Cleanup of brownfield sites is at crawl
'Tens of thousands' in 4-year-old program not getting aid

Jay Gallagher
Albany bureau chief
First published in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 23, 2007

ALBANY — The polluted former industrial sites that most need government help to get redeveloped aren't getting the aid they need, slowing revitalization of upstate cities, according to a report released Tuesday.

The state's 4-year-old "brownfields" program to provide redevelopment subsidies at the sites of former factories, gas stations and other facilities, has completed cleanup of only 25 sites out of the "tens of thousands" that need attention, said Jody Kass of New Partners for Community Revitalization, a Manhattan-based community group.

The problem is that large developers staked a claim to some big tax credits, meaning that the state Department of Environmental Conservation was hesitant to approve other brownfields projects, said Mathy Stanislaus of the community group.

"The state Department of Environmental Conservation panicked when big developers started to grab the lion's share of the tax credits and greatly curtailed eligibility to the program," he said. "Right or wrong, the result has been to keep hard-to-develop sites, mostly located in poor urban neighborhoods and minority communities, out of the program."

Kass said owners of 39 sites who applied for the credits were told they weren't eligible, and many others have decided not to apply because of the 6- to 9-months it takes to get an answer from the state on eligibility.

Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Kimberly Chupa said that the brownfield designation and cleanup process is complicated, and that only 25 projects have been completed is "not unusual or unexpected at this stage in the program."

She couldn't provide an estimate for the cost of the program to date.

Kass said the program should be "tinkered" with so that all projects would be eligible for tax credits of up to 22 percent of the cost of cleanup, but that tax credits for other development costs, like building construction, be sharply limited.

She said the credits should be limited to projects in a poor area, that serve a community need (like low-cost housing), or fit in with redevelopment plans of poor neighborhoods.

Chupa said the department is open to suggestions on how to enhance the program.