Brownfield Public Hearings Draw No Comment

A pair of public hearings on the expansion of the city's Brownfield Authority went by without any comment, paving the way for the Council to expand the scope of the economic redevelopment tool to affect the entire city.

The council sought to amend the existing Brownfield Authority plan for the 11 Pines/San Marino property in the northeast and southwest corners of the intersection of Halsted and 11 Mile Roads. The goal is to create a revolving fund for remediation of the former landfill and adjacent property, now a city-owned golf course, through Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

At the former landfill site, gas control, paths, maintenance issues and the dredging of an irrigation pond were pointed out as potential uses for the TIF funds.

The second hearing was set to extend the power of the authority to encompass the entire city.

Councilman Michael Bridges asked what the expansion meant.

"There are other environmentally-distressed areas of the city," Economic Development Director Teri Arbenowske said. "The sites can be rehabilitated with funds from the TIF (Tax Increment Finance district)."

A "brownfield" is an area of a city that has some kind of physical problem – most commonly contaminated land, but also blight – that makes redevelopment cost-prohibitive. A brownfield authority allows a developer to recoup the costs of environmental work through the TIF, which captures tax revenue from the designated parcel to pay the developer back.

Originally, a brownfield authority was like a Downtown Development Authority, in that it captured finances for a particular geographic area. The laws have changed since they were first drafted to allow municipalities to incorporate their entire geographic area, Arbenowske said.

If a site within the city needs environmental remediation – such as an old gas station with an underground tank that must be removed – a developer would come to the Brownfield Authority with a plan and ask for help. If approved by both the authority and the city council, the developer would pay for the remediation and be paid back by the taxes captured through the TIF over time.

"If it creates jobs and cleans up an environmentally-distressed property, they're probably going to go for it," Arbenowske said.

As there was no public comment, officials will give final consideration to the brownfield resolutions on April 25.