Brownfields opportunities are international, as this story from England reminds us.  As described in this article, very high housing demand is driving the redevelopment of Brownfield properties and the number of sites vary significantly by town.

By Andrew Nowell

The borough has just 26 brownfield locations able to accommodate 1,468 houses, according to the engineering, design and project management consultancy firm which looked into the subject.

However, the sites in Wigan which could be turned into housing are, on the whole, reasonably large, as the borough has 113 hectares which could be put to use. This is the fifth-largest amount of land available to GM town halls.

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Posted September 14, 2020

New Ohio law provides long term liability protection for developers when re-openers arise. 

by Kim Palmer

A popular state bill that gives prospective buyers of contaminated property legal immunity in hopes of spurring redevelopment around the state was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine late Tuesday, June 16.

Ohio House Bill 168 establishes immunity for costs associated with cleanup, in cases where any original contaminations resurface from an environmentally blighted property after federally approved remediation efforts were undertaken by the new owner.

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Posted September 14, 2020

By Bob Clark, Olean Times Herald (NY)

Another brownfield cleanup in North Olean is being planned, the state Department of Environmental Conservation reported.

DEC officials said they will be accepting public comment for 30 days on a Brownfield Cleanup Program application for 351 Franklin St., a 6.26-acre site previously used for oil refineries.

The property is owned by 351 Franklin St., LLC., a corporation founded by R. Donald Benson, who has led several brownfield remediations in the area. Two commercial structures sit on the site. One is used by First Transit, Inc., for several local bus operations including the Olean Area Transit System, while the other structure is vacant.

…

For the entire article, see

https://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/new-brownfield-cleanup-proposed-on-franklin-street/article_05728d7a-1e7c-56df-ac61-c785945068dd.html

Posted September 8, 2020

By John Voket, Newtown Bee (CT)

Poking around the brownfield clean-up site a stone’s throw from Sandy Hook Village Center and the banks of the Pootatuck reveals a deteriorating complex of buildings that once contributed to Newtown’s manufacturing heritage.

Economic and Community Development Deputy Director Christal Preszler and colleague Christine O’Neil unlocked the heavy gate to the grounds of 28A Glen Road for a brief tour with The Newtown Bee, August 30, as the town announced a new grant being applied to tackle the containment and remediation of some of the most imminently hazardous materials that had been abandoned on the site for decades.

With a little imagination, it is easy to envision the cluster of buildings, once the site of R.S. Watkins & Sons, as a thriving beehive of activity that employed hundreds of local residents over the years, including a young William Halstead, who went on to serve as a long-time fire marshal and still serves as Chief of Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue.

...

When it was fully utilized, the property included one private residence, three industrial buildings, and two storage sheds. The residential structure dates from 1847, while the other buildings sprang up between 1943 and 1947.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.newtownbee.com/09042020/glen-road-brownfield-cleanup-targeting-hazmat-materials/

Posted September 8, 2020

More activity in Michigan, which is building a consistent Brownfield record.

A seven-figure brownfield plan is helping West Shore Bank make its move in Traverse City by building a new location near the Boardman River.

Sid Van Slyke, company senior vice president and market leader, said West Shore Bank will build the three-story structure south of the Eighth Street and Boardman Avenue intersection. The Ludington-based bank’s offices at Division and Front streets need room to grow, he said.

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Posted August 31, 2020

Although City parks make up 14% of NYC’s land, the Parks Department receives only 0.6% of the budget, @mollyfraser asserts that parks and gardens are neglected and overlooked, but are necessary infrastructure for successful and healthy neighborhoods.  Improving existing or adding new recreational use as part of redevelopment projects in NYC and elsewhere are likely to be well-received.

In 2019, NYLCV partnered with New Yorkers for Parks and DC 37 to launch the Play Fair for Parks Campaign, a multi-year effort to advocate for increased funding of parks maintenance, staff, and programming. The campaign involves a large, expanding coalition of more than 275 organizations. The Play Fair Campaign believes that investing in greenspaces makes New York City more resilient in the face of climate change and improves residents’ daily lives and overall health.

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Posted August 31, 2020

In June, EPA distributed $900,000 of funding to clean up and redevelop Brownfields in Camden, NJ, Niagara County, NY, and NYC.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday announced $900,000 of supplemental funding is slated for successful brownfields revolving loan fund (RLF) programs to clean up brownfields sites in Camden (New Jersey), Niagara County and New York City. The supplemental funds are part of $6.9 million going to communities across the country that have demonstrated success in using their brownfields funds to clean up and redevelop brownfields sites. The funds will be used to continue progress in reusing vacant and abandoned properties and turning them into community assets such as housing, recreation and open space, health facilities, social services and commerce opportunities.

