The Greener Side of Brownfields

Years of abandonment have allowed many of our nation's derelict and contaminated factory sites (brownfields) to return to nature, providing habitat for endangered species and other wildlife and valuable open space for recreation. Can brownfields redevelopment plans, designed for economic and aesthetic benefits, actually be a detriment to these hidden urban natural treasures?

It needn't be so, says a new Brownfields to Greenfields position paper just published by NY/NJ Baykeeper. States around the nation along with innovative developers are proving that economic and environmental goals can go hand-in-hand in brownfields to greenfields redevelopment plans. The paper contends that there should be state subsidies and tax incentives for greenfields projects equal to existing incentives for brownfields redevelopment projects. This would help to ensure that any brownfields project has a greenfields component. http://www.nynjbaykeeper.org/news/102 

In Pennsylvania...

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell recently announced that the state’s strategic investment of more than $230 million over the last three years to clean up brownfields has helped to clean up and redevelop roughly 950 abandoned industrial sites while creating or retaining some 27,000 jobs. A new report, “Revitalizing Pennsylvania: A Report on Brownfield Investments 2003-2006,” notes that, on average, every public dollar invested in brownfields revitalization projects leverages at least a matching amount in private funds and, in some cases, as much as four times that amount. http://www.growinggreener2.com/files/BrownfieldRpt_092006.pdf

For more information on designing and funding brownfields land recycling projects, please contact F. X. Browne, Inc. at info@fxbrowne.com.