November 11, 2002—Concerns about urban sprawl, job creation, and cleaning up polluted properties—aided by national legislation, new financial incentives, and more government and public support—continue to push land-recycling activities to new levels, according to the 2002 XL Environmental Land Reuse Report.
Exton, Pa.-based environmental insurance provider XL Environmental partnered with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), based in Washington, D.C., to perform the media analysis for the third consecutive year. The IEDC analyzed 331 newspaper and business journal articles published from July 2001 to June 2002 and collected from online sources.
The number of states represented in this report is greater than those discussed in the two previous reports, showing more widespread interest and activity in brownfields redevelopment. California showed the most dramatic increase in land reuse activity and ranked number one in this year’s analysis.
The report pinpoints a variety of trends:
- Comfort levels with brownfields redevelopment continue to grow. Developers, governments, and the general public seem to be increasingly aware of the benefits of redevelopment.
- California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin consistently appear at the forefront of brownfields redevelopment activity.
- Public-private partnerships are increasingly creative. Governments at all levels are finding innovative ways to make brownfields projects attractive to the private sector, particularly by providing funding and liability relief. In this year’s report, cities, which have the most to lose from contaminated, underutilized land languishing on the tax rolls, are as well represented as developers.
- Mixed uses comprise the majority of future and planned brownfields redevelopment sites. For the past two years, industrial uses have made up only 14 percent of future uses, though they were 70 percent of former uses. There is also an increase in sites that are being used for cultural and recreational facilities.
- Community concerns over brownfields redevelopment usually center on health and safety hazards, overdevelopment, and gentrification.
The full report is available online through XL Environmental.
