Page 117 - Beyond Decommissioning

98 Beyond Decommissioning

and media of concern, exposure route(s) and receptor(s), and the remediation goal(s)
for each exposure route. Local authorities can implement land-use controls such as:
restrictions on groundwater use, changing mixed-use zoning laws, and assisting
national and regional agencies in monitoring compliance during the decommissioning
and remediation of industrial complexes and beyond.
A variety of socioeconomic factors can be of concern to the local communities dur-
ing and after site decommissioning and remediation. Examples of social factors
include: public appetite for space/real estate, employment issues, the elimination of
blight and poverty, open space, wetlands reserves, sustainable communities (just to
give a specific example, a social priority can be to provide additional low-income
housing). Economic drivers in the cleanup of contaminated sites are factors that ben-
efit the investor or the economy of the community. Property value is an example of
such factors. Investors can purchase potentially contaminated sites at a lower price
when the present owner cannot pay for the required cleanup. In some cases, property
owners can feel forced to sell and become an obstacle to redevelopment: this issue can
be addressed through economic incentives. After the investor has completed the
cleanup, the property is often sold or redeveloped for a profit. To determine whether
an economic driver exists, the investor should analyze the current market value of
similar real estate and estimate the value of the site once redevelopment is complete.
Political drivers are determined by the role national, regional, and local govern-
ments, agencies, and nongovernmental entities play in promoting the identification,
cleanup, and redevelopment of potentially contaminated sites. With increasing under-
standing of environmental issues, national and regional politicians have added envi-
ronmental topics to their agendas and promote legislation that improves the
environmental and public health of their constituencies. On the other hand, demolition
and rebuilding, or significant remodeling, often involve discretionary permits from the
local government, and changing the use of a property always does. A local government
also can assist in identifying high priority areas and focus redevelopment efforts in
those areas. There is a point of environmental justice here: land use planning striving
to achieve social justice should avoid redevelopment that de facto promotes housing
segregation, unequal property-tax funding of public schools, jobs-housing imbalance,
the spatial imbalance of economic opportunity, and unequal availability of recreational
spaces. The term “gentrification” (see Glossary) summarizes many of these issues.
Local officials should encourage local citizens’ participation in the decision-
making process, provide them with accurate and timely information, and have mech-
anisms to consider their views. Also local governments can signal properties with
important local historical or architectural value to prospective developers.
Additional functions of local governments in redevelopment projects encompass
the following: coordinating community relations (including the reconciliation of dif-
ferent interests), brokering reuse, providing and coordinating public funding, acting as
liaison with site owners and environmental regulators, assuming liability for envi-
ronmental conditions as needed, and impeding the redevelopment of a site for a poten-
tially (re-)contaminating reuse. Some advanced schemes establish public information
and coordination centers to assist throughout the redevelopment. However, the facil-
itating role of local officials is often constrained. For example, the regulations