[CPEO-BIF] Brownfields May Be Seeing Green

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New York
NEWSDAY
Brownfields May Be Seeing Green
Legislature eases way for building on tainted parcels
By Alan J. Wax
September 17, 2003

Developers may start seeing green in the region's brownfields, those
financially toxic parcels tainted by real or perceived pollution that no
one has wanted to touch.

That's because the State Senate approved legislation yesterday by a vote
of 51-9 that will lay out the ground rules for building on abandoned or
underused properties, most of them industrial, where chemicals and other
contaminants have kept developers at bay. The sites include landfills,
old factories, hundreds of acres once used by Northrop Grumman Corp. and
the military, and former gasoline stations and dry-cleaning shops.

The measure, passed by the Assembly in June, includes $135 million in
tax credits for brownfields' developers. It protects developers of these
sites from future liability if they meet cleanup standards, and requires
the state Department of Environmental Conservation to establish what
those standards should be. The agency also must decide whether a site
will be used for residences or commercial buildings.

Gov. George Pataki is expected to sign the bill within weeks. The
rule-making process is expected to take six months to a year, but the
DEC plans to adopt interim guidelines so developers can begin cleaning
up brownfields even before the regulations are completed.

"It means a cleanup of untouchable sites that have been allowed to act
like cancers inside their communities," said state Sen. Carl Marcellino
(R-Syosset), who sponsored the bill with Assemb. Thomas DiNapoli
(D-Great Neck). "They will be cleaned up now at a faster and greater
rate, will provide employment for the people who do the cleanup, and a
place for the developers to place businesses in already utilized sites
rather than have to go out and look for green sites that have not been
touched."

The bill drew cheers from a range of experts in this region. "We know it
will create interest in brownfields, because now there's a buzz," said
Patrick Duggan, executive director of Sustainable Long Island, a
Huntington-based nonprofit group. "On Long Island, it is the new
frontier of real estate development. We're running out of green space."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-bzbrown173458157sep17,0,798018.story?coll=ny-li-vertical-headlines

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