| The Community Within The Corridor controversy in Milwaukee highlights a general challenge in the development of housing on properties with a potential for vapor intrusion. Few cities have the expertise to evaluate vapor risk, yet while serving on the Mountain View, California City Council I learned that local governments have an advantage over the regulatory agencies that have the vapor risk expertise. Developers come to cities seeking approval, while regulators have to “chase after” responsible parties, whether they be developers or the original polluters.
I have long supported Brownfields development, in part because developers can come up with the resources to clean up abandoned properties. But it’s important that cities, not just regulators, systematically review proposals to build on contaminated property. When I was a local elected official, I felt a responsibility to be sure that I would not be putting future building occupants in harm’s way. Fortunately, I had the expertise to get my colleagues to insist on post-construction, pre-occupancy indoor air sampling. Also fortunately, my city is such a desirable place to develop that developers were happy to go along with whatever reasonable conditions we imposed.
In California, there is significant, well-intentioned pressure to reduce the environmental review of housing projects, particularly affordable housing. In Mountain View we showed that such review can make such projects safer for future residents.
Lenny
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Lenny Siegel Executive Director Center for Public Environmental Oversight A project of the Pacific Studies Center LSiegel@cpeo.orgP.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042 Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918 http://www.cpeo.org Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)
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