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RESEARCH ARTICLE: Urban Redevelopment and Contaminated Land: Lessons from Florida's Brownfield Redevelopment Program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

Carolyn Haslam
Carolyn Haslam*
Affiliation:
Carolyn Haslam, Orlando, Florida
*
Address correspondence to: Carolyn Haslam, 12925 Lexington Summit Street, Orlando, FL 32828; (phone) 407-620-1907; (email) [email protected]
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Abstract

Many communities contain a number of underutilized and contaminated infill properties, known as brownfields, which often result from changing development patterns. Florida's program offers incentives, such as liability protection and tax credits, for job creation and cleanup costs in order to alleviate this problem. Although the program has continuously expanded, after more then ten years little research has been conducted evaluating the program's effectiveness. In this article, I review the relevant literature and interview stakeholders to evaluate the program. Although little empirical evidence exists, Florida's program is largely considered successful. An increasing number of areas are designated, cleanup agreements are signed, and properties are cleaned and redeveloped. I have narrowed down a number of ideas that will help promote local brownfield programs as well as policy recommendations that would increase the effectiveness of state programs. Specifically, I have isolated a number of factors existing on the local level that promote brownfield development, including infill demand, access to funding, trained staff, experienced developers and consultants, political and community support, and land use/zoning intensity. Although every program would benefit from increased funding, greater consistency in review, and more research and information, I recommend several development policies that would promote brownfield development, such as a state policy and amended planning requirements. Through these changes targeted at the local and state levels, I believe that brownfield redevelopment could reach a new level of achievement.

Environmental Practice 11:153–163 (2009)

Type
FEATURES
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 153 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2009

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References

Notes

1 This article is adapted from a directed individual research project conducted to fulfill requirements of a master's degree from Florida State University, Urban & Regional Planning Department (May 2009).

2 Tara B. Koch, “Betting on Brownfields: Does Florida's Brownfields Act Transform Liability into Opportunity?” Stetson Law Review 18, no. 1 (1998): 171.

3 Several states are able to offer greater financial incentives for their brownfield programs, such as New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It should be noted that some of these higher-funded states can offer larger incentives because their funding is not from their general revenues. Both New York's and Michigan's program funding is derived from bond proceeds, totaling $200 million and $675 million, respectively. These states may also see greater project turnaround: New Jersey issued 3,623 no further action letters in 2007; New York notes that in 2007 the number of sites that completed all three of their brownfield programs was 228; Michigan has funded over 1,800 sites for cleanup and provided oversight for over 10,000 sites since its inception; and Wisconsin notes that 80 sites have been completed and 21,000 sites received no further action letters under their voluntary cleanup program and 9,000 have been completed through the traditional cleanup program. However, without greater comparison of each state's technical and legal requirements, it is impossible to evaluate how these numbers truly compare [see Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), State Brownfields and Voluntary Response Programs: An Update from the States, EPA-560-R-08-004 (EPA, Washington, DC, 2008), http://epa.gov/brownfields/pubs/st_res_prog_report.htm (accessed April 27, 2009)].

4 Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Brownfields Program Annual Update (FDEP, Tallahassee, FL, 2007); and email interview with Kim Walker, Brownfields liaison, FDEP, March 12, 2009.

5 Enterprise Florida, Incentives Report (Enterprise Florida, Orlando, FL, 2008).

6 Walker interview. Information obtained from the interview is to be included in the forthcoming FDEP annual report for 2008.

7 FDEP, Brownfields Program Annual Update.

8 Email interview with Roger Register, Director, TBE Group, March 15, 2009.

9 Ibid.

10 Register interview; and telephone interview with Michael Goldstein, shareholder, Akerman Senterfitt, April 8, 2009.

11 Telephone interview with F. Joseph Ullo Jr., associate, Lewis, Longman & Walker, P.A., March 10, 2009.

12 Goldstein interview.

13 Register interview and Goldstein interview.

14 Register interview.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Goldstein interview.

18 Register interview.

19 Ullo interview and Walker interview.

20 Walker interview.

21 EPA, State Brownfields and Voluntary Response Programs.

22 Ibid., 7.

23 Goldstein interview.

24 Ibid., 83.

25 Ibid., 28.

26 EPA, State Brownfields and Voluntary Response Programs, 83.

27 Elizabeth Collaton and Charles Bartsch, “Industrial Site Reuse and Urban Redevelopment: An Overview,” CityScape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research 2, no. 3 (1996): 17–61, quotation at 28.

28 Ibid.

29 Florida State University College of Law, Spring Environmental Forum Growth Management in a Shrinking Economy, Tallahassee, April 1, 2009.

30 Thomas A. Pelham, “A Historical Perspective for Evaluating Florida's Evolving Growth Management Process,” chap. 2 in Growth Management in Florida: Planning for Paradise, ed. Timothy S. Chapin, Charles E. Connerly, and Harrison T. Higgins (Ashgate, Aldershot, UK, 2007), 7–20, esp. 14.

31 Ibid.

32 Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Smart Growth in the Southeast: New Approaches for Guiding Development (Southern Environmental Land Center and Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC, 1999), 6, 21.

33 Yan Song, “The Spillover Effects of Growth Management: Constraints on New Housing Construction,” chap. 10 in Chapin et al., Growth Management in Florida: Planning for Paradise (see note 29), 155–168, esp. 156.

34 Telephone interview with Richard Murley, Director, Florida Atlantic University, Center for Urban Solutions, March 10, 2009.

35 Register interview.

36 Murley interview.

37 Ullo interview.

38 Goldstein interview.

39 Ibid.

40 Legislative Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (LCIR), Urban Revitalization in Florida (LCIR, Tallahassee, FL, 2005), 189 pp.

41 Ibid.

42 Register interview and Ullo interview.

43 Murley interview.

44 Ullo interview.

45 Terry Sheridan, “Pollution Profits,” Daily Business Review, November 18, 2002, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/AwardStories/Pollution.html (accessed April 27, 2009).

46 Goldstein interview.

47 Walker interview.

48 Register interview and Ullo interview.

49 Marilyn Bowden (quoting Michael Goldstein, Akerman Senterfitt), “Brownfields Advocates Pushing for Greater Development Incentives,” Miami Today, October 28, 2004, http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/041028/story6.shtml (accessed April 27, 2009).

50 International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Brownfields Redevelopment Manual (IEDC, Washington, DC), 167, http://www.iedconline.org/index.php?p=Brownfields_Redevelopment_Manual 2009 (accessed April 27, 2009).

51 Ibid.

52 Florida State University College of Law, Growth Management.

53 Register interview and O'Hara, Florida State University College of Law, Growth Management.

54 Urban Institute, The Effects of Environmental Hazards and Regulation on Urban Redevelopment (Urban Institute, Washington, DC, 1997), http://www.huduser.org/rbc/pdf/Environmental_Regs_Hazards_and_Regs.pdf (accessed April 27, 2009).

55 Murley interview.

56 Ibid.

57 Legislative Committee on Intergovernmental Relations (LCIR), Report on the Development of a State Urban Policy (LCIR, Tallahassee, FL, 1998), http://www.floridalcir.gov/UserContent/docs/File/reports/urban98.pdf (accessed April 27, 2009).

58 Ullo interview, Murley interview, Register interview, and Goldstein interview.

59 Fla. Stat. §163.3187(1)(g) (2008); and Goldstein interview.

60 Goldstein interview.

61 Goldstein interview; see also Nancy G. Linnan and Linda L. Shelley, Florida State University College of Law, Growth Management.

62 Ibid.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.