Professional Associations as Brownfield Resource Presented by: Sue Boyle (with an assist from Gary Rozmus, GEI and Michael Brady, SoBRO and Trevan Houser, CleanSoil) GEI Consultants, Inc Horizon Way Suite 200 Mt. Laurel, NJ Office:

The Players BCONE: The Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast – a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the facilitation of brownfield remediation and sustainable redevelopment, with an emphasis on regional cooperation within the Northeastern United States. – Members have extensive experience in the brownfield remediation and redevelopment process and include:

The Players (cont’d) – state regulatory agencies – brownfield practitioners in the fields of: environmental remediation land use consulting real estate law land development green jobs training programs that supply well-trained, accredited, and certified entry-level technicians for a variety of brownfield and green energy jobs.

The Players (con’t) BCONE’s mission: – to provide education on the benefits of brownfield remediation and sustainable redevelopment – to work with member states and brownfield stakeholders to facilitate brownfield cleanups within member states. – BCONE’s annual Northeast Sustainable Communities Workshop (NSCW) exemplifies this educational mission.

The Players (con’t) The New York City Brownfield Partnership: a NYS incorporated nonprofit organization. – Composed of environmental consulting firms, environmental law organizations, environmental remediation contracting organizations, brownfield redevelopment organizations, and community-based organizations in New York City as our partner organizations.

The Players (con’t) The mission of the Partnership is to provide leadership to the brownfield community throughout New York City by: – – Serving as a primary resource for information on brownfields redevelopment in New York City. – – Advancing public awareness and understanding of benefits, opportunities, and best practices of brownfield redevelopment..

The Players (con’t) – – Promoting excellence in brownfield redevelopment by honoring successful brownfield projects with Big Apple Brownfield Awards. – – Supporting the education and training of brownfield professionals, workers, and students. – – Fostering collaborative relationships among brownfield developers, property owners, government agencies, and community groups

The Programs BRIGHT Program (Brownfield Redevelopment Implementation and Guidance Help Team) Pro-Bono Program Titles are different but programs are basically the same: they offer a “mile high review” of a project or problem and offer possible paths to take

BRIGHT What is the goal of BRIGHT™? – The objective is to provide education on the benefits of brownfield redevelopment and to increase the awareness of the various programs available for brownfield redevelopment projects. – An additional goal is to alert project stakeholders that the B-CONE is a knowledgeable and reliable resource for project information. – The overall goal is to remove barriers to redevelopment and move projects forward. What Projects are eligible? BRIGHT™ projects will be selected by the B-CONE NJ Executive Committee. Selection is based on criteria, such as, complexity of environmental issues, redevelopment stage of project, optimum development potential, site’s integration with existing economic development initiatives, potential site end use, real estate market conditions, project schedule, and other factors. The selected Participant will be asked to enter into an agreement with the Chapter, which will outline the services to be provided as well as required terms and conditions. What is a typical BRIGHT™ project schedule? A typical project will entail a multi-month process of education, information gathering, and informal discussions. An initial meeting will be held with selected Participants to discuss the general aspects of the project. Following this meeting, additional information will be obtained regarding the specific project and a follow-up meeting will be schedule approximately one to two months after the initial meeting. Following the second meeting, the municipality, property owner, or redeveloper should have sufficient information to determine project feasibility and available resources. What steps are required to participate? It’s simple. Just Sue Boyle of BCONE at Ms. Boyle will contact you to discuss your project and provide you with the necessary materials to get started.

BRIGHT (con’t) Who can participate in BRIGHT™? – BCONE members and municipalities or governmental agencies – Being Piloted in NJ – What Projects are eligible? Selected by the B-CONE Executive Committee Criteria: complexity of environmental issues; redevelopment stage of project; optimum development potential; site’s integration with existing economic development initiatives; potential site end use; real estate market conditions; and project schedule

BRIGHT (con’t) – Participants will be asked to enter into an agreement with BCONE, which outlines the services to be provided as well as required terms, conditions, and waivers. – What is a typical BRIGHT™ project schedule? – Multi-month process of education, information gathering, and informal discussions. – An initial meeting will be held with selected Participants to discuss the general aspects of the project. – Following this meeting, additional information will be obtained regarding the specific project.

BRIGHT (con’t) – Follow-up meeting will be schedule approximately one to two months after the initial meeting – Following the second meeting, the municipality, property owner, or redeveloper should have sufficient information to determine project feasibility and available resources. BRIGHT™ Team – BCONE members with expertise in the various areas involved in the brownfield redevelopment process. – Selected based upon knowledge of the project area, municipality, and specific project-related issues.

BRIGHT (con’t) – May include real estate professionals, land use planners and engineers, environmental professionals, redevelopment and real estate attorneys, environmental regulators, risk management professionals, banking or finance professionals, land developers, community outreach/public relations professionals

NYCBP Pro Bono Program The NYC Brownfield Partnership offers a pro bono service that provides developers, land owners, local development corporations and others with advice on how to manage properties that require investigations and cleanups. The program is open to any party who seeks environmental or legal consultation on a property with possible contamination in New York City.

NYCBP Pro Bono Program (con’t) Developed in conjunction with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation Open to for-profit and non-profit developers, businesses, real estate brokers, lenders and land owners inexperienced in the management and cleanup of contaminated property. The program matches these parties with engineers, environmental consultants, land use professionals and financial analysts, and environmental attorneys in the brownfield industry.

NYCBP Pro Bono Program (con’t) Engineering and environmental consulting firms, law firms, land use planners, and economic development professionals that are Partner Organizations of the NYC Brownfield Partnership provide several hours of free consulting to parties who seek advice on: – how to investigate and remediate a property with possible contamination – how to analyze the return on a development project where the underlying property has contamination – how to address potential liability associated with a contaminated site.

What the Programs Offer A limited number of hours of professional advice from the appropriate mix for the inquirer: usually from an environmental consultant and/or an environmental attorney. Could also include developers, financial professionals, insurance professionals, real estate brokers, and government affairs professionals as needed. Waiver must be signed by the inquirer

Examples Property owner wanted some idea of how much a site cleanup will cost; answer will aid decision to sell (lender would require escrow) or enroll in the brownfield cleanup program, remediate, and then sell A community farm with soil impacted by Hurricane Sandy looking for advice Rural community with industrial property looking for guidance on “highest and best use”

Examples (con’t) Making sense of the regulatory process is most frequent request: questions from local Community Development Corporation, property owner who took on cleanup liability for USTs Advice on local and state funding programs, including tax credits

Group Brainstorm What do you think about what you just heard? Both programs are seriously underutilized. Any ideas why? Do you think people don’t value services that are “free”? What are your recommendations for how to get the word out about these programs? How do we best reach the people who most need these services?

Group Brainstorm (con’t) A paid advertisement in the magazine for one state’s municipalities did not yield any requests. Is there a stigma to a community from using “brownfields” as a term of art, and is that keeping people away from requesting advice? Would you consider a program like these if a local government agency told you about it?