Feature
Communities eager to play role in redevelopment
Gone are the days when public officials stood in front of an audience with their poster boards, pointer sticks and an already mapped-out plan for redevelopment, leaving no chance for a community to have its say in what’s best for a neighborhood.
Instead, the public today wants to be involved long before that poster board ever comes out.
“That’s what makes it fun,” insists Nick Warner, special projects manager for the Office of Community and Economic Development in Burlington, Vermont.
And if you’re doing your job right, people will show up and give their ideas. They will participate in the discussion and the planning. If not, you haven’t engaged people in the process, Warner says.
“It isn’t hard getting people interested,” he says.
How brownfields redevelopment can rebuild a sense of place in a community will be among the topics at this year’s annual Town Meeting at the Brownfields 2006 national conference, Nov. 13-15 in Boston (www.brownfields2006.org). The Town Meeting on Nov. 14 will feature panelists sharing stories of new and innovative uses for brownfields and how they were able to create a sense of community and place from once abandoned and contaminated sites.
Warner, who’s among the speakers at the Town Meeting, says including the public in the planning stages of brownfields redevelopment is key to building a sense of place.
While cities are beginning to share this viewpoint, they didn’t always, he says. Just a few years ago, many cities were making assumptions about what was good for a neighborhood. But you can’t plop something down in the middle of somewhere and say that’s the definition of place, he points out.
For example, in another community, a golf course was built in a low-income neighborhood. While the developer thought he had a good idea to spur economic growth, there was much backlash from the neighborhood, which thought the property could have gone to a more suitable use.
“What you end up with still needs to be appropriate for the neighborhood,” Warner says.
When looking at a brownfield, a developer or municipality first must consider how that property--when redeveloped--would impact the city, Warner says. Next, they should determine if a redevelopment project would have real community support. Finally, they should explore the possibilities for that property, going beyond simply looking at its current zoning regulations.
For example, a priority for the city of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, is affordable housing. The city has one of the oldest housing stocks in the country and one of the lowest vacancy rates. That means high rents coupled with an aging housing supply. In Burlington, brownfields must be considered when looking at housing options, Warner says.
In the 1990s, Burlington completed a large public process where people voiced their opinions on what should be done with some of these lands. It was clear people thought it was a priority to clean up these sites, Warner says. Another critical component during that process has been working with the nonprofit housing sector, which has a gage on the public’s needs, he says.
In Springfield, Mass., a vital piece to determining the public’s priorities has been the neighborhood councils. The city has 17 neighborhoods with voluntary councils, which serve as an important communication tool between the public and city council, says Katie Stebbins, deputy director of Economic Development for the city of Springfield, located in southwest Massachusetts.
In Springfield, the market has been oversaturated with low-income, multi-family housing. The neighborhood councils would like to see more market-rate housing. These are neighborhoods with 8 percent to 15 percent home ownership, says Stebbins, who also will be speaking at the Town Meeting.
Because of the public’s priorities, little time is spent looking at large commercial sites in Springfield. Instead, the city there has chosen to target the smaller sites--maybe a quarter of an acre--that were abandoned in neighborhoods and are a deterrent to redevelopment, Stebbins says. The city aggressively seeks to take control of these properties for nonpayment of taxes. It’s a way to eliminate these sites from a low-income neighborhood and attack one of their biggest environmental injustices.
Stebbins advises other developers and municipalities to be upfront and honest with the public when redeveloping a site. And that means about the costs, too. “It helps them gauge their expectations about what can go on that property,” she says.
When redeveloping these sites, it’s also important to pay attention to such details as pedestrian flow and aesthetics, issues important to the people who live in the neighborhood, Warner adds.
Stebbins also advises communities not to get so focused on the larger brownfield sites that they overlook these smaller projects that can turn a neighborhood around. “And sometimes leverage even more community investment.”
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Brownfields program up for reauthorization
With Congress expected to begin discussions next year on the reauthorization of the brownfields program, an informal coalition is recommending several changes to the program.
