The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) recently developed a Guide to help communities with brownfields to
more successfully address community revitalization and brownfields-related challenges. The guide outlines concrete actions communities can take to address these challenges.
Through the three case studies described in the Guide, it is shown that attracting public or private investment for the reuse of brownfield properties can bring economic and social benefits to communities, in addition to improving environmental conditions.
The Guide provides details of the five steps for successful brownfield redevelopment:
- Lead with stakeholder involvement that empowers the local community to become redevelopment champions.
- Create a site reuse vision that is exciting and realistic.
- Remove barriers to brownfield redevelopment (i.e., expediting zoning and permitting approvals).
- Engage developers and end-users.
- Complete site preparations and close the deal.
The Guide also discusses opportunities for obtaining brownfield grants and technical assistance. The U.S. EPA provides grants and technical assistance to local, state and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations. As of February 1, 2019, these federal government investments in brownfield remediation projects have leveraged $27.527 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources and resulted in the creation of over 144,800 jobs.
