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| Brownfields Weekly |
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March 21, 2002 THIS WEEK:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The editorial staff of Brownfields Weekly welcome your relevant news and announcements. Send news items to: editors@brownfields.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brownfields 2002 in Charlotte, NC: Dates and Deadlines CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - "Brownfields 2002: Investing in the Future" is the country's largest annual conference addressing the redevelopment of idled, abandoned, or underused properties. The conference will provide engaging discussions, opportunities for critical networking, and forums that will help both beginners and veterans create the partnerships that are changing America’s communities. As with prior conferences, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) is sponsoring the Brownfields Showcase and Exhibition Center. By exhibiting at the conference, lenders, developers, technical experts, insurers, and government and community groups can highlight their environmental cleanup and redevelopment products, expertise, services, and projects to an audience of thousands of brownfields practitioners and decision-makers. Exhibit Hall Opportunities ICMA is also offering partnerships to companies and organizations, enabling them to stand apart from other exhibitors, giving them a competitive advantage in the brownfields marketplace. For more information on ICMA’s Partnership Program, contact Julie Pearson at (202) 962-3674 or e-mail jpearson@icma.org. Call For Presentations Phoenix Awards Travel Scholarships Visit the Brownfields 2002
Conference Page or the ICMA web site for more information:
Plan Proposed for Historic Site Preservation and Cleanup STRAFFORD AND THETFORD, Vermont - The EPA announced a proposal to clean up the Elizabeth Mine Superfund Site in Strafford and Thetford, Vermont that will minimize the adverse impacts of acid mine drainage (AMD) into the West Branch of the Ompompanoosuc River. The federal government expects to pay an estimated $16 million in cleanup costs for design and construction. The state of Vermont will be responsible for maintenance costs related to the site. On a track parallel to the cleanup investigation, EPA conducted an assessment of the historic significance of the mine, and concluded the site is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. EPA has evaluated measures to avoid or minimize impacts to historic features of the site in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act and will enter into a memorandum of agreement with appropriate parties to ensure protection of these historic resources. Over the past two years, EPA engaged in ongoing dialogue with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, the Vermont State Historic Preservation Office and the Elizabeth Mine Community Advisory Group (EMCAG). The EMCAG is a ten member group of local officials and residents whose input has significantly affected EPA's cleanup proposal. "This site represents a unique challenge given the significant environmental impacts and the importance of the historic resource," said Robert W. Varney, EPA New England regional administrator. "The concerns and comments we heard from the local stakeholders played a major role in developing a cleanup proposal that provides the best balance of environmental protection and historic preservation." Rod Maclay, chair of the Elizabeth Mine Community Advisory Group said: "The Elizabeth Mine Community Advisory Group is very pleased with EPA's cleanup alternatives. EPA has done a remarkable job in responding to our concerns. We hope that the state of Vermont will follow through with its promise to try to preserve the historic resources at the site, and look forward to continuing to work with EPA as the cleanup proceeds." The 30 day public comment period will be open from March 15th to April 15th, 2002.
Register Now for EDA's 2002 Economic Development Conference Make plans now to join colleagues in Philadelphia, April 1-3, 2002, for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) Economic Development conference. The keynote speaker will be Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania Governor and current Director of the Office of Homeland Security. Network with stakeholders, learn about changes at EDA, get up-to-date information on federal programs and new trends in Brownfields redevelopment, and do it all just blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. For more information and to
register, please visit: Click here to visit the Brownfields.com Conferences page for the latest industry events. Green Home Building Catching on in Texas Construction of more energy-efficient homes could increase rapidly this year thanks to new statewide residential energy codes in Texas. Patrick Kelly, Energy Star coordinator at EPA-Dallas, says Texas' adopting the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code in 2001 as its first statewide residential building code is an important step toward saving energy and preventing pollution, especially in the state's large cities where 70 percent of its new construction occurs. The new Texas code comes closer to Energy Star standards, which can mean a home uses 30 percent less energy for heating, cooling and water heating than a home built to standards in older model codes. All south central states are involved in energy conservation and have statewide conservation and energy codes that require some energy-efficient features in newly built homes. Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico currently are considering upgrades to their codes that would make new homes even more energy efficient. A Growing Interest Kelly sees a growing interest in energy conservation among builders, who sense a consumer concern over rising utility costs. Before 2001, EPA enlisted 16 Texas partners who committed to offer and build Energy Star homes. During 2001 alone, another 63 Texas builders joined the program. Others already were excited about energy conservation. The City of Austin has long encouraged construction of energy-efficient homes with incentives through its city-owned utility company. Fast-growing Frisco, in north Texas, became the first city in the nation to make Energy Star standards part of its city building code. A Norman, Oklahoma, builder grew from completing 300 to 500 homes a year after becoming an Energy Star partner. Three partners in Texas and one each in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico last year built only Energy Star homes. And now, with statewide building codes upping energy-efficiency standards and home buyers more concerned about rising energy costs, demand for Energy Star homes may grow quickly. Saving Energy and Money Building energy-efficient features into a new home, for many, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save serious money on utility costs. Adding many of those features later can be much more expensive. Building more energy-saving homes is important. The generation of power to supply an average home pollutes the air more than the average car does. Most electricity is still produced by coal-burning power plants that release nitrogen oxides in their emissions. The nitrogen oxides react with other chemicals in the air to create ozone, the main cause of air pollution. So conserving electricity means healthier air to breathe. Energy Star homes save about 30 percent on utility costs, or about $400 a year for a typical home. Much of the savings is due to the following features built into the new homes:
