By Steve Dwyer

There’s a love affair brewing in New Jersey—an atypical one but it’s authentic in its power and commitment. 

“Opportunity Zones” are popping up in the Garden State, an outgrowth of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Gov. Phil Murphy simply loves this idea. How much so? His administration jumped on this golden opportunity, designating 75 communities in New Jersey as opportunity zones thus far, with perhaps more to come. “It’s the only part of the tax bill that we like,” Murphy said. “We are head-over-heels in love with this.”

The Opportunity Zone initiative holds the potential to attract billions of dollars in capital investment from the private sector, boosting the prospects of compelling business and economic growth and prosperity for New Jersey’s poorest communities. The program will be run by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. 

What’s not to like? Brownfields practitioners know the vital need for the private-public partnership to excel for projects to fly. 

“When it’s all said and done, I think the capital you are going to attract to New Jersey won’t be measured in the millions, or even in the hundreds of millions. I think your efforts will bring billions of dollars of new investment into our state, grow our tax base, and create more revenue for all,” said N.J. Sen. Cory Booker, in a statement.

Federal Opportunity Zones allow for investments to be made in certain communities in return for reduced taxes on the capital gains they earn. If the investments are kept going for 10 years or more, investors could reap even more benefits. 

Over 200 investors, economic developers and business and community leaders attended a recent symposium around economic development in New Jersey, according to the Governor’s office.   The idea is to get “parked” capital invested back into areas that are emerging economically.

The program provides opportunities for private investors to support investments in distressed communities through participation in Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF). 

Brownfields stakeholders need to be incentivized to put the wheels in motion on project commitments. Here’s a biggie: Investors can defer paying federal taxes on capital gains reinvested in QOF that invest in low-income communities, under rules released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Reinvested capital gains are deferred from taxation until exit from a QOF or December 31, 2026, whichever comes first. However, gains from QOF investments held for the long term are taxed at reduced rates, with the rate reductions increasing at the 5, 7 and 10-year marks. Any gains from QOF investments held for at least 10 years will be permanently excluded from the capital gains tax.

The final rules and guidelines from the Opportunity Zone program are in the process of being released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. However, the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act states that “Opportunity Funds must hold at least 90% of their assets in Qualified Opportunity Zone stock, partnership interests or business property.

To receive tax deferrals, capital gains must be reinvested in QOF within 180 days of the date of sale or exchange producing the gains. Tax deferrals last until December 31, 2026, after which the Opportunity Zone program will end absent reauthorization by Congress.

Gov. Murphy has been authorized to designate up to 25% of the state’s eligible low-income census tracts (up to 169 tracts) as Opportunity Zones. Those 169 tracts were nominated on March 20 and approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on April 9. In the name of equity, 75 municipalities, representing every county in the state, received at least one Opportunity Zone.

The Governor worked directly with Sen. Booker’s office, convened meetings and roundtables with mayors throughout the state to receive feedback and input, and met with the New Jersey Congressional delegation to ensure a fair and transparent selection process. Designated census tracts reflect key economic indicators (e.g. income, unemployment rate, property values) that also take into consideration geographic distribution, access to transit, and the value of existing investments, including those encouraged by state programs and incentives.

It will be interesting to document how other states in the BCONE membership network are optimizing this progressive federal program in the months and years to come.  We know from BCONE Board member Hannah Moore that Rhode Island is active in its Opportunity Zone process. 

The Opportunity Zone initiative is one with tremendous upside for reuse and redevelopment practitioners of all stripes. Now let’s get after it! 

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is accepting applications from municipalities and economic development agencies for its 12th round of competitive grant funding as part of the state’s Brownfield Remediation Program.

The initiative provides opportunities to investigate, clean up and revitalize blighted properties that have fallen into disrepair and puts them back into productive use in ways that benefit local economies.

Municipalities and economic development agencies are eligible to request funding of up to $1 million for individual remediation projects and up to $200,000 for assessment projects.

Awards may be used for a range of brownfield assessment, remediation and redevelopment activities, including abatement, demolition, site investigation and assessment, groundwater monitoring, installation of institutional controls, and professional service fees associated with redevelopment.

All projects will be rated and ranked by an interagency committee on the following criteria:

• Applicant/municipal financial need;

• Remediation/cleanup (or assessment) project feasibility;

• Redevelopment project feasibility;

• Redevelopment project economic and community impact;

• Responsible growth and livability initiatives; and

• Applicant capacity and experience.

