[CPEO-MEF] Ex-Navy base could see rehab

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Florida
THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION
Ex-Navy base could see rehab
Green Cove eyes Brownfields tag
By Nin-Hai Tseng
Monday, June 30, 2003

GREEN COVE SPRINGS -- At a glance, this former Navy base resting on the
St. Johns River seems nothing more than a site with dirt and sand piles
scattered with a few dozen ships docked along piers. But brush away the
dirt and look closer, Ted McGowan would suggest.

McGowan, executive director of the Clay County Port and Reynolds
Industrial Park, is working with Green Cove Springs officials to
designate the 1,500-acre port for redevelopment.

By formally naming the area a site of contamination, or one the public
perceives as contaminated, McGowan said he hopes the resulting
redevelopment would draw waterfront offices and new industries to the
industrial park.

The Florida Brownfields Redevelopment Program, authorized in 1997, is a
state cleanup initiative to turn idled or abandoned industrial and
commercial facilities into viable employment centers. The program
provides a variety of business incentives, such as tax refunds for job
creation, to the designated areas.

Reynolds Industrial could follow in the footsteps of downtown
Jacksonville. There, most areas already have been designated
Brownfields since 1998, spanning 11,250 acres altogether, said Kenneth
Pinnix, Brownfields program coordinator for Jacksonville.

This article can be viewed at:

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/063003/met_12912816.shtml

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