Скачать или смотреть Brownfields Redevelopment Planning Meeting June 18th 2013

On June 18th, 2013, the Waynesboro Planning Department held a kickoff meeting for the new Brownfields Redevelopment Project. Funded by a $400,000 grant from the EPA, the city will use consultants to examine former industrial sites in the core of the city. This is yet another piece of the downtown revitalization puzzle that Planning Director Michael Barnes has been putting together for the past few years.

Why is the city taking on this project? It's often difficult for former industrial sites to be redeveloped because of the uncertainty involved. Many of these sites have hazardous waste or other envirnomental problems which will be costly to developers. Sometimes the environmental problems are real and significant. Often they are simply a matter of perception. But even the risk of having to pay those costs is usually enough to make developers look elsewhere - often at the inexpensive natural areas or farmlands around the edge of the city. The consultants in this project will be performing tests on major sites and doing basic remediation work. They will then certify that the site is not contaminated, thus removing the developers' uncertainty. They will then get public input to create potential redevelopment plans for these sites that are in line with what the city wants to see happen. With these ready made plans available and endorsed by the city, developers can start with an easy template that they know the city will be likely to approve, thus removing another uncertainty in the development process.