From: | Emery Graham <"egraham"@ci.wilmington.de.us> |
Date: | Thu, 1 Jul 1999 11:02:56 -0700 (PDT) |
Reply: | cpeo-brownfields |
Subject: | Local Agency Capacity To Handle Brownfield Issues |
I'm interested in knowing how many Brownfield Assessement Grant Recipients, or any other unit of local government working with brownfields, had the organizational units in place whose mission would include the tasks and issues related to the various aspects of successfully dealing with brownfields. As various communities have begun to work on the brownfields problem the objective operational challenges of solving development, health, land use, organizational, and financial issues have emerged. I don't think many communities were aware and prepared for the many different problems associated with brownfields. I'd like to know whether the various communities had: 1) a health department, 2) a licenses and inspections department, 3) an emergency management unit, 4) an employee health and safety plan, 5) an economic development unit, 6) a community development unit,7) a law department with an environmental attorney,8) a public works department that carried out water and sewer line repairs. I'd like to know if the communities had laws in place that addressed any of the following issues: 1) hazardous waste sites, 2) site based nuisnace ordinances, 3) public health threats, 4) employee health and safety, 5) job and disadvantaged linkage requirements for developers who received public subsidies, licenses, or permits. As brownfields are reclaimed and local residents develop critical awareness of their compromised situations it seems reasonable to assume that the municipalities where these brownfield successes are beginning to occur will make structural and legal adjustments so that they can focus their sovereign power to effect the variables that determine the outcome of brownfield activities. It seems that one of the biggest problems with expecting communities with varying capacities to get their arms around the complexities of brownfield development is revisiting the policy and program design assumptions; assessing the performance feedback and revising the program parameters to better align with the objective realities of the program environment. I suspect that communities that had more of the structural and legal components listed above in place prior to starting down the brownfields road are now enjoying relatively more success than those that didn't. Emery | |
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