with amounts up to $500,000.  Applications for funding--which is contingent on future Congressional action--are due May 28, 2013. Eligible applicants are public housing authorities, local governments, nonprofits, tribal entities, and for-profit developers that apply jointly with a public entity.

For more information, click HERE.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

FREE WEBINAR: Small Communities, Big Challenges: A 2013 Series on Problem Properties

Webinar 1: Beyond Triage
April 16, 2013, 2 to 3 pm EDT

This webinar will feature panelists from across Ohio, including:

 • Sister Barbara Busch, Executive Director of Working in Neighborhoods (Cincinnati)
 • Sally Martin, Housing Manager for South Euclid (a suburb of Cleveland)
 • Joel Owens, Director of Community Building Partnership of Stark County

These experts will discuss the precursors of abandonment, and how working with area nonprofits can greatly assist smaller communities in their strategic deployment of resources to neighborhoods. The webinar will demonstrate how local governments and nonprofits together provide foreclosure prevention services and rehabilitation for blighted property. How can a municipality engage private investment in existing homes that require maintenance or rehabilitation? How can homeowners identify home repair resources? What are the avenues for nonprofits, local governments and private homeowners to access to capital for major rehabilitation?

Register

Fort Smith wants Whirlpool pollution monitored (AR)

City Wire (AR)
by R. Saylor
April 2, 2013

The Fort Smith Board of Directors approved a resolution Tuesday evening (April 2) urging Whirlpool and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to quickly clean up a plume of trichloroethylene (TCE) in and around Whirlpool's former manufacturing facility. The resolution mentioned not only TCE, but "all pollutants," be cleaned up. "Be it further resolved that the Board of Directs and the City of Fort Smith expect continuous effort and effective communication from both Whirlpool and ADEQ as appropriate to keep the general public appraised of the progress and status of all efforts to remediate this Emergency Situation," the resolution read.


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National Brownfield Conference - Individualized Consultation on Your Brownfields Project



Sign up for a private session with an all-star panel of knowledgeable experts in redevelopment. These consultations are FREE to conference attendees, but space is limited. Sign up today!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Free Webinar - What Happened to the #Brownfields Tax Incentive?

When: Thu, Apr 11, 2013 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM EDT

Join NALGEP and the #National Brownfield Coalition for a FREE Webinar to hear from national experts about how the Brownfields Tax Incentive works, why it is so powerful and effective, how specific projects have used the incentive, and strategies to renew it.

Hear from:

- Daniel Walsh, Director of New York City’s Office of Environmental Remediation
- Mark McIntyre, General Counsel for New York City’s Office of Environmental Remediation
- Evans Paull, Executive Director of the National Brownfields Coalition

Since 1997, the Brownfields Tax Incentive has encouraged brownfields cleanup and redevelopment. This federal incentive, also known as IRS § 198, allows cleanup costs at brownfields to be fully deducted in the year incurred, rather than capitalized and deducted incrementally over a property’s useful life. This incentive, however, expired at the end of 2011 and has not been renewed. In this webinar, experts will describe the incentive, describe projects across the country that have used it, and educate attendees about current legislative efforts to renew the incentive.

Click <HERE> to Register.