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What is a brownfield?

A tract of land that has been developed for industrial purposes, polluted, and then abandoned.

source: www.merriam-webster.com

Metro and the city of Portland recently signed an intergovernmental agreement that will provide the city with approximately $100,000 for a brownfield redevelopment study.

The city is hoping that the Brownfield Redevelopment Assessment, set to take place over the next six to eight months, will accelerate redevelopment 鈥� particularly for industrial projects.

鈥淎n economic opportunities analysis for the Portland Plan found that only about one-third of the brownfield acreage in the city is expected to be cleaned up in the next 25 years,鈥� said Steve Kountz, a city planner.

Even an industrial cleanup of the Zidell barge-building site merely transformed land into multiuse commercial and residential space; it did not address a growing need for industrial land, said Jonna Papaefthimiou, a planning and sustainability policy adviser for Mayor Sam Adams.

鈥淟arger industrial brownfields are much harder to clean up; the work is expensive and often doesn’t pencil out because industrial land values are comparatively low,鈥� Papaefthimiou said. 鈥淪o, the issue is that market-based cleanup of industrial brownfields is slow or not happening at all.鈥�

Kountz said the goal is to create recommendations to streamline redevelopment.

鈥淭here are many states and cities in the country that have more extensive programs (than Portland),鈥� he said.

Tools could be created at local and state levels, Papaefthimiou said.

鈥淭he 2011 Legislature passed a bill on prospective purchaser agreements that will help resolve liability issues for investors who would buy brownfields and redevelop them. We expect that this will help draw more players into the market,鈥� Papaefthimiou said. 鈥淧roposals for tax credits were a hard sell at the Legislature last year, given the fiscal climate.聽But this study is going to help us figure out what we can do next.鈥�

Another goal of the study will be to look at 鈥渢he cost of doing nothing,鈥� according to Kountz. 鈥淲e want to find the loss of tax revenues for new employment, and property tax revenues for redevelopment of those sites,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f (development) doesn’t happen here, it will go to other cities.鈥�

Papaefthimiou added, 鈥淚’m very interested in the financial results of the study. My sense is that although brownfield redevelopment can be costly,聽letting so much industrial land sit idle is also costing us a lot.鈥�

She said she hopes the information learned will help the city show 鈥渨hy this work is important.鈥�

Meanwhile, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland is suing Metro over an extension of an excise tax program that provided the grant for the brownfield study. The tax program generates revenue from permit fees for new construction.

The association was involved in drafting the original program in 2004, HBA President Dave Nielsen said. But it wasn’t intended to pay for a brownfield study, he said.

鈥淲hen it was created, it was supposed to provide funding for (urban growth boundary) expansion areas because they have no funding sources,鈥� he said. 鈥�(The brownfield work is) an important program, or it could be, but that’s not what this tax is set up to fund.鈥�

The HBA contends that there are other funding sources, including urban renewal money, to plan areas within its borders, and the excise tax program now primarily funds grants not part of its initial scope.

The case is being considered by the Oregon Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments this fall and may render an opinion within a year, HBA Government Affairs Manager Justin Wood said.

If the court were to side with the HBA, the grant given for the brownfield program, as well as another grant given for planning the Barbur corridor, would no longer be valid. The city and Metro would share the 鈥渞isk鈥� of that funding issue, Kountz said.