City Plans to Turn Brown into Green: A Forum in Roanoke Focused on the Development Potential of Former Industrial Land.
By John Cramer, The Roanoke Times, Va.
Jan. 23–Unlike Love Canal and other toxic messes, Roanoke’s defunct industrial tracts are potential investment gold mines, city redevelopment officials said Monday night at a “brownfields” public meeting.
More than 30 consultants, developers, neighborhood activists and others attended the forum, which focused on the economic and environmental basics of brownfields.
The meeting was part of Roanoke’s effort to locate and revitalize all of its shuttered industrial sites and to attract investors willing to turn them into mixed-use developments that include offices, retail, entertainment, residences and green space.
“It’s a good turnout,” said Ian Shaw, a senior planner for the city. “We’re getting a lot of good comments.”
A wide variety of tracts can be redeveloped with a mix of public and private funding — from an old corner gas station to the 110 acres in the South Jefferson Avenue-Williamson Road corridor that is being converted to a biomedical park.
Brian Brown, the city’s economic development administrator, said fear of liability and getting bogged down in a Superfund site often discourages private investment in brownfields.
Superfund sites, such as Love Canal in New York, receive federal funds because their levels of pollution are so severe.
But new state and federal laws protect investors who perform proper environmental assessments and who follow redevelopment regulations, he said.
Investors can also use government grants, low-interest loans, tax breaks and other programs to lower their costs, he said.
City officials touted the benefits of investing in brownfields, including increasing tax revenue, removing blight, creating jobs, cleaning up the environment and improving the community’s image.
The city has received nearly $600,000 in Environmental Protection Agency grants to help identify, assess and clean up the sites.
Roanoke plans to apply for more funds each year to redevelop the dozens of brownfields across the city.
The city plans to hire an environmental consultant in February to start taking soil samples and doing other environmental assessments.
Any industrial site may qualify for the cleanup program, but the top priorities are the South Jefferson Avenue-Williamson Road corridor near downtown and the Cleveland Avenue Southwest corridor along the Roanoke River in the Mountainview-Norwich neighborhoods.
The cleanup funds also can be used to create greenways and municipal parks, as well as mixed-use developments.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Roanoke Times, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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