Florida, like the rest of the nation, faces growing housing challenges due to limited land, environmental regulations, plus changing flood maps, prompting a focus on reclaiming and repurposing existing contaminated or underused sites for affordable housing.
In her article, Reclaiming Ground: Turning Contaminated Sites into Housing Solutions, SCS Engineers’ Safiyah Junaid discusses how Environmental Engineers and Consultants are working with Developers and Construction firms to offer options that help in CNR Magazine.
Highpoints:
Policy changes unlock land: Legislation such as the Live Local Act and the Brownfields Redevelopment Act enables affordable housing on commercial, industrial, and religious parcels, offering tax incentives and allowing higher density and height to maximize development potential.
Office conversions create opportunities: Vacant office buildings resulting from remote work trends are being transformed into housing or mixed-use developments, supporting urban revitalization and transit-oriented growth through increased density.
Innovative soil management: Modern remediation strategies prioritize on-site management and reuse of contaminated soil through blending or engineering controls, such as soil caps, thereby reducing costs, waste, and environmental impact compared to traditional soil removal.
Sustainable redevelopment approaches: On-site soil mining to reuse clean soil portions minimizes the need to import fill, lowers costs and the carbon footprint, and supports the safe, sustainable redevelopment of brownfield and underutilized sites for housing.
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