Brownsfield Services
 “Brownfields” is a new word to describe an old problem: abandoned or underused industrial commercial property with residual contamination from prior uses.
Fear of potential environmental liability has kept many developers from rejuvenating brownfields properties, which have languished for years, contributing to urban decline and inhibiting economic growth within a community. Estimates from the U.S. General Accounting Office indicates that there are about 450,000 brownfields sites in the nation.
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Housing and Urban development, the Economic Development Administration, and many other state and local agencies are providing incentives for brownfields redevelopment, and the EPA’s Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is empowering states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together for brownfields redevelopment.
 By allowing the application of “risk-based corrective actions,” the initiative requires that designated brownfields sites need only to be brought up to environmental standards based on the intended use of that property.
For example, former industrial sites that will be used for industrial purposes may not have to be restored to the more stringent environmental standards required fo residential use.
PBS&J’s Services
PBS&J, one of the nation’s leading providers of environmental and land development consulting services, offers comprehensive services for brownfields redevelopment projects. Our in-house resources include engineering, planning, and scientific professionals with expertise in:
- Program management
- Brownfields area delineation
- Site assessment and remediation
- Land use and urban planning
- Site planning
- Site development and design
- Grant application preparation and implementation
- Federal, state, and local agency coordination
- Public involvement support
Depending on our client’s needs, we may also call upon PBS&J professionals specializing in geographic information systems, cultural resources assessments, landscape architecture, asset management, and other information technologies. Brownfields redevelopment provides opportunities to bring environmental and economic improvements to contaminated properties, reduce urban sprawl through better land use, and provide an improved quality of life to communities where abandoned properties are located. When a brownfields redevelopment is successful everyone benefits.
- Owners enjoy reduced contamination liabilities, improved community relations, lower cleanup costs, and economic benefits.
- Developers gain access to previously overlooked assets with laws and insurance help that alleviates liability fears.
- Cities and states help to keep business in urban neighborhoods and preserves greenfields - pristine land typically in more rural areas.
- Investors and lenders obtain new opportunities to invest with less risk and more reasonable assurances of a safe return on investments.
- Attorneys gain opportunities to help clients manage environmental issues for sites rather than avoid cleanup.
- Regulators and governmental agencies can facilitate a speedier and lower cost cleanup while encouraging voluntary cleanup of contaminated properties.
- The public benefits from more efficient land use, less urban sprawl, fewer abandoned properties, and increased property values and economic development.
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