BROWNFIELDS: Keys to Community Revitalization III
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Unlocking Brownfields KEYS TO COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals Northeast-Midwest Institute About the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals Founded in 1993 by a group of local officials, NALGEP is a non-profit national organization representing local government professionals responsible for environmental compliance and the development and implementation of local environmental policy. NALGEP’s membership includes more than 200 local government entities located throughout America. NALGEP brings together local environmental officials to network and share information on innovative practices, conduct environmental policy projects, promote environmental training and education, and communicate views on national environmental issues. NALGEP is conducting projects on a wide range of environmental issues including brownfields, smart growth, USTfields, clean air, transportation innovation, and clean water. NALGEP is managed by Spiegel & McDiarmid, a national law firm located in Washington, DC. Please visit NALGEP’s website at www.nalgep.org. About the Northeast-Midwest Institute The Northeast-Midwest Institute is a Washington-based, private, non-profit, and non-partisan research organization dedicated to economic vitality, environmental quality, and regional equity for Northeast and Midwest States. Formed in the mid-1970’s, it fulfills it’s mission by conducting research and analysis, developing and advancing innovative policy, providing evaluation of key federal and state programs, disseminating information, and highlighting sound economic and environmental technologies and practices. The Institute is unique among policy centers because of its ties to Congress through the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate coalitions. Co-chaired by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed (D-RI), and Representatives Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Jack Quinn (R-NY), the bipartisan coalitions advance federal policies that enhance the region’s economy and environment. Please visit NE-MW’s website at www.nemw.org. Contributors to this report include: Charles Bartsch Matt Ward Ken Brown Dave Dickson Bridget Thorsen Amy Ewen Peter Fox Unlocking Brownfi elds KEYS TO COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals Northeast-Midwest Institute Acknowledgements he publication of this report marks the culmination of a decade of involvement in brownfields. Being a part of this growing national movement has been one of the most T exciting and challenging endeavors of our careers thus far. Indeed, the brownfields movement and brownfields success are really about people — people with ideas, people with vision, people with energy and enthusiasm, people with dedication, people not satisfied with the status quo of blighted communities, people willing to venture outside the box and reach out to other partners. On behalf of NALGEP and the Northeast-Midwest Institute (NE-MW), we wish to acknowledge some of these innovative people with whom we have had the pleasure to work during the past decade. We would like to give special thanks and appreciation to the members of the Brownfield Communities Network Advisory Council. Listed on page v, these local officials represent the nation’s true brownfields leaders. They are on the front lines day in and day out building the partnerships, leveraging the resources, and coming up with the new strategies required to revitalize their communities. They have each made major, positive differences in their own communities, as well as valuable contributions to the national brownfields movement. The Advisory Council’s expertise and support have been critical to the success of our work during the past decade and their input helped to shape the profiles, findings, and recommendations included in this report. We also want to thank all of the localities that are profiled in this report. Their innovation is an inspiration to us and to communities across the nation. We appreciate their cooperation and support in our effort to prepare this report. No one embodies the spirit of brownfields innovation more than Linda Garczynski, UNLOCKING BROWNFIELDS: Keys to Community Revitalization BROWNFIELDS: Keys UNLOCKING Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment. Linda was instrumental in launching the national brownfields movement, and in providing the leadership in Washington to establish the federal brownfields partnership, which has garnered the support of more than 20 federal agencies and helped leverage billons of dollars in private sector resources for community revitalization. Linda, we thank you for your vision, your leadership, your support, and your unwavering belief in the