Then, after adding Energy Star built-in appliances and lighting, a builder provides a more comfortable home that will save the buyer money for many, many years. Plus, an Energy Star mortgage can help a prospective home buyer qualify for a larger loan and reduce closing costs. To be labeled as Energy Star, homes must undergo a third party evaluation of their energy efficiency. The builder may label a home with the Energy Star only after energy efficiency has been verified. Energy-efficient homes are stirring more interest than ever before. That's good for everyone -- builders, prospective home-buyers, mortgage companies and, especially, the environment. For more information on EnergyStar
homes, please visit:
New Life for Tainted Site The Wynwood property that Bill Cocose first set eyes on five years ago was hardly a developer's dream. Eight-foot-high mounds of garbage, old tires and cast-off furniture choked the site and spilled into the street, and vagrants and crack addicts had moved into one of the buildings. To make matters worse, the commercial laundry that once operated there was suspected of contaminating ground water and someone had buried drums of heavy fuel oil under all the trash. "This was the cancer of the neighborhood," said Cocose, president of Atwater Capital Group, a Boca Raton company that specializes in redeveloping brownfields -- abandoned or underutilized industrial or commercial properties where possible environmental contamination hinders development. Now the former brownfield site is being hailed as an example of what can happen when government, private business, and the community work together to reclaim property that used to scare investors away. A new MetroMix cement plant, providing dozens of much-needed jobs for the neighborhood, opened February 7; the contamination is gone and across the street from the cement plant, rusting machinery and conveyor belts have been ripped out of the old laundry and the 44,000-square-foot shell is ready to begin a new life. Cocose is negotiating the sale of the laundry building at 2136 NW First Ave. and a smaller adjoining building with a group of developers who are interested in transforming it into artists' studios and living space. When Cocose first saw the site he was able to look beyond the mess. The laundry -- with its green tile facade -- had the "potential to be a great art deco building" and the lot across the street with the buried drums was well located for an industrial site, he said. Cocose, who had redeveloped several brownfields sites in the Chicago area before coming to South Florida, said he used to do traditional real estate projects but was attracted to the challenge of brownfields redevelopment. "We think we can see the intrinsic value in properties when others can't," he said. "Part of brownfields redevelopment is looking beyond the obvious." Still, the Wynwood project was daunting. The property was in bankruptcy court, there was an IRS lien against it, several years of back taxes were owed, and a creditor had a judgment lien in excess of $1 million. Then there were the environmental problems. Michael Goldstein, Cocose's lawyer and chairman of the Miami-Dade Brownfields Committee, helped Cocose get past many of the legal hurdles and access state and local incentives that made the redevelopment of the Wynwood site financially feasible. To qualify for benefits under Florida's brownfields program, a property has to go through a formal designation procedure that includes two public hearings and the establishment of a community advisory board. Currently there are 45 designated brownfields sites around the state -- but there are far more brownfields. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that nationwide there are 500,000 to 1 million brownfields. Robert Schwarzreich, an economic planner in the Miami Department of Real Estate & Economic Development, says there are around 400 brownfield sites scattered around the City of Miami alone. The city had already targeted the Wynwood property for redevelopment before Cocose came on the scene. "It really was the major blight in that section of the city," said Schwarzreich, "but I was worried about how we were going to get things started." The immediate area around the laundry had lost 75 percent of its workforce since the 1980s, and improving the site was considered a vital part of the city's effort to jumpstart economic development in the neighborhood. "We were lucky we had two people who were very interested in the site (Cocose and Jose Diaz of MetroMix) and who had a lot of grit," said Schwarzreich. In 1996, the city received a $100,000 EPA grant that it used for assessment at the site. Three years later the city got $500,000 from the state and targeted most of it for additional assessment and cleanup of the Wynwood pilot project. When the cleanup was completed last summer, Cocose sold part of the land to MetroMix. That sale enabled Cocose to settle the judgment lien on the property. His profit from the project will come when he sells the green tile building and a smaller building behind it. He is asking $900,000 for the two. He declined to say exactly how much he has invested in the project, but said it is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. "This is not a big home run financially, but the fact I'll make any money given the problems is a miracle. This was truly a public/private partnership or it wouldn't have happened," Cocose said. "We all worked together on this, but the property would still be sitting there if we hadn't gotten the state funding," Schwarzreich said. Since the mid-1990s, there's been a lot of momentum in brownfields redevelopment, said Goldstein. In 1996, Miami-Dade County began its brownfields initiative, which provides tax credits, low-interest loans and grants, and the following year the state created its brownfields program. New brownfields legislation signed by President Bush Jan. 11, doubles the funds available through the EPA to help communities clean up and revitalize brownfields from $98 million to $200 million in fiscal 2003. It also includes $25 million for urban development and brownfields cleanup that will be available through the Depatment of Housing and Urban Development. And significantly, it reforms the Superfund law -- providing more liability protection for prospective purchasers, and innocent landowners and nearby property owners. Under Superfund, such owners and operators of suspect property can be held liable for the cost of cleanup -- regardless if they caused the contamination. Now Cocose says he's ready for his next brownfield project. "I'm anxious to take the lessons learned here and the team we assembled and do multiple deals." MIAMI HERALD by MIMI WHITEFIELD. Copyright 2002 by MIAMI HERALD. Reproduced with permission of MIAMI HERALD in the format Internet via Copyright Clearance Center.
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