SCS Engineers’ National Expert Eric Williams describes in his article how local governments face challenges in attracting investment to urban infill sites due to environmental risks, financial feasibility, and lengthy development timelines. By adopting a developer’s perspective, they can better position these sites for redevelopment and private investment. Read Eric’s article “Think Like a Developer: How Local Government Can Attract Urban Infill Investment.”
In a hurry? Here’s our 30-second summary of the highlights.
Reduce environmental risk: Developers require clear, quantified environmental data to manage risks. Local governments can add value by conducting environmental assessments, mitigating hazards such as asbestos, demolishing obsolete structures, and cleaning up contamination, thereby lowering upfront risks and increasing developer confidence. Even partial mitigation, when paired with clearly defined residual risks, can facilitate project planning.
Enhance financial viability: Urban infill often incurs higher costs than greenfield sites. Local governments have access to financial tools unavailable to private developers, such as EPA and state brownfield grants, Tax Increment Financing, Community Development Block Grants, economic development zones, and utility districts. These resources can close financial gaps, improve project feasibility, and serve as catalysts for investment.
Accelerate project timelines: Time-sensitive market conditions require swift action. Governments can shorten pre-development phases by proactively addressing blight and environmental issues, rezoning to support redevelopment, upgrading infrastructure, utilizing environmental review exemptions, and streamlining permitting and entitlement processes. This reduces delays that might otherwise drive developers to alternate sites.
“Think Like a Developer: How Local Government Can Attract Urban Infill Investment.”
Recycling land and properties helps build opportunities for creating and transitioning commercial and mixed-use space. It is often a sensible and sustainable option with rising real estate costs, increased due diligence, and a lack of greenfield in and around urban areas with established infrastructure.
Miami-Dade County, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades in Florida, faces a significant challenge in finding space for new development. With land becoming increasingly scarce, attention has turned towards redeveloping sites left vacant due to contamination or the perceived presence of contamination, such as brownfield designated areas, agricultural lands, golf courses, old dumps, and closed landfills.
Despite the challenges these sites pose, such as contamination from pesticides, herbicides, and other pollutants, developers and investors are finding many benefits to redeveloping these sites for residential, mixed-use, and commercial purposes.
Sustainable Benefits for Developers, Investors, Local Businesses, and Communities
Increased Community Value: Vacant, contaminated sites offer little benefit to communities. Redeveloping these areas can transform them into safe, productive commercial or mixed-use spaces, contributing to revitalization and community well-being.
Job Creation: Redevelopment projects stimulate economic activity by creating jobs in construction, engineering, and related fields. Jobs boost local employment rates and support businesses in the area.
Tax Revenue: Land recycling can increase property values and tax revenues for essential community services such as schools, roads, and public facilities.
Tax Credits: Private and public entities conducting voluntary cleanup in Florida, for example, can receive available tax credits of upwards of $500,000.
Federal Funding: EPA’s Brownfields Program provides direct funding via grants for assessment, cleanup, and other environmental-related programs.
Affordable Housing: Repurposing land for residential use can help address housing shortages, offering more affordable housing options in desirable urban and suburban locations.
Environmental Restoration: Through careful planning and adherence to regulations, redeveloped sites can contribute to environmental restoration efforts. Measures like methane gas mitigation systems manage any environmental risks responsibly.
Solutions to the Most Common Challenges
Although redeveloping contaminated properties or land recycling offers benefits, some challenges require insight from specialized environmental engineers. With their more comprehensive knowledge and relationships, these engineers help keep projects safe and on schedule.
Costs and Monetary Support: Assessment and remediation costs are typically the number one factor in why sites are not recycled. However, engaging an environmental program manager who guides you through state and federal funding options can help achieve budgetary goals by offsetting some of these costs.
Regulatory Compliance: Regulations for redeveloping sites are stringent and require experienced professionals who understand the regulatory landscape. Therefore, engaging with an engineer early to perform due diligence will help better qualify and quantify development risks. The same professional can better provide the development team with the closure strategies available to manage and mitigate contaminants effectively.
Risk Management: Risk-based corrective actions (RBCA) are crucial in ensuring the safety of redeveloped sites and land recycling. Without RBCA, many contaminated sites would likely be undeveloped due to high remediation costs. The engineer will tailor actions to a specific county or city regulatory framework to address potential hazards comprehensively. Specialized techniques environmental engineers use include newer technology and engineering processes that can resolve contamination and groundwater issues more efficiently while meeting local, state, and federal mandates.
Innovation and Adaptation: Staying ahead of emerging contaminant challenges such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) or remediation limitations is essential as regulatory landscapes evolve. Adapting to new cleanup standards and remediation technologies ensures that redeveloped sites meet or exceed environmental safety expectations both now and in the future. It is also possible for some land recycling projects to account for or verify any carbon savings – an increasingly important consideration to shareholders.
Exploration into Land Recycling and Property Restoration is Rigorous
Redeveloping contaminated land presents both challenges and opportunities. Developers are transforming these sites into valuable community assets by adhering to rigorous environmental standards and employing innovative solutions. From economic revitalization to environmental stewardship, redeveloping contaminated properties or land recycling offers a path toward sustainable growth and improved quality of life in regions around our nation.
Meet the Authors:
Brittney Odem is a Vice President and SCS’s Regional Director of our Southeast Region Environmental Services Practice. She manages large scale projects that include emergency response; environmental site assessment and characterization; remedial pilot testing, construction, installation, operations, and maintenance; regulatory negotiations; and compliance. She also conducts large scale assessments and remediation of arsenic-impacted sites to recycle into useable properties.
Dillon Reio is a Senior Project Professional with experience in site assessments, field sampling, and remediation of contaminated sites, including Phase I and Phase II ESAs pertaining to petroleum and industrial waste contamination. As a hydrogeologist he has reviewed technical reports as well as soil and groundwater assessments for proposed developments.
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