Report
Iowa Reuse Readiness: A Toolkit for Identifying and Assessing Brownfield Sites
Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities
University of Iowa
05/2017
DOI: 10.17077/pe3b-bjw8
Abstract
The East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) is a council of governments that serves a five county area in eastern Iowa. In 2015, ECIA established the East Central Brownfields Coalition (ECBC) to help address the problem of brownfield properties in its service area. Such sites are defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.” The objectives of ECBC include obtaining federal funding from the EPA to provide information about brownfield sites to constituent governments to identify, assess, and return brownfield properties to productive use. In May of 2016, ECBC was awarded a $600,000 environmental site assessment grant to meet these objectives. An important first step in the process is to create a detailed inventory of potential brownfield sites within the ECIA region in order to identify sites that qualify for these funds. This report details the IA Reuse Readiness Toolkit, which was developed to support ECBC activities. The toolkit contains three components, the first of which is an Excel repository that serves as a tool to inventory brownfields and will be utilized both by ECIA and the communities it serves. The Excel repository also contains a prioritization mechanism, which scores sites based on their redevelopment potential. The second component is comprised of outreach materials developed in support of the inventory. These materials provide a baseline of information about brownfields and can be used by municipal officials and ECIA to inform stakeholders about brownfield assessment and redevelopment processes. The third and final component of the toolkit is an investigation into land banking as a possible means to facilitate brownfield revitalization. It includes an examination of enabling legislation and analysis of four potential operating structures permissible under current Iowa law. The three components of the toolkit complement each other to help ECIA address brownfield sites within its service area. Developed with the cooperation and input from city administrators and residents in the communities of Preston and Maquoketa in Jackson County and Clinton in Clinton County, the toolkit is designed to be deployed throughout the ECIA service area.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Iowa Reuse Readiness: A Toolkit for Identifying and Assessing Brownfield Sites
- Creators
- Robby Caudill - University of IowaJay Fieser - University of IowaSarah J. Gardner - University of Iowa
- Contributors
- Jerry Anthony (Contributor) - University of Iowa, School of Planning and Public AffairsPhuong Nguyen (Contributor) - University of Iowa, School of Planning and Public Affairs
- Resource Type
- Report
- Publication Details
- Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities
- DOI
- 10.17077/pe3b-bjw8
- Publisher
- University of Iowa; Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Number of pages
- 68 pages
- Comment
- Client: East Central Intergovernmental Association. Faculty Advisors: Jerry Anthony, Phuong Nguyen. Field Problems in Planning, School of Urban & Regional Planning. Community Project Leads: Jenna Soyer and Nicole Turpin, ECIA. Research report produced through the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities at the University of Iowa.
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2017
- Academic Unit
- Center for Social Science Innovation; Public Policy Center (Archive); School of Planning and Public Affairs; Urban and Regional Planning Final Projects
- Record Identifier
- 9983761971202771
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