[CPEO-BIF] "Shovel-ready" sites in Northwest Indiana

[bobh@np.craigslist.org]

Brownfields: More boon than bust?

Northwest Indiana Times
October 30, 2007

BY SUSAN BROWN

There are those in Northwest Indiana who are more upbeat than ever about brownfield
redevelopment being a source of the region's redemption. Yet brownfields can't be
easily located or even identified.

"There is no one brownfield database for a region for a number of reasons," said
Kay Nelson, environmental affairs director for the Northwest Indiana Forum, based
in Portage. "Many property owners don't want to have that tagline to their
property," she said. The broadness of the term -- any parcel of property with known
or perceived amounts of contamination -- also is known to give some people
heartburn, Nelson said.
"It's so broad literally my backyard after a fertilization application could
qualify," she said.

Spearheaded by a $30,000 grant from NIPSCO, the Northwest Indiana Forum recently
established a fund to assist economic development organizations pursuing matching
funds for projects, including brownfield remediation. The group's grants can be
used to help identify properties ripe for redevelopment. They also can be used
toward obtaining state certification as a Shovel Ready site. The state program,
established in 2005, can put properties on a fast track for development.

For the entire article, see:
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2007/10/30/updates/top_stories/doc4726caf4ba533896005758.txt

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