Baykeeper Releases Important Brownfields to Greenfields Position Paper

(A link to the actual report can be found at the bottom of this article).

The Hudson-Raritan Estuary once propelled America's industrial revolution. The result: our region is heir today to hundreds of derelict and contaminated factory sites. But years of abandonment have allowed these ruins to return to nature, and for endangered species to thrive upon them. Now brownfields redevelopment plans, focused exclusively on economic goals, could destroy these environmental "diamonds in the rough" - and the public could lose forever one of our most valuable hidden urban natural treasures.

It needn't be so, says a new Brownfields to Greenfields position paper just published by NY/NJ Baykeeper. States around the nation along with innovative developers are proving that economic and environmental goals can go hand-in-hand in brownfields to greenfields redevelopment plans. The same could be true in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary.

"As I wrote this paper, what became apparent were the staggering impediments to brownfields to greenfields redevelopment in the Estuary, combined with the incredible opportunities," says former Baykeeper conservation associate Megan Callus. Current New Jersey regulations, for example, offer strong incentives and a streamlined permitting process for brownfields redevelopment. They offer no such perks for greenfields redevelopment.

But the region's brownfields don't just offer good opportunities for economic growth. They offer unprecedented opportunities as natural habitat for threatened and endangered species; as neighborhood parks; or as greenways with hiking and bicycle trails. "Our paper makes the point that there should be state incentives and subsidies to ensure that any brownfields project has a greenflelds component," says NY/NJ Baykeeper Andy Willner, "What we would like to see is a level playing field that allows the same kind of tax credits to be used for greenfields projects as for brownfields projects."

Baykeeper's paper points to several Hudson-Raritan Estuary sites as examples of how brownfields redevelopment can go wrong and right. "At Port Reading, in Woodbridge, for example, I saw a tremendous natural resource destroyed before my eyes," says Callus. "That 292-acre site has since been touted as a brownfields to greenfields project because it has elements of preservation and wetlands restoration. But this is a site where there were northern harriers and other wildlife, huge trees, and tremendous greenery. I watched all those trees come down, natural lands devastated and paved. That is how not to do it."

But at the proposed iPort 12 in Carteret there is still an extraordinary possibility for good greenfields redevelopment. This old industrial complex - covering 250 acres - is now a feeding ground for yellow crown and black crown night herons. And it has potential to be a breeding ground for these endangered species as well. "You have these magnificent wetlands full of wildlife surrounded by tank farms. It's quite amazing," says Callus.

The National Lead site in Sayreville is still another brownfields opportunity that, as planned, lacks a significant greenfields component. Though it provides for a Raritan River walkway, it would, as currently designed, result in the loss of 300 acres of open space and the destruction of habitat for a variety of threatened and endangered species, including bald eagles. "That would be a terrible waste," says Willner. "The National Lead site redevelopment plan should focus just on the original 100-acre factory footprint, not on consuming all these natural lands. These urban open spaces are in some cases the home of last resort for threatened and endangered species and other wildlife. And these sites are also some of the last places that people from urban parts of the state can get down to the water's edge and be in contact with nature."

Baykeeper sees brownfields to greenfields projects as crucial to achieving a balance between development and open space within the Estuary. "The states, corporations, and redevelopers are slowly opening their eyes to the possibilities. Awareness has been achieved and that is a big first step," says Callus. "An effective state Brownfields to greenfields program that offers real incentives to redevelopers to preserve the environment is the only way we'll see these invaluable natural sites preserved. Of course, it will also take public awareness to shift the tide strongly toward preservation."

To download a PDF version of the Brownfields to Greenfields report click here.