A Regional Brownfield Redevelopment Program
Regional Brownfield Coalition Vision: Brownfield redevelopment will contribute to vibrant communities and a sustainable, healthy environment.
The Benefits of a Regional Brownfield Coalition
A regional approach to Brownfield redevelopment offers advantages to all of us.
By working together, we can:
- Protect human health and the environment.
- Lower the costs of providing services to sites because of existing infrastructure; roads, power, rail, sewer, and water lines.
- Increase community awareness and acceptance of proposed re-use of Brownfield sites.
- Conserve agricultural and forest lands.
- Increase the local tax base by revitalizing vacant buildings and sites.
- Provide liability relief to local governments, residents, and property owners.
- Help speed up property clean-up to reduce health and environmental risks to residents and communities.
- Build regional expertise on Brownfields and the redevelopment process for Brownfield sites.
- Create financial and other resources for planners, economic developers, site owners and Developers.
- Build long-term partnerships with communities, neighborhood groups, environmental organizations, and others.
- Create regional linkages to strengthen the redevelopment process.
- Create a powerful force to protect the environment.
What are Brownfields?
Brownfields are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. However, expansion or redevelopment of these facilities may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
Cleaning up and re-investing in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures off green spaces and working lands.
Typical Brownfield Sites:
- Textile Mills
- Light & Heavy Industrial Properties
- Manufacturing Facilities
- Machine Shops
- Dry Cleaners
- Abandoned Schools
- Gas Stations
- Old junk yards
- Furniture operations
What is a Brownfield Agreement?
A brownfields agreement is designed to close off the environmental liability barriers that hinder a developer's ability to obtain project financing. The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) will enter into an agreement that is essentially a covenant not-to-sue offered to a prospective developer of a brownfields property. Under a brownfields agreement, a prospective developer agrees to perform those actions deemed by the NCDENR to be essential to make the property suitable for the proposed reuse.
In return, NCDENR agrees to limit the liability of the prospective developer to those actions described in the agreement. This allows the prospective developer to go to a lending institution with a defined, instead of an open-ended, liability for environmental cleanup. Through such agreements, redevelopment at these brownfields sites will be encouraged, lessening the incentive for developers to move into "green fields" areas. While these defined liability benefits are extended to the prospective developer, the brownfields agreement in no way changes the legal liability for the responsible parties at the site. (NCBrownfield.org)
Regional Approach
- Promoting Partnerships
- Enhancing collaboration and communication essential to facilitate brownfields cleanup and reuse.
- Identifying Site
- Finding sites with market reuse potential
- Strengthening the Marketplace
- Providing financial and technical assistance to bolster the private market.
- Sustaining Reuse
- Redeveloping brownfields to enhance a community's long-term quality of life.
- Evaluating Financial Incentives
- Locating the right incentives for the project.