To date, the state has invested $223 million in more than 246 old or vacant factories, mills, warehouses, and other contaminated sites and structures under the program. This round will see an investment of up to $4 million for remediation projects, with up to $1 million of that amount reserved specifically for assessment projects.

Application information can be downloaded online at www.ct.gov/ctbrownfields. All applications must be submitted via email to brownfields@ct.gov no later than Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 3:00 p.m.

The September issue of Real Estate NJ recognized the event BCONE held at the Roebling Museum this past August. To view, go to page 32 at the following link: https://re-nj.com/flipbook/21-Sept2018

Officials identified more than double the number of contaminated properties than they expected that could be in need of remediation and redevelopment in the greater Bellport area.

By Deon J. Hampton, Long Island Newsday (NY)

Brookhaven planning officials have identified more than 633 potentially contaminatedproperties — more than double what they expected — that could be in need of remediation and redevelopment in the greater Bellport area.

Most of the parcels, known as brownfields, are the site of warehouses, auto and manufacturing businesses where oils, liquids and antifreeze leak into soil and groundwater along Montauk Highway in the hamlets of North Bellport, Hagerman and East Patchogue, planning officials said.

…

Initially, Brookhaven expected to survey 302 parcels of land. During the study, officials determined additional properties needed to be inspected, Brookhaven Town planner Joseph Sanzano said Wednesday.

…

For the entire article, see

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/brookhaven-brownfield-study-1.20966913

By Vinny Vella, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)

The state's Superior Court has ruled in favor of residents and environmental activists in Chester County, tossing out an appeal from a developer who had filed a defamation suit against them.

In an opinion issued Thursday, Judge John T. Bender upheld a county court decision last August dismissing a lawsuit filed by developer J. Brian O'Neill and his partners at Constitution Drive Partners LP. Bender ruled that statements made by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network regarding a plan to build more than 200 homes on the former Bishop Tube Co. site, off Malin Road near Route 30 in East Whiteland, were accurate, therefore not defamatory.

Groundwater at the site, a brownfield currently being monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, has tested positive for a degreasing agent linked to cancer.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/bishop-tube-east-whiteland-brownfield-development-court-ruling-20180910.html

By John Penney, Norwich Bulletin (CT)

Several University of Connecticut students will be helping Plainfield officials during the next several months with brownfield assessment work, part of a college training program aimed helping towns transform abandoned and polluted properties into viable real estate.

The town was one of seven municipalities and state councils of governments named as a recipient of the Connecticut Brownfields Initiative municipal grant program, town Planning & Zoning Supervisor Mary Ann Chinatti said.

“This is the first year of this initiative, so it’s awesome we were chosen,” she said. “The students – there should be four assigned to each recipient – will work with us for a semester.”

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/20180905/uconn-students-to-help-with-plainfield-brownfield-documentation

By Mike Reuther, Williamsport Sun-Gazette (PA)

A state Department of Environmental Protection pilot program to restore and repurpose brownfield sites includes remedial work needed to connect walking and bicycle trails in Lycoming County.

The plan was briefly shared by Randy Farmerie, DEP environmental cleanup and brownfields program manager, with the Environment Justice Advisory Board Tuesday.

The Susquehanna River Walk starts in Montoursville and extends through the city of Williamsport to Susquehanna State Park. Plans are to eventually extend the path to connect to the Pine Creek Rail Trail path in Jersey Shore that runs north along Pine Creek.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.sungazette.com/news/top-news/2018/08/brownfield-restoration-project-eyed-for-county/

By Steve Dwyer 

We recently shone a light on a greenhouse in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built on a former brownfield, it’s proving to have multiple advantages -- from reducing the carbon footprint to sourcing fresh produce locally to providing an economic boost to the local community.  

Not far from this site in Providence, Rhode Island, there’s an urban flower farm -- What Cheer Flower Farm, incorporated last October -- that has similar characteristics and is making equal progress as a difference-maker in the local community.

Besides brightening people’s lives with free flowers, the non-profit’s mission of the farm includes reversing urban blight, creating a job training center for Rhode Island residents to help them enter the state’s $2.5 billion green economy and making Providence famous for urban flower farming.

