Brownfields redevelopment project

The remainder of this report will demonstrate the successful application of several of these innovative financial, technical, and policy approaches to a brownfields site in urban Connecticut. This case study will highlight the contribution of these new approaches to the success of this brownfield redevelopment project. Without the changes in the US brownfields program that have evolved over the past decade, this contaminated site would have continued to languish for many more years, continuing to contribute to community degradation and local blight. 

The effect of these concerns about liabilities had wide potential impacts. Fears about residual liabilities were acting as a significant break on private sector investment in brownfield redevelopment projects. There were also threatening severe dislocations in the property market more generally. A further issue was the potential impact on credit-worthiness of small businesses, which might have bank overdrafts and other loans secured against land assets whose value was potentially compromised. 

The role of Federal and other public funding streams for brownfields redevelopment cannot be underestimated. In an evaluation of 107 brownfield projects nationwide, the International Economic Development Council determined that on average, 68% of the funding for brownfield remediation was derived solely from public sources, 22% came from private sector funds, and 10% were remediated using both public and private sector funds. Potentially responsible parties (PRPs) provided limited support for remediation in comparison to public sources (XL International and International Economic Development Council, 2002). It is clear that Federal and state funds have dramatically improved the abilities of communities to get sites evaluated, which has contributed gready to site remediation and redevelopment. 

Federal and state funding, first for site assessments, then later for cleanup, greatly accelerated the pace at which communities could start planning their brownfields redevelopment. More than 400,000 in site assessment and cleanup funding helped to move the Cos Cob redevelopment project forward quickly. 

The Town of Greenwich realized that the costs of cleanup were going to be well beyond the capability of the community to pay. In 2004, the town applied for a US EPA brownfields cleanup grant. In its grant application, the town stated that it is committed to redeveloping the site as a public access and recreational park and that it planned to use the grant to excavate PCB-contaminated soil to depth of 4 ft over an area of approximately one-quarter acre. The town committed to backfilling the excavation with clean material, possibly from a local construction project. 

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