Brownfield Reuse and the Changing Nature of Community Involvement
Presented by: Charles Bartsch, Northeast-Midwest Institute

During the past few years, community concerns over “Brownfields”—sites where contamination, or the perception that contamination exists complicates the process for their reuse—have grown significantly. States and cities are developing new approaches to these real estate deals with an environmental “twist,” and these emerging strategies are changing the way in which effective community participation in the development process takes place. This presentation will focus on the changing nature of community involvement in changing site and land use activities, in four ways. First, it will provide some context and background about the value of stakeholder involvement in Brownfield project settings. Active and inclusive community coordination and involvement has shown to be effective in addressing key Brownfield barriers such as stigma. Second, the session will explore the role of community vision and its place in the Brownfield reuse process, emphasizing things like the type of information (on sites, technologies, public health concerns, etc.) and the resources (responsive staff, GIS, funds for professional services, etc.) needed to establishing the appropriate climate for a constructive community visioning process. Third, the presentation will offer some brief success stories (from places like Trenton and Minneapolis), to illustrate the role of stakeholder involvement and how it can influence reuse and maximize project benefits. And fourth, it will describe several “lessons from the field” based on dozens of real projects, such as the need to communicate effectively at several levels, and to document milestones.

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