This site has come a long way, and it’s a testament to hard work and proactive diligence -- thinking outside the box. The 2.7-acre property, a former brownfield with industrial activity, had been neglected and was rife with wind-blown trash until three local Providence businesswomen bought the derelict property for $525,000. After the sale became final, the first two essential items that the owners brought to the site were a port-a-potty and a truckload of compost.

The owners and a team of volunteers ripped up poison ivy by gloved hand and brought in a tractor to help tear down the overgrowth. The empty factory with a brick facade, largely vacant since the 1990s, had no running water or electricity and had been covered in graffiti. It was a victim of arson and has been gutted of all scrap metal.

In addition to the central headline of this project—that being “owner/developers help restore an abandoned eyesore and put into productive reuse”—there’s a sidebar: The way that local community volunteers joined together to take ownership of this blighted, abandoned and dilapidated (BAD) property during the crucial formative period was commendable. 

Think about how many former brownfields sit in disarray, ignored by a local community, including the local government, because there are other more pressing matters to attend to. 

This was pointed out as I recall  during an informative educational session delivered by Patrick Kirby, director of the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, at the 2015 EPA Brownfield Conference in Chicago. Patrick discussed the “BAD” concept and how volunteerism around a former brownfield in several WV communities during the so-called limbo period made a significant difference in restoring civic pride and curtailing potential vandalism. Volunteers who put sweat equity into these types of efforts even help facilitate, and expedite, a buyer-developer to step forward. 

Kirby discussed how in several communities in WV that had BAD properties, volunteers worked in shifts to regularly mow grass, pick up trash and keep an eye out for vagrants that might populate the property. 

The same approach was taken in Providence at the urban flower farm, and the result is a very productive business that’s making a world of difference in the local community. What Cheer Flower Farm commenced its growing season in June. The seeds had to be planted late in the season because there was significant work to oversee as the property was covered in pavement. Some 4,000 square feet of parking lot had to be torn up and transformed into an organic raised-bed field of flowers, both perennial and annual. 

The results are a budding success: The nonprofit flower farm has two full-time farmers supported by an army of volunteers to grow organic flowers on this former brownfield site. The proprietors give their product away to people who deserve flowers but don’t have access. To supply those people who deserve flowers, What Cheer Flower Farm has partnered with Amos House, the Ronald McDonald House of Providence, and Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island. The owners deliver bouquets and buckets of cut flowers to these institutions and other partners.

About 90% of the flowers currently being grown at the farm were started from seed by one of the owners in her kitchen and in a friend’s basement. The rest of the plants were donated by Green Animals Topiary Garden in a nearby community. The farm doesn’t plan on growing vegetables as it doesn’t want to compete with Southside Community Land Trust and other urban farmers.

Where a dilapidated building now stands, the co-founders envision a barn, classroom space, an office and space for lease. 

What Cheer Flower Farm has applied for a brownfield remediation grant with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. An ongoing inventory assessment didn’t find elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The owners have worked with the National Resources Conservation Service and David Foss of Wilcox & Barton Inc., a Vermont-based environmental consulting firm.

Indeed, the new urban flower farm is making huge inroads in the Providence community and doing so on many levels.  There are testimonials that bear this out. On What Cheer Flower Farm’s Facebook page, a happy visitor to the site not only assigned it a “like” but gave the urban flower garden some love. “I had to see it to believe it! It’s true, it’s true... Flowers growing and giving life to a place that hasn’t seen the blessing of the sunshine in a long time,” the post stated. 

By Iulia Gheorghiu, Utility Dive

• The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) released new guidance for municipalities developing solar projects on landfills or brownfields, to maximize expansion on underutilized land and the state's efforts to increase renewable generation.

• The leasing instructions and templates in the Municipal Solar Procurement Toolkit reflect a lower threshhold of environmental review for projects on brownfields and landfills due to recent updates from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

• In June, the DEC adopted a rulemaking package to streamline the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) regulations, which does not require contractors to make formal assessments of environmental impacts of solar projects on brownfields. As the first update to SEQR in more than two decades, the changes, including the brownfield component, will take effect January 1, 2019.

…

For the entire article, see

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/new-york-unveils-new-toolkit-to-drive-solar-on-brownfields/530856/

On August 24, 2018, Raymond Cantor, BCONE Designee to NRD Task Force, submitted a letter on behalf of BCONE outlining a policy proposal regarding liability protection of innocent redevelopers from natural resource damages. The letter can be viewed here: BCONE-NRD-Letter-08-24-18.pdf