Brownfield Information – City of Saginaw

This document provides a general description of brownfields, the brownfield redevelopment authority, financing options, an example of a brownfield success story in Saginaw – Galladè Technologies and brownfield contacts and resources.

Brownfields are abandoned idle or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. (US EPA).

It is designed to allow States, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. The EPA funds up to $200,000 to each pilot to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfield solutions. The pilots are intended to provide EPA, States, Tribes, municipalities and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

The City of Saginaw has been awarded $200,000 in pilot money from the EPA to help increase redevelopment and create jobs by encouraging private and public investment. The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority is charge in administering the pilot.

Activities planned as part of the Pilot include:

• Developing a brownfields site inventory
• Conducting an economic analysis of prospective properties within the target area
• Performing Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments for those targeted properties
• Providing outreach and education to the community regarding brownfield redevelopment issues

The local governing body establishes the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. This governing body must set up a date for a public hearing on the adoption of a resolution creating the authority and designating the boundaries proposed in the geographic area known as the "Brownfield Redevelopment Zone".

• Many communities designate the entire community as their brownfield redevelopment zone, which avoids delays when adding newly discovered brownfields to the brownfield plan
• For a county authority, or township where the zone would include land that belongs to a village within the township, all affected local governing bodies must concur by resolution to be included in the county’s zone

The governing body must establish the Authority’s board. The Authority board is a group of volunteers that oversee all brownfield plans and can answer questions concerning brownfields. The Authority board may be designated from the following:

• Economic Development Corporation (EDC)
• Downtown Development Authority (DDA)
• Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA)
• Local Development Finance Authority (LDFA)
• Or from a completely new board consisting of 5-9 individuals appointed by the chief executive office of the municipality and approved by the governing body.

• The Authority can reimburse the costs of addressing environmental contamination using tax increment financing
• A developer can be eligible to claim an exemption from their Michigan Single Business Tax of 10% of their investment in new buildings and equipment
• The Authority may capture excess tax increment revenues and pay them into a local site remediation revolving fund.

The BRA must draft a brownfield plan. In this plan there are several things that must be there including:

• Description of the costs to be paid from tax increment revenues, including identifying the eligible properties and eligible activities performed
• The method of financing the plan including identifying the eligible properties and eligible activities to be performed
• Maximum note or bond indebtedness to be issued
• Duration of the plan
• Estimate of impact of tax increment capture on affected taxing jurisdictions
• Description of eligible property
• Several items regarding treatment of persons who might be displaced from dwellings within the area covered by the Brownfield Plan, including plans for compliance with pertinent state and federal law on displaced residents and replacement housing
• Proposed use of local site remediation
• Other matters deemed relevant.

Ways to Finance Brownfields

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality provides grants up to $1,000,000/project per year to the state or local government for environmental investigation of the property with redevelopment potential in order to facilitate the sale of the site.

Criteria:

• Only eligible local communities can apply
• Funds can be used to investigate property and prepare a baseline environmental assessment
• Must show economic development potential
• Communities can recover grants/expenditures from liable parties and use their funds for response activities at the project site or other properties

The funds are limited for this program, before completing an application contact the MI DEQ. Grant applications are evaluated by the DEQ based upon how they meet the objectives of the site assessment grant portion of the Site Reclamation Program.

Objectives of the Site Assessment Grant portion of the Site Reclamation Program

• Targeting redevelopment by providing funding for environmental assessment for investigation of properties in areas of redevelopment potential.
• Determine whether properties in eligible communities are suitable for reuse and whether environmental response activities are necessary
• Encourage marketing of properties to potential developers by providing funding to the projects that generate baseline information about the environmental conditions of the properties.
• Encourage businesses to use the basic infrastructure on the properties instead of relocating to a Greenfield space
• Provide funding o projects with the greatest environmental and economic development taking into account demographic differences throughout the state of Michigan
• Encouraging communities to demonstrate innovative approaches with public/private partnerships resulting in environmental improvements and eventual economic development

Contact for more information:

Site Reclamation Program
Environmental Response Division, DEQ
PO Box 30426
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-9540

Renaissance Park Fund

This fund promotes the development of businesses and industrial parks in communities that do not have a commitment from business to create jobs.

Funds used to finance land acquisition, rehabilitation costs, and infrastructure or public facility costs associated with a prospective business project.

• Funds do NOT cover: soil or groundwater remediation or reclamation and parks with a retail component will only be financed in one of the eleven Renaissance Zones
• Each loan is negotiated individually with terms and conditions based, in part, on the efforts of the community and the individual need of the project.
• A community must estimate at the time of the application the number of jobs to be created and a detailed feasibility study r business plan to be considered for the loan
• The project must be completed within two years of the closing of the loan

Projects in the Renaissance Zone

• Loans up to five million dollars are permitted and carry a maximum term of up to 20 years without principal or interest payments for up to five years without principal or interest payments for up to five years. Interest does not begin accruing until the beginning of the fourth year.
• There are credits available resulting from job creation which may help repay up to 90% of the project.

Projects not in the Renaissance Zone

• Loans up to three million are permitted and carry a maximum term of up to 15 years without principal or interest payments for up to 5 years. Interest begins accruing at the beginning of the second year.
• Credits available from job creation which can help pay up to 50 percent of the project

Loan application

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/erd/siterec/revloanapp.htm

More information contact: