Colleen P Cahill Writing Sample Brownfields Redevelopment Select Pages

Running head: BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY 1

Brownfields Redevelopment: A Case Study of Baltimore City, Maryland

Colleen Cahill

University of South Florida

EVR 6937

August 2, 2011

Dr. Ambe Njoh

BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY 2

Abstract

This paper looks at the question of why cities may choose to utilize brownfields redevelopment,

what some of the perceived barriers to this redevelopment are and how this strategy has been

used in one older industrial city in Maryland, Baltimore City. While not intending to be an

exhaustive look at the issues behind brownfields redevelopment, the paper touches on several

contributing factors identified in the literature and coinciding with Baltimore’s goals, attempting

to discern how Baltimore has handled these factors in its redevelopment efforts. The conclusion

is that though problems have arisen, Baltimore has to some extent achieved its goals of job

creation, improvement of health and the environment, urban revitalization, increasing the tax

base, and curbing urban sprawl.


Brownfields Redevelopment: A Case Study of Baltimore City, Maryland

Brownfields redevelopment has become a useful tool for cities to use in their

redevelopment strategies. This paper looks at the question of why cities may choose to utilize

brownfields redevelopment, what some of the perceived barriers to this redevelopment are and

how this strategy has been used in one older industrial city in Maryland, Baltimore City. While

not intending to be an exhaustive look at the issues behind brownfields redevelopment, the paper

touches on several contributing factors identified in the literature and coinciding with

Baltimore’s goals, attempting to discern how Baltimore has handled these factors in its

redevelopment efforts.

Real property of which the reuse, expansion or redevelopment of is complicated by the

presence or possibility of contamination, hazardous substances or pollutants is defined by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a brownfield site (EPA, 2009a).

These sites vary from being large multi-hundred acre sites housing the likes of industrial

complexes to small parcels housing former gas stations or dry-cleaning facilities (Ross & Leigh,

2000). Just as the size of the sites greatly vary, so can the extent of the contamination, making

any efforts at revitalization site specific.

There are many reasons why brownfields exist, with specific issues contributing to any

given site’s status as such. Several common causes include: “market forces, including shifts

toward more service-based operations, movement of industrialized operations to other regions or

countries, individual bad business decisions, information asymmetry; public policies, such as

increased environmental regulations, incentives to develop in other areas, impacts from

transportation or other infrastructure decisions; and other societal or cultural factors, including

demographic shifts or movement of workforce populations” (Morgan & Brown, 2002, p. 398)


The overall trend away from heavy industry has left many older industrial areas underutilized or

abandoned. Blight with an associated increase in crime and an economic decline of the

neighborhoods tends to pervade adjacent areas (Deason, Sherk, & Carroll, 2001; Simons,

Winson-Geideman, & Pendergrass, 2002).

Baltimore was just such a city with its economy based on heavy industry in the late 19th

and early 20th centurys. Many of the city’s industrial sites were located in and near densely

populated residential neighborhoods that provided workers for the nearby factories. The decline

of the city’s industrial base and a shift towards a more service-based economy has left Baltimore

with large tracts of abandoned and underused properties in the midst of residential

neighborhoods and, as a port city, along its waterfront. The city has identified more than 1,000

potential brownfield sites occupying over 2,400 acres within its boundaries. Community

disinvestment has occurred as the city’s population has declined (City of Baltimore, revised

2009; EPA, 2009a). From 2000 to 2010, the state’s population grew by 9 percent (2010 Census,

2010), while the city’s population declined by 3.8 percent (City of Baltimore Department of

Planning, 2010). As of 2009, 20.1 percent of its residents live below the poverty level (U.S.

Census Bureau, 2010) and the June 2011 unemployment rate is at 11 percent (Maryland

Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation).

The brownfield sites are seen as contributing to a much larger economic decline of cities

as population and businesses decrease, but it is important to note they are not the sole source of

the decline. As such, the decision to redevelope brownfields is just one component in an overall

plan for urban economic development (Deason, Sherk, & Carroll, 2001). Cities like Baltimore

have virtually no significant tracts of land zoned for commercial or industrial use that are not

abandoned and potentially contaminated or not currently occupied by an active business.


Developers wishing to build in the city, either have to wait for a property to become vacant, or

need to build on a cleaned-up brownfield site (English, 2004). Recognizing this, Baltimore has

made the adaptive reuse of brownfields an objective in its Comprehensive Economic Program

(CEP). The CEP has been closely aligned with the Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP) making a

key piece of its overall economic development strategy the financing and assembling of land for

employers and the training of the City’s workforce (City of Baltimore, revised 2009). Brownfield

revitalization and its benefits is then used in its marketing to potential companies (English,

2004).