ability of each individual to make an important difference if empowered with the right tools, resources, and information. We want to thank the following funders who have helped make this report possible: the EPA Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment; the EPA Land Revitalization Initiative; EPA Region 3; and EPA Region 4. We give special thanks to the Council for Excellence in Government and the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, who jointly administer the “Innovations in American Government” awards program. The EPA Brownfields Program was a national winner of this prestigious award in 2000. NALGEP and the Northeast-Midwest Institute were the proud recipients of the cash prize associated with this award, since EPA was unable to accept the funds. In the brownfields spirit, we used this grant to leverage well over $500,000 in additional funds for our work to conduct research, education, and outreach on the tools for successful brownfields reuse. The publication of this report is an important part of this effort. III We would also like to thank the following individuals who have been important partners and instrumental to the success of our work during the past decade: Sven-Erik Kaiser, Tony Raia, Gayle Rice, Myra Blakely, Patricia Overmeyer and others in the EPA Brownfields Office; Marjorie Buckholtz in the EPA OSWER Assistant Administrator’s office; Stephen Luftig and Christopher Prins of the EPA Land Revitalization Initiative; Cliff Rothenstein and Stephen McNeely of the EPA Office of Underground Storage Tanks; Larry D’Andrea and the EPA Region 2 brownfields team; Tom Stolle, Andrew Krieder, and other members of the EPA Region 3 brownfields team; Mickey Hartnett, Olga Perry, Eddie Wright, and the EPA Region 4 brownfields team; Joe Dufficy, Deborah Orr, and the Region 5 brownfields team; and Kathie Atencio, Mary Ahlstrom, and other members of the EPA Region 8 brownfields team. We appreciate your leadership, your commitment, and your friendship. We thank the NALGEP Board of Directors for their support and guidance in the implementation of this project and their commitment to brownfield redevelopment. We also want to thank the NE-MW board and NE-MW Executive Director Dick Munson for their support for this project. We give special thanks to David Dickson, Bridget Thorsen, Amy Ewen and Peter Fox for helping to prepare the many profiles of local brownfields innovation included in the report. And we thank Jean Donaldson and Fran Hobson for their efforts to prepare the final report for publication. Finally, thanks to Freehand Press and designer Holly Mansfield for their excellent design of this report. Charlie Bartsch • Ken Brown • Matt Ward UNLOCKING BROWNFIELDS: Keys to Community Revitalization BROWNFIELDS: Keys UNLOCKING IV Brownfields Communities Network — Advisory Council Scott Alphonse, City of New Bedford, MA Lucy Auster, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Seattle, WA Charles Bartsch, Northeast Midwest Institute Timothy Beeble, City of Stamford, CT Robert Benrubi, Nassau County, NY Jennifer Blumberg, City of Missoula, MT Andrew Bracker, City of Kansas City, MO J.R. Capasso, City of Trenton, NJ Brian Connors, City of Lowell, MA Sandra Dennies, City of Stamford, CT Noemi Emeric, City of Los Angeles, CA Mark Gregor, City of Rochester, NY Ann Grimes, City of Dallas, TX Roberta Groch, City of Providence, RI Jerry Haile, El Paso County, CO Dianne Hanna, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, AZ Clark Henry, City of Portland, OR Marcia Jimenez, City of Chicago, IL Sven-Erik Kaiser, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC Mayor Frederick Kalisz, City of New Bedford, MA Lily Lee, City of East Palo Alto, CA Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, City of Stamford, CT Terry Manning, South Florida Regional Planning Council, Hollywood, FL Michael McCormack, City of New Bedford, MA UNLOCKING BROWNFIELDS: Keys to Community Revitalization BROWNFIELDS: Keys UNLOCKING LaVonne McGee, City of Jackson, MS Kevin McGrew, City of St. Louis Development Corporation, St. Louis, MO Dawn Moses, City of Houston, TX Robert Neely, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Kelly Novak, National Association of Development Organizations, Washington, DC Danielle Oglesby, City of Glen Cove, NY Evans Paull, Baltimore Development Corporation, Baltimore, MD Tony Raia, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC David Reel, City of Houston, TX Cyndi Romero, City of Allentown, PA Valda Tarbet, Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City, UT Ron Townley, Land of Sky Regional Council, Asheville, NC Ellen Walkowiak, City of Des Moines, IA Tom Warshauer, City of Charlotte, NC Kimberly Worthington, City of Chicago, IL V Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................1