Emerging Practices & Practical Considerations for Land Banks & Brownfield Redevelopment

Over the last ten years, land banks across the country have increasingly engaged in successful brownfield remediation and redevelopment. This work can help improve public health, revitalize neighborhoods, and spur economic growth.

Conducting brownfield redevelopment is a natural fit for land banks because:

• Land banks are well positioned to engage in brownfield redevelopment. Land banks already exist in many communities with a concentration of brownfield properties and have the authority to acquire properties cost effectively and hold properties tax free. Due to their unique structures, land banks are typically eligible for federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Program Grants and, in certain circumstances, for liability protections from federal environmental laws.
• Remediating brownfields helps land banks achieve their goals. Land banks were created to help return vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties to productive use. Assessing and remediating potential contamination on VAD properties helps achieve this goal by removing a key barrier to redevelopment: the risks and costs associated with potential contamination and resulting liability.
• Brownfield funding can complement land banks’ existing activities. Many land banks already engage in activities that make up a critical part of successful brownfield redevelopment, including community engagement, property inventories, and site planning. Land banks that expand their work to include brownfields can potentially access state and federal brownfield funding to support or enhance these activities.

Despite this symbiosis, land banks face barriers to engaging in brownfield redevelopment. Land bank staff and boards may be reluctant to move into what they view as a new space or unsure how to begin. There is often a stigma associated with brownfield properties and a mistaken belief that they cannot be redeveloped to meet certain needs, like housing. Some land banks feel they do not have the capacity to even explore how to engage in brownfields work, let alone the capacity and funding to carry out remediation and redevelopment activities. Others are concerned that acquiring brownfield properties could result in liability for costly cleanups and other damages under state and federal environmental laws. However, these barriers can be overcome, and land banks who engage in brownfield redevelopment can bring powerful positive change to the communities they serve.

Designed to inspire and guide, this publication equips land banks with practical strategies and innovative practices for successful brownfield redevelopment. This publication draws on the Center for Community Progress’ interviews and site visits with land banks engaged in successful brownfield redevelopment, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)’s decades of experience delivering brownfields technical assistance, and the EPA and other brownfield technical assistance providers’ extensive brownfields resources. It is part of a larger set of resources Community Progress created to help more land banks engage in this work. These resources are available at www.communityprogress/brownfields.

Though brownfield redevelopment is not always linear, this publication walks land banks through the process from start to finish, including overcoming initial barriers, laying the groundwork for redevelopment, and then carrying out the remediation and redevelopment. We highlight emerging practices in land banking and brownfield redevelopment throughout this publication.

Download the full report. »