Top 10 Functional Brownfields- Reply

[CHARLES PATRIZIA <CAPATRIZIA@phjw.com>]

Bruce is clearly correct that it less a question of what the prior use of
the site was, than what is the proposed use today.  The value of the site
can be enhanced by some aspects of prior use (e.g., steel mills usually
had rail access already installed.  That's good news for a renewed
manufacturing use, but not good news (maybe even bad news, given
spills sometimes associated with tracks) for a commercial or residential
use).   The proposed use can also affect risk assessment and the "how
clean is clean" issue, which feeds directly into what level of remediation
will be required, and therefore what risks and costs must be
apportioned.  A manufacturing use, which may result in paving a large
portion of the site for storage of materials, parking, etc., creates a
different calculus than a multipurpose commercial use.

Chuck Patrizia
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker