Expanding Brownfields Development Program

Governor M. Jodi Rell signed a pair of bills designed to expand the state’s brownfields development program by providing more opportunities for regional projects, establishing new sources of funding and offering tax incentives if developers adhere to a state-approved remediation plan.

Brownfields are former factory, mill and other contaminated sites that can be brought back into productive use after environmental remediation.

“Brownfields remediation is much more than cleaning up an old industrial lot. It is about revitalizing neighborhoods, creating jobs and boosting the local economy,” Governor Rell said during a bill signing at Waterbury brownfields site.

House Bill 5383 provides for the formation of regional economic development districts, allowing a region to apply for federal funds for brownfields redevelopment, and went into effect July 1, 2010.

House Bill 5436, An Act Concerning Brownfield Remediation Liability, expands the scope of several brownfields clean-up programs and establishes a working group to study brownfields issues. It allows municipalities to forgive back taxes on contaminated property if a developer agrees on a state-approved remediation plan. The legislation also allows the Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner to use funds from one brownfields program to help support two new ones.

The funding provision takes effect October 1, 2010.

Brownfields And Technical Assistance

The next round of Groundwork USA Pilot Funding and Tehnical Assistance has been posted by the National Park Service on the federal grants site www.grants.gov.

Note that a community must have received or be receiving funding from the EPA Brownfields Program to be eligible for the Groundwork USA Initiative.

For the latest information on the work of the Groundwork USA Network, see www.groundworkusa.org.

The due date for the initial letters of interest is June 16, 2010.

More information on the USEPA Brownfields Program can be found at
www.epa.gov/brownfields

Proposals For Urban Watershed Grants Sought

As part of the Urban Waters Initiative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available up to $600,000 in a targeted watershed grant for an eligible entity to establish and manage a national-scale, competitive urban watershed small grant program, and provide urban watershed technical services. EPA’s Urban Waters Initiative will help communities access, restore and benefit from their waters and the surrounding land.

The urban watershed small grant program and the watershed technical services funded under the EPA grant will promote "community stewardship by increasing the capacity of local watershed groups and local communities. Better understanding of their urban watersheds will lead to better decision making, and improved restoration and protection efforts in the future."

Questions must be received by May 6, 2010 and proposals must be received by EPA by May 19, 2010. The selection of the successful applicant will be announced this summer. More information on the Targeted Watershed Grants Program, http://www.epa.gov/twg.

Information about EPA's Brownfields Program at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields.

Brownfields: Economic Development Potential

The FY 2010 Guidelines for Brownfields Job Training Grants has been posted to the brownfields site at http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/grants/epa-oswer-oblr-09-07.pdf

The proposal deadline is Dec. 1, 2009.

Grants are funded up to $200,000 over two years to "bring together community groups, job training organizations, educators, labor groups, investors, lenders, developers, and other affected parties to address the issue of providing environmental employment and training for residents in communities impacted by brownfields."

EPA's Brownfields Program is an organized commitment to help communities revitalize brownfields properties both environmentally and economically, mitigate potential health risks, and restore economic vitality to areas where brownfields exist.

EPA Environmental Job Creation Applications

EPA is accepting applications from eligible governmental entities and nonprofit organizations to provide environmental job training projects and to facilitate job creation in the assessment, remediation, or preparation of brownfields sites for sustainable reuse.

Maximum value is not to exceed $500,000.

Eligible applicants must identify and propose to serve a community that currently receives, or has received, financial assistance (federal, state, or tribal) for brownfields assessment, revolving loan fund, cleanup, site-specific work carried out by state or tribal response programs, and/or targeted brownfields assessments performed directly by EPA.

For information, visit: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/eparecovery/index.htm; closing date is April 20, 2009.

'The Big Deal' Tranforms Fields Brown To Green

Real estate and brownfield industry professionals from across North America will gather to discuss sustainable development, and connect green building to brownfield sites at "The Big Deal," hosted by the National Brownfield Associations (NBA) and the City of Phoenix, March 23 and 24. Held at the Phoenix Convention Center, the conference offers more than 30 breakout sessions, covering finance, insurance, and engineering aspects.