The expected benefits of redeveloping a brownfield site as indicated in the literature run

along common themes. Although originally pursued by the EPA for purely health reasons, the

agency now recognizes economic development as a legitimate reason to redevelop a brownfield

site (Howland, 2007). This enables redevelopment in general to be promoted as a means to

economic revitalization as well as better health (Reyes, Williams, & McCumiskey, 2002). More

specific benefits indicated include urban revitalization, an increase in the tax base, a reduction of

urban blight, the preservation of greenfields in the periphery of a city, job creation for residents

and environmental health and safety protection (De Sousa, 2005; Simons, Winson-Geideman, &

Pendergrass, 2002). In 1998, Baltimore stated similar goals as an EPA Showcase Community:

“increase employment opportunities in locations accessible to lower-income populations; clean

up long-standing potential threats to public health and the environment; protect the environment,

especially the Chesapeake Bay watershed; better accommodate employment-generating growth

in already developed areas, thereby taking advantage of previously built infrastructure; develop

more efficient land use patterns, thus promoting non-“sprawl” development patterns; and

increase revenue for the city by rebuilding its tax base.” (EPA, 2010, p. 2)


Increased funding for public services such as education and health care is what enlarging

the tax base enables (Deason, Sherk, & Carroll, 2001). Tax revenues undermined by

deindustrialization and decentralization resulted in the declining quality of public services and

infrastructure, and increasing tax burdens for central city dwellers (Byun & Esparza, 2005). The

toll in terms of poverty and attendant social problems (Yount, 1997) have been pointed out

previously. The resultant blight, especially around brownfield sites, continues the cycle.

Lost tax revenues due to the presence of brownfields could range from between $121

million and $386 million per year (Deason, Sherk, & Carroll, 2001) for a city. Idle sites mean

the absence of jobs and their associated wages. Existing infrastructure goes unused, essentially

wasting even more dollars (Villavaso, Sinel, & Dauterive, 2002). Despite the many issues and

barriers surrounding brownfields redevelopment, it provides a process to reclaim otherwise

unproductive industrial land (English, 2004). There are those who argue the most contaminated

sites should be cleaned first for environmental or social justice reasons. Others see success in an

increase in the tax base, making a city better able to meet the needs of its citizens and perhaps

provide additional financial incentives for redeveloping the more contaminated sites.

With the standard of success set by the return of the property to the tax roles, Baltimore

has had success with the Highland Marine Terminal (HMT) and Crown, Cork and Seal (CCS)

projects. With only a modest public subsidy, HMT was returned to a profitable operation within

3 years of land purchase. CCS required no public subsidy and was completed in about a year

(Howland, 2003). The approval process for their cleanup plans was aided by their location a few

blocks away from residential areas as well as retention of their industrial use. The strong market

for the end use of port-related warehouse space, made their return to profitable operation even

more favorable.


Contrasted to these two “successful” projects, is the aforementioned Camden Crossing

project. The shift from industrial to residential use and the extended time frame added risk and

cost to the project. The location within an existing residential neighborhood added further layers

of requirements, as did the existence of a higher level of contamination than at the HMT or CCS

sites. Finally, weak demand for the middle-income housing that was planned (Howland, 2003)

has led to a largely vacant site.

Urban Sprawl

Since 1996, Baltimore has completed, despite problems at times, over 40 brownfields

projects and seen more than $500 million in new investment (BDC, 2010). This new investment

shows progress in their goal of promoting non-“sprawl” development patterns. Some argue the

policies regarding brownfield redevelopment are necessary to offset the biases towards

greenfield development that lead to urban sprawl (Allardice, Mattoon, & Testa, 1995). Many

factors lead to this bias, including lower development costs (Allardice, Mattoon, & Testa, 1995),

lower taxes outside of the city (CEDS, 2008), cheap open land outside of the city, improved

transportation, and the tendency towards suburbanization (Neuman, 2005). Studies show

however that compact development is less costly than sprawl for both capital and operating

costs, the greatest savings being in land consumed and infrastructure like water, sewer and road

facilities (Neuman, 2005).

The tendency towards sprawl in the form of the departure of the middle class and the

decentralization of economic activity (Nelson, Burby, Feser, Dawkins, Malizia, & Quercia,

2004) has been apparent in and around US cities since World War II. Planning initiatives and

tools may have reinforced these tendencies through concepts such as defensive dispersal in

response to the nuclear threat (Dudley, 2001) and single-use zoning (Neuman, 2005). Growth


controls put in place in the suburbs to handle their rapid growth, may have caused even more

suburbanization by causing the growth to move to new areas (Byun & Esparza, 2005). In the

meantime, blight crept in to the central cities, and the associated social ills increased, robbing

cities of their vitality (Nelson, Burby, Feser, Dawkins, Malizia, & Quercia, 2004). Smartgrowth

initiatives, of which brownfields redevelopment is a tool, are being implemented in many states,

attempting to refocus the growth, preserve farmland, reduce automobile use, impove transit

accessibility, support energy conservation, and minimize tax burdens (Kim, 2011).

One of the advantages of brownfield sites is that they often have infrastructure in place

that can be utilized or adapted to fit new uses (Allardice, Mattoon, & Testa, 1995). As a

designated Priority Funding Area (PFA) by the Maryland Department of Housing and

Community Development (MDHCD), Baltimore has been recognized as having the

infrastructure, transit and school capacity for a significant increase in residents (CEDS, 2008).

Another advantage is that demand for potentially contaminating industrial new uses on pristine

land around Baltimore may have been reduced by as many as 1,238 to 6,444 acres (Guignet &

Alberini, 2010) by reclaiming land with fewer land-consuming provisions within the city.

With no greenfield sites in Baltimore (English, 2004), the city must look to

redevelopment of brownfields to attract new business, but it faced a major challenge in terms of

zoning and land use. With a zoning code dating back to the 1970s, the city found it inadequately

allowed for the type of compact growth it wished to implement and the requirements it is

obligated to meet under Maryland’s growth plan. Using grant money from the EPA, the city is

trying to remove this barrier by incorporating smart growth strategies into its comprehensive

master plan and revised comprehensive zoning effort (EPA, 2011).


Conclusion

With an estimated 2,500 acres of brownfield properties in the City (BDC, 2010),

Baltimore is moving forward with its plans to attract new business to the city by redeveloping

these sites. To some extent, Baltimore has achieved its goals of job creation, improvement of

health and the environment, urban revitalization, increasing the tax base, and curbing urban

sprawl. Critics will point to the shortfalls of all of these objectives. Are new jobs being created

or are they relocated from another area? Are new jobs going to community members? Is the goal

of economic development far outweighing the goal of improving health and the environment?

Have communities been involved sufficiently in the development to encourage improvement in

adjacent neighborhoods? Are the neighborhoods in the worst need of revitalization being side

stepped in favor of less desparate areas and less toxic sites? Is the tendency for growth to spread

outward from the city being curbed enough to save pristine lands from development? Are better

services being provided for city residents with the increased tax base? These are just some of the

many questions that come to mind after just scratching the surface of this issue.

Based on the standards that exist presently, Baltimore can point to successes, as

numerous projects have been recognized on a national level. There have been stumbling blocks

as well, but the city sees itself as a little bit ahead of the game relative to other industrial cities

(Deason, Sherk, & Carroll, 2001). The trend since the 1980s, of the lessons learned being

incorporated at the Federal, State and Local levels, is encouraging. If this trend continues, and as

experience and expertise in the field grows, costs should be reduced, fewer incentives required,

and the market will be able to handle the reclamation of more of these properties making health,

environmental and social justice goals more easily achievable. The long term goal would be to

reclaim all of these potentially toxic sites and prevent the formation of brownfields in the future.


References

2010 Census. (2010). Resident Population Data: Population Change. Retrieved August 1, 2011,

from 2010 Census: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-txt.php

Allardice, D. R., Mattoon, R. H., & Testa, W. A. (1995, May). Brownfield redevelopment and

urban economies. Chicago Fed Letter (93).

Avila, E., & Rose, M. H. (2009). Race, Culture, Politics, and Urban Renewal: An Introduction.

Journal of Urban History , 35 (3), 335-347. doi: 10.1177/0096144208330393.

BDC. (2010, May 5). Baltimore Brownfields Initiative. Retrieved July 29, 2011, from Baltimore

Development Corporation:

http://www.baltimoredevelopment.com/sites/default/files/imag

Bogdan, E. (2002). City of Hopewell, Virginia -- learning to deal with its industrial legacy. In C.

Brebbia, D. Almorza, & H. Klapperich (Eds.), Brownfield Sites (pp. 57-66). WIT Press.

Byun, P., & Esparza, A. X. (2005). A Revisionist Model of Suburbanization and Sprawl: The

Role of Political Fragmentation, Growth Control, and Spillovers. Journal of Planning

Education and Research , 24 (3), 252-264. doi: 10.1177/0739456X04272252.

City of Baltimore. (revised 2009). City of Baltimore Comprehensive Master Plan 2007-2012.

Baltimore City.

City of Baltimore Department of Planning. (2010). 2010 Census: National Overview &

Baltimore: 2000 to 2010 Changes. Retrieved July 10, 2011, from Planning/2010 Census:

http://baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/Planning/2010 Census.aspx

Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. (2008). Baltimore City.

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