Both Urban and Rural Communities can Benefit from Brownfield Redevelopment

According to the EPA, there are an estimated 450,000 brownfields in the United States. They can be found in both urban and rural communities, and they range in size from small corner filling stations to former locomotive manufacturing facilities covering hundreds or even thousands of acres. These properties have often been vacant and underutilized for decades. Regardless of size, history and location, their common trait is that they could be complicated to reuse or redevelop due to known or perceived environmental conditions.

Urban brownfield sites are often former industrial sites. They frequently sit in the center of our cities but remain dormant due to the presence of contaminated soil or groundwater, asbestos-containing materials, and/or mold infestation. Perhaps there are dilapidated buildings still standing, long-forgotten underground infrastructure, or years of waste and junk that must be removed before a site is ready for redevelopment.

Rural brownfields are present in nearly every downtown main street where the populations have dwindled or are located along defunct railroad tracks or our rivers. These sites are often hidden by decades of untended brush and vegetation that doesn’t entirely cover the remnants of the past.;

Urban, rural, or somewhere in between, there’s funding available to communities to help them transform these sites into community assets. While some see insurmountable obstacles to reviving these sites, community leaders with vision see limitless opportunities. Two recent case studies, one from Downtown Syracuse, New York, and one across the country in the City of Chiloquin, Oregon, demonstrate the successes that a community can achieve when visions are harnessed and available resources leveraged.