Real estate brokers can register to display shovel-ready sites on the transaction forum web page; see www.nbabigdeal.org.

Travel costs to the conference may be an eligible expense for EPA grantees, depending on work plans.

The NBA network includes more than 1,200 public and private sector decision-makers. Based in Chicago, the group has chapters in 20 states and offers a Canadian division.

Training Grants to Green Connecticut Brownfields

A "brownfield" is a property where the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S., and because of its industrial past and present, Connecticut has its share, even in rural communities.

Grants have been awarded in 12 states including Connecticut, to share $2.6 million in job training grants to clean up contaminated properties and turn them into productive community assets. The recipients are Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, Waterbury, and The Workplace, Inc., Southwestern Connecticut Regional Workforce, Bridgeport. For details, see this EPA link.

The EPA Brownfields Program, earmarked grants of $200,000 each to non-profit organizations, workforce investment boards, and state and local governments.

The grant money will "teach environmental assessment and cleanup job skills to individuals living in areas near brownfields sites" in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Land Use, Aerial View, Applications

Iowa is the third state in the U.S. to compile aerial photos into a digital format database, joining Connecticut and Delaware.

Aerial photos can be used by anyone with access to a computer and the Internet. Once a time-consuming process, information in multi-layered detail can be found at a keystroke.

Images have regulatory and resource management uses, such as for planning land use and brownfields programs.

Development, Greening of Brownfields

Five brownfield sites across Connecticut will receive a total of $2.25 million to assist in redevelopment efforts under a pilot program funded through the state Bond Commission.

The Brownfield Municipal Pilot Program was created in 2006 and expanded through legislation in 2007. Under the program, the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) designates five pilot projects in a variety of communities where untreated brownfields are hindering economic development. Two projects must be in cities with populations more than 100,000; one must be in a city with a population between 50,000 and 100,000; and one must be selected from a municipality with a population of less than 50,000. The fifth project is selected at the discretion of the DECD commissioner.

The projects include:

Stamford, $450,000 for the Harbor Point Partnership Project, an 80-acre former industrial site that is being redeveloped for office, housing, hotel and mixed-use development. Pilot funds will be used for remediation at the location of a new 3.25-acre public park.

Waterbury, $650,000 for the clean-up of the Cherry Street Industrial Project. The pilot funds will be used for abatement, demolition and remediation of two vacant industrial buildings. A new, 63,000-square-foot building will be built on the site to accommodate the expansion of Bender Plumbing Supply.

Community between 50,000 and 100,000 in population

Norwalk, $300,000 for remediation of the three-acre South Norwalk train station site, which is targeted for transit-oriented redevelopment.

Community with less than 50,000 in population

The Georgetown Redevelopment Project, Redding, $425,000 for remediation and removal of contaminated soil at the site of the 51-acre former Gilbert & Bennet Wire Mill. On completion, this multi-phase project will include housing, retail, community facilities and a new train platform.

Discretionary community

Shelton, $425,000, remediation of a one-acre site that will be offered for private sale and redevelopment. Adjacent to the Housatonic River, this site was the location of chemical manufacturer Axton Cross. The site is a key component of the redevelopment of downtown Shelton known as Enterprise and Commerce Park.

In related news, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has named the president of Virginia Industries of Rocky Hill, Laura Grondin, to become the new chairwoman of the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA).

Grondin, who lives in Haddam, has led the Rocky Hill manufacturer since 1999 and has been a member of the CDA board of directors since November 2007.

Formerly president of the Hartford Bearing Co., a division of Virginia Industries, Grondin has served on many public and private boards, agencies, and associations. These include: the Connecticut Business & Industry Association; the Children’s Law Center of Connecticut; the Connecticut Women’s Council, and the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce, Arts Council and Jaycees. She also served as a member of state government’s Brownfields Task Force. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

The General Assembly established CDA as a quasi-public agency in 1988 to provide debt financing and investment capital to help Connecticut businesses grow.

Grondin succeeds L. Scott Franz, who was elected in November to become the new state senator for the 36th District. Frantz also had chaired Bradley International Airport’s board of directors, from which he resigned recently.