Planning
Taking the time to develop a comprehensive plan of action is the key element for brownfields redevelopment success.
Many communities new to the brownfields redevelopment arena have a tendency to become site-centric in their approach to the brownfield redevelopment process, focusing only on the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of that particular site. This narrow vision leaves out many critical elements of the redevelopment process, such as community engagement, that not only benefit the wider community, but help create the foundation and roadmap that inform the process and encourage a more equitable and inclusive outcome.
Brownfield projects typically have many working parts and are not necessarily linear in nature, therefore identifying project goals, and developing an action plan that includes solid comprehensive planning practices is critical to getting all these working parts moving in the same direction. There are a number of activities related to planning for a brownfield redevelopment that will play a role throughout the redevelopment process and they are typically the first tasks to be performed. These activities include:
Stakeholders, Partnerships & Engagement
Forming a Brownfields Task Force and Identifying a Project Champion
The first step in the planning process is the creation of a Brownfields Task Force - a multi-disciplinary group of people with a vested interest in the cleanup and redevelopment of a community’s brownfield sites. Its members bring multiple perspectives and resources to the table. The Task Force should include municipal officials from several different departments (such as planning, health, public safety, engineering), and representatives from environmental and economic development nonprofits, as well as community organizations. Choose a Task Force Chairperson who will serve as the community’s Brownfields Champion: who is thoroughly committed to the mission of the task force; has ample time to dedicate to the task force; and, is very organized. (for more information on creating a Brownfields Task Force click here).
Community Engagement
When developing a brownfields blueprint, community engagement should be a top priority, and a community should be engaged early and often, and the type of engagement employed to carry out this outreach should be tailored to fit a community’s particular set of circumstances. For further guidance please see COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Partner with Key Federal, State Agencies, and Other Assistance Providers
Many federal and state agencies such as USEPA, USDA, HUD, USEDA, NJDEP, and NJEDA provide invaluable resources, assistance, and funding to brownfield projects and the success of many brownfield projects depends on their ability to bring their assets to bear. Additionally, New Jersey communities can take advantage of free technical guidance from providers such as the NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT.
Assess Where You Are At
Once you have defined your brownfields team, the next steps should include assessing where you are at. In many cases, brownfields practitioners have a tendency to become site-centric. They become so focused on the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of the target site that they fail to look beyond its bounds and assess its context as it relates to the surrounding community and inadvertently sail off into troubled waters. Before approaching the community to obtain input, the brownfields practitioner should identify what the site conditions and constraints are, as well as what planning and investments, if any, have occurred related to the site itself. Typical site conditions and constraints to consider include the size of the site, site condition (i.e., vacant, overgrown), access, zoning, known contamination, utilities serving site, and environmental constraints (i.e., wetlands, water bodies, floodplain, and historic resources).
Planning and investments worth identifying would include: the municipal master plan as it relates to the site and surrounding area, site or neighborhood redevelopment plans, transportation plans (i.e., roadway widening, access ramps, transit service, piers, etc.), municipal investments to infrastructure related to the site and surrounding community (i.e., sidewalk repairs, water, sewer, pedestrian amenities, improvement district, supportive zoning changes, etc.)? If your focus area is larger in size than one or two sites, you may also want to see if the municipality has developed a brownfields inventory and/or has ranked the site through a site prioritization process. Having this information handy will serve as a solid foundation for engaging stakeholders, developers, and the community in creating a vision for the site and surrounding area.
Developing a Brownfields Blueprint
After assessing where you are, you will be able to identify what gaps you have for the development of your brownfields blueprint and can begin the process of engaging stakeholders, the community and potential developers. The jumping-off points for each individual community can vary greatly. Some communities have identified and are well aware of many of the elements mentioned in the previous section and are ready to hit the ground running, others have many of the elements but lack the capacity or knowledge to pull them together, and others lack the elements and the capacity. Regardless of where a particular community may fall on the “jumping off” spectrum, it can begin to create a vision for the brownfield project by engaging the community and stakeholders.
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