The coalition, a mix of 15 public and private entities, was formed last year during the annual brownfields national conference in Denver. With the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act expiring Sept. 30, the brownfields proponents viewed this as an opportunity to build on the success of the program’s last five years, says Charlie Bartsch, vice president of ICF International in Fairfax, Va., and a coalition member. The coalition believes it’s time to refine the successful program and enhance it, Bartsch says.
However, while the reauthorization appears to have congressional support, the House’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has recommended only two changes to the program: the elimination of the 25 percent petroleum funding set-aside restriction and a requirement to consider green building standards when ranking grant applications. A six-year extension of the program also has been recommended by the committee.
The EPA and the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska have not taken an official position on the reauthorization. However, the coalition believes these proposed changes aren’t enough. In fact, it’s proposing nearly two dozen changes.
For more information on the coalition’s proposed changes, see Bartsch’s article titled “Brownfields Program Reauthorization Under Way: Congressional Action, Stakeholder Advocacy” that outlines the recommendations. Published in the Sept. 21 update of BNA's Environmental Due Diligence Guide, it can be viewed at http://ehscenter.bna.com/pic2/ehs.nsf/id/BNAP-6UBFCL?OpenDocument.
Problem Solver
Idaho rails-to-trails project wins Phoenix Award
Six years ago, John Kolbe of Harrison, Idaho, was thinking about leaving this small town in the Idaho Panhandle. An aircraft mechanic, Kolbe couldn’t find much work in a town of about 250 people.
But then Kolbe had an idea. He heard of plans to convert the old railroad tracks running along Harrison’s lakeside into a biking trail. Kolbe had heard of other rail-to-trails projects before. The trails often times drew thousands of recreationists, spurring economic growth along their routes. So Kolbe opened Pedal Pushers, a bike rental and repair shop, three years before the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes officially did in 2004. Kolbe’s business has seen solid, steady growth. A kayak business, art gallery and gift shop also opened. Bed and breakfasts seem to be popping up everywhere.
“It’s looking good,” Kolbe says. “I think we’re just starting to see the tip of the iceberg.”
The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is certainly encouraging economic growth in northern Idaho. The 72-mile paved path follows the former Union Pacific rail line as it once meandered through mountain mining towns and along the Coeur d’Alene River and Coeur d’Alene Lake. The trail draws people by the thousands.
For its ingenuity and economic redevelopment, the trail was named the winner of the 2006 Phoenix Award for EPA Region 10. It will be among the award-winning projects honored at the November Brownfields 2006 national conference.
The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is a unique brownfields redevelopment because often times with these larger projects, the end result is not a public space, says Ed Moreen, EPA project manager based on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
“From EPA’s perspective, it is an innovative employment of CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act),” Moreen says. “It was a way to take a rail embankment that was highly contaminated and turn it into a public corridor.”
The trail was originally followed by the Coeur d’Alene Indians and later an important rail line in northern Idaho. Tons of ore concentrate once traveled down the tracks from the Silver Valley Mining District. Some of the concentrate and rock spilled along the way, leaving lead and other heavy metal pollution. In 1993, trains stopped using the line but the contaminants stayed.
Looking to get the metals-contaminated right-of-way cleaned up, a partnership formed between the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, EPA, state of Idaho and Union Pacific. The group negotiated a settlement, with Union Pacific paying for the $48.8 million project, which stretches from Mullan to Plummer.
The cleanup actions included removal of mine waste on the reservation, in residential areas and in seven “oasis” areas designated as rest stops. About 175,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil was removed from the right-of-way. All rails and ties were salvaged. Any remaining metals in the rail bed are contained beneath the asphalt trail surface.
Along most of the trail, contamination wasn’t removed but rather capped. In most areas, it didn’t make sense to clean up contamination on either side of the trail, where flooding can occur, says Nick Zilka of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Along the trail is signage cautioning users to stay on the trail and educating them about the remaining contamination.
Transfer of the trail’s land from Union Pacific is expected to be completed in two months, says Phillip Cernera, director of the tribe’s Coeur d’Alene Lake Management Department. Most of the trail will be transferred to state ownership, with about 15 miles of trail on the reservation going to the tribe.
Cernera recalls riding on a train, touring the rail line before the project started. Today, the trail is a “ribbon of clean that winds through contaminated lands,” he says.
“It will be a tool to use to educate people, to fight for further cleanup in the upper basin,” Cernera says.
About 110,000 people from all around the world will use the trail this year, says Bill Scudder, the trail’s park manager. Scudder sees new businesses opening to serve trail users, from bike shops like Kolbe’s to ice cream shops and inns. It’s also benefited local restaurants, hotels and campgrounds.
At about the center of the trail is Enaville Resort in Kingston. Owner Joe Peak is a founding member of the nonprofit group Friends of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. In summer, more than half his business is from bike riders coming off the trail or the nearby Route of the Hiawatha, another rails-to-trails project. The nonprofit group estimates the trail will spark $15 million a year in new revenues, Peak says.
While the trail has been a “ready-made moneymaker” for the valley, Peak points to another community benefit. “It joins our community,” he says. “We know a lot more about Harrison now, and they know a lot more about us.”
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Groundwork
Portland groups forming community-based land trust
A Portland coalition recently was awarded national funding to establish a community-based land trust to clean up and care for neglected areas in the city’s neighborhoods.
Groundwork Portland, a coalition consisting of community-based nonprofits as well as Portland State University, the city of Portland and EPA Region 10, aims to reclaim vacant and contaminated lands for conservation and recreation. Among its goals is to empower low-income neighborhoods in Portland.
“Our vision is to inspire communities to transform (blighted lands) into parks and other community assets,” says Mike Slater, EPA Region 10 brownfields coordinator for the Portland office and a member of the Groundwork Portland’s steering committee.
Groundwork Portland joins Groundwork USA (www.groundwork.net), a network of independent, nonprofit environmental businesses called Groundwork Trusts that are in 17 cities around the nation. Established on the East Coast, Groundwork USA’s mission is to develop community-based partnerships that empower people, businesses and organizations to promote community pride and rejuvenation.
Groundwork USA, which partners with the National Parks Service and the EPA, selected Portland to receive funding after touring the city in February and April. The Portland organization is the first established in the Pacific Northwest.
“The Portland committee did a good job of showing us the need and plan to address brownfields in the community,” Vernice Miller-Travis, Groundwork USA executive director, says in a press release. “We are delighted to spread our trust network into the Pacific Northwest.”
Groundwork Portland will receive $100,000 a year for two years for initial project work. That money is to be used to establish the organization and hire staff, says Clark Henry, project coordinator for the city of Portland’s brownfields program. About $15,000 is to be used immediately to develop a feasibility study and strategic plan, which is expected to be completed in March, Henry says. The city of Portland is matching $25,000 a year for three years, he adds.
Henry believes the new nonprofit is a good match for brownfields work. He expects Groundwork Portland to target environmental injustice issues on Portland’s north, northeast and southeast sides. Many of the commercial corridors in these areas have seen cases where contaminated properties, such as gas stations and dry cleaners, were abandoned rather than cleaned up. There will be much discussion with communities about what they want to see done in their neighborhoods with properties such as these.
All properties will have a community focus, Henry says. The Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust is on the organization’s steering committee. So, one possibility is to turn some of these lands into community gardens and kitchens.
Ultimately, it will be the neighborhoods that determine the best use for these lands, Slater says.
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News and Events
Oct. 18-19 in Tacoma: Northwest Environmental Summit and Tradeshow at the Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. Register at http://www.ecwashington.org/.
Nov 3 in Portland: 9th Annual Advanced Conference on the Sediment Management, in the auditorium of World Trade Center Two. Register at http://www.elecenter.com/conferences.php.
Nov. 13-15 in Boston: Now in its 11th year, the national brownfields conference is the premier annual event on the remediation, redesign and redevelopment of potentially contaminated properties. This year’s conference is titled “Revolution in Redevelopment.” Register at www.brownfields2006.org.
Dec. 7-8 in Portland: The Northwest Environmental Conference and Tradeshow at the Red Lion on the River – Jantzen Beach. Register at www.nwec.org.
Oregon has begun planning for its 2007 Brownfields Conference, to be held March 1-2, 2007, at the Salem Conference Center in Salem, Ore. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Those interested should contact Karen Homolac of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department at 503-986-0191, or Karen.Homolac@state.or.us.
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