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Posted August 24, 2020

Informative article on the shut down of coal plants, steps to reclamation/remediation.

Coal-fired power plants across the United States shut down in 2019 at the second-fastest pace on record. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), plants with a combined total of more than 15,100 megawatts ceased operating nationwide last year — enough to power 15 million homes, and second only to the number of megawatts retired during 2015. The reasons behind these closures are many: decreasing wholesale prices, competition from comparatively cheap and plentiful alternate energy sources such as natural gas, subsidized solar and wind energy, continued compliance with federal energy regulations, and public concern over coal’s effect on climate change. 

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Posted August 24, 2020

Proposals are due October 28, 2020 by 11:59 PM EST
  

Key Changes to the FY21 Competition Guidelines Include:

• COVID-19 Impacts: Entities that are experiencing technical difficulties in applying through www.grants.gov because of operational or other issues related to COVID-19 may request to submit the application by email. See EPA’s Solicitation Clauses for more details.
• Hazardous Substance and Petroleum Funding Requests: EPA no longer requires applicants to separate hazardous substance funding requests from petroleum funding requests. Rather, applicants will request one funding amount to address sites contaminated by hazardous substances and/or petroleum.
• Submission Materials: The Assurances for Non-Construction Programs (SF-424 B) is no longer required at time of submission.
• Confidential Business Information: Reminder to applicants: “EPA recommends that you do not include confidential business information (CBI) in your application. However, if CBI is included, it will be treated in accordance with 40 CFR 2.203. Applicants must clearly indicate which portion(s) of their application they are claiming as CBI.” See EPA’s Solicitation Clauses for more details.
• Outcomes and Benefits of Reuse Strategy: If applicable, applicants are to describe how the proposed project or revitalization plans will promote the sustainable reuse of existing buildings or structures.
• Threats to Sensitive Populations: This section has been reorganized to include “Describe how this grant will address or facilitate the identification and reduction of threats to…” in each of the three subcriteria.
• Incorporating Community Input: Applicants are to discuss alternatives to in-person community engagements due to COVID-19 and social distancing requirements.
• Task/Activity Lead: If applicable, applicants are required to explain why an entity(ies) other than the applicant is the lead. 
• Budget Table: There will only be one budget table for the total grant award. The applicant will be free to address both hazardous substances and petroleum contaminated sites as they proposed, but will not be required to spend a specific amount on hazardous substances and petroleum sites. 
• Point/Percentage Distribution: The maximum number of points and the point distribution has changed for each of the grants. 

The entire list of changes can be found HERE. 

All applications must be submitted through www.grants.gov  using the “Workspace” feature. Information on the Workspace feature can be found at theGrants.gov Workspace Overview Page at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/workspace-overview.html.  The posting is now up on www.grants.gov.  This is the only method EPA will accept applications; unless the applicant has an approved waiver to submit the application by mail under the Limited Exception Procedure policy (outlined in Appendix 1 of the Guidelines).
 
Please take advantage of NJIT TAB’s FREE grant proposal critique services.  The deadline for submitting for a grant critique is October 14, 2020, by close of business.  Send your 10 (or 12) page narrative to tab@njit.edu in Microsoft Word format.  We anticipate a high volume of grant critique requests; therefore, critiques will be provided on a first come first served basis. We strongly recommend submitting as early as possible.

The grant guidelines can be viewed at the links below:

 
FY 2021 Multipurpose Grant Guidelines

FY 2021 Assessment Grant Guidelines

FY 2021 Cleanup Grant Guidelines

Additional MAC Grant Application Resources

@HodgonRossLLP provides detailed summary of new financial incentives and stakeholder benefits in New York State for the redevelopment of underutilized properties with alternative energy and beneficial use outcomes. @jdsupra

Brownfields, landfills, and other underutilized sites are attracting renewable energy developers now more than ever.  In recent months, New York State has sent strong market signals that will drive development to these sites, so they can be put back into beneficial reuse.  The State’s leveraging of incentive dollars is meant to assist in offsetting the historical risk aversion to such redevelopment and ensure smart siting that benefits host communities in a myriad of ways. The State has coupled the increased incentives that will be available to project developers with community-based incentives, such as offsets of ratepayer bills, aimed at further encouraging local governments to seek out these types of redevelopments on certain controlled sites, as well as finding other ways to make these types of sites advantageous to developers.

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Posted August 10, 2020