{"id":533862,"date":"2022-09-02T17:35:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T00:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=533862"},"modified":"2022-09-09T16:18:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T23:18:01","slug":"mapping-past-contamination-helps-cities-plan-for-renewal","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/mapping-past-contamination-helps-cities-plan-for-renewal","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Past Contamination Helps Cities Plan for Renewal"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1561,24962,476112],"tags":[481442,339072,641],"arcuser_issues":[481302],"class_list":["post-533862","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-development","category-focus","category-urban-planning","tag-brownfields","tag-city-planning","tag-logistics","arcuser_issues-arcuser-summer-2022"],"acf":{"short_description":"Cities are looking at rehabilitating run-down industrial site to add manufacturing and warehouse capacity.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":533872,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"The growing demand in the United States to return to manufacturing and add warehouses to shore up supply chain gaps has made past-industrial land more interesting, particularly in and around the major port city of Bridgeport, Connecticut."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Developers in the area want to take advantage of proximity to both New York City and Boston as well as the connectivity available along the heavily traveled Interstate 95 corridor. But they also know that there are bare or run-down sites that are unused because they are likely hazardous due to past uses.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":533902,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cConnecticut has a very rich industrial past, which was great in the early-to-mid-1900s, but it left a significant contamination issue we\u2019re still struggling to climb out of,\u201d said Matt Fulda, executive director at the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments (MetroCOG). \u201cBridgeport had Remington and other munitions and heavy industrial activities, which has left a lot of the city undevelopable. Roughly 30 percent of the parcels in the city are vacant or underutilized.\u201d\r\n\r\nCity planners and developers needed a way to understand the opportunity cost of so-called brownfield redevelopment sites, and a smart map helped them see where the turnaround could happen quickly.\r\n\r\nMetroCOG created the Brownfields Inventory Site Selector tool to fill in knowledge gaps, using GIS to visualize, analyze, and prioritize sites based on contamination, connectivity, and resilience to climate change.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to eliminate as many impedances as possible,\u201d said Patrick Carleton, deputy director at MetroCOG. \u201cGetting information out there and accessible makes an easier path forward for redevelopment.\u201d\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":533912,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Reconnecting along the Northeast Corridor<\/h3>\r\nBrownfield redevelopment provides a potential win-win-win for municipalities because remediation and reuse address environmental contamination, offer jobs to residents, and generate corporate tax revenue. Removing brownfields has psychological value: it shows that a city isn\u2019t mired in its past.\r\n\r\nMetroCOG has a history of redeveloping brownfield sites, having secured grants from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and state agencies for both assessment and remediation.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe scale of remediation varies dramatically across different properties,\u201d Fulda said. \u201cSome just need a million dollars to remove contaminated soils or building asbestos. Other sites are far more complex, with different industries on the same property over the course of 100 years with all sorts of legacy contaminants.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe first step of assessments involved inventorying sites. Staff got busy gathering background details and adding them to the map. Documents were scanned from municipal and state records, detailing past facilities that occupied each site, the type of contaminants, and where hazardous materials were likely located.\r\n\r\nMetroCOG also conducted some spatial analyses to look across the region and see where remediation work would have the greatest impact. Communities around some sites are in areas with persistent poverty as well as education and health disparities that mark the need for environmental justice.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to target specific corridors in Bridgeport and Stratford, the two most urbanized and disadvantaged communities and with the most problematic sites,\u201d Carleton said.\r\n\r\nNext, MetroCOG hired environmental remediation experts to sample and analyze the soil, groundwater, and any remnants of structures to measure contamination and make cleanup plans for priority sites. GIS is a commonly used tool for collaboration on these kinds of projects. It\u2019s used to map where the work needs to be done and report where\u2014and to what extent\u2014each site is contaminated.\r\n\r\nMetroCOG\u2019s Brownfields Inventory Site Selector tool unleashes all the historical records\u2014many of which were previously only available on paper and tucked away in file drawers\u2014and provides access to the latest environmental assessment reports.\r\n

Showing Redevelopment Potential<\/h3>\r\nBrownfields aren\u2019t the only focus of MetroCOG. It administers cooperative planning in one of nine regions in the state for issues related to land use, transportation, housing, public facilities, open space, environment, energy, and economic development. Increasingly, MetroCOG staff members have been applying and promoting their GIS capacity to the member communities of Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull. This includes creating issue-oriented tools similar to the brownfield site selector and creating 3D visualizations to help city planners visualize the changes they want to foster. With several brownfield sites in the area moving through remediation, planners have shifted from making assessments to selling the transformation.\r\n\r\nIn Stratford, MetroCOG worked with city planners to visualize different development options for a former metal plating facility currently going through cleanup. Using ArcGIS Urban to visualize the area in 3D, MetroCOG staff created a digital twin of the immediate area. The immersive visualization that showcased several redevelopment scenarios, accompanied by the deep-dive details in the brownfields tool, impressed the US EPA, which chose to showcase the project during its annual brownfield conference.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe metal plating site in Stratford is next to another site undergoing extensive remediation with the help of US EPA,\u201d Carleton said. \u201cThey are both close to the interstate and close to commercial and industrial corridors within the town, and the visualization helps the town market those properties.\u201d\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":533922,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Meeting Industrial Demands<\/h3>\r