55.7 F
San Diego
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
-Advertisement-

REDEVELOPMENT–Ballpark Area a Typical Reincarnated Site

Special to the Business Journal

With major metropolitan areas across the country facing land shortages, the redevelopment of depressed urban areas is becoming a fast-growing real estate trend.

Known as brownfields, these areas are defined by the Environmental Protection Agency as “abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.”

The new Downtown San Diego ballpark redevelopment area is typical of many brownfields sites currently being reincarnated through environmental testing and remediation.

The brownfield count is estimated at more than 500,000 sites nationally, with 5,000 or more in California. They are more prevalent in the East and Midwest, within the larger cities that have long histories of industrial use. These properties are usually contaminated from leaking gas tanks, spilled oil or dry cleaning solvents, or improperly disposed-of hazardous wastes.

– Facing The Challenge

Of ‘Greening’ Brownfields

How do we turn our environmentally challenged brownfields “green” again? There are a number of recent brownfield initiatives and tools.

One of the more promising approaches is called risk-based corrective action. We carefully evaluate and select an appropriate cleanup level and cleanup program based on risk.

Simply put, the cleanup level is established to be protective of health and the environment, and accounts for site-specific variables such as land use. This approach is designed to conservatively account for the level of risk associated with the contamination.

Take groundwater, for instance. The traditional approach is to clean up all groundwater to a drinking water standard, even though shallow urban groundwater is often too brackish to use or has long since been compromised by pollution and may never be used for drinking.

Old regulations or policies on the books may designate and protect the groundwater as if it were a drinking water source, but this designation means groundwater must be protected as if it were drinking water, even though this water is not suitable for this purpose. Not only does this not make sense, but scarce resources , sometimes millions of dollars , are spent on cleanups that are of little direct benefit to society or the environment.

– Government’s

Cleanup Incentives

What developer would want to bother with brownfield remediation? The government recognized the importance of establishing incentives and protections for developers and lenders to stay interested.

Since the mid-1990s, there have been numerous regulatory reforms called “Brownfield Initiatives,” which provide economic incentives and risk relief in order to encourage development. These include the EPA’s Prospective Purchaser’s Agreement program, in which the EPA established a policy not to sue potential purchasers of contaminated properties.

Benefits to buyers include the low cost of the property and immunity from future federal liability.

California established its own similar program under the backing of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. There are also numerous tax incentives, as well as Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Funds, that provide motivation to develop brownfields.

– Who Is Responsible

For Paying For Cleanup?

The property owner is primarily responsible for cleanup of contaminated property. The EPA has several different grants and loan applications to assist property owners and cities with remediation or removal of contamination.

There are several different insurance options available to assist property owners with remediation costs and protect them from liability.

Remediation stop-loss coverage, for example, will cover cleanup when it is found to be more extensive than originally determined. Pollution legal liability coverage will protect a property owner in the event that contamination spread to a neighboring property.

There are other sources available, such as the state’s Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund, which reimburses cleanup expenses up to $1.5 million after a deductible for remediation, and for damages to third parties by a release.

In San Diego, the most visible ‘brownfield’ turning green has to be the Downtown ballpark redevelopment area.

Due to the historical uses of the properties in the redevelopment area, the Centre City Development Corp. probably had enough experience with environmental issues to assume site evaluation and cleanup would be necessary.

– Contamination Around

The Ballpark Project

Because there have been many contamination problems in the properties surrounding the ballpark redevelopment area, and as contamination doesn’t obey property boundaries, cleanup at the ballpark was probably a sure bet. As a matter of fact, any time there is a transfer of ownership of previously developed urban, industrial property, it is important to have the site tested.

The ballpark redevelopment area is broken down into three designations: Priority I, which covers seven blocks in the center of the redevelopment area, including the footprint of the ballpark and the Westin hotel; Priority II, which covers the “Park at the Park” and some retail areas; and Priority III, which includes parking office and hotel uses on the perimeter.

Remediation for the Priority I area was finished this month. The list of contamination findings includes lead contamination from old battery storage facilities; heavy metals in the soil from old foundries and machine shops dating back to the late 1800s; and one area, on Imperial Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets, with extensive contamination from some large fuel oil pipelines, one gasoline tank, and two 80-year-old concrete underground storage tanks.

The Priority II area has some assessment and remediation under way. For the Priority III area, while some testing has been done, no remediation dates have been set.

While the term “brownfields” is a relatively new one, the problem has been long standing. Even though the environmental laws have become very strict over the past 20 years, contamination will always happen. By cleaning up our current messes, however, we are immensely improving the environment.

Johnson founded Environmental Business Solutions, Inc. in 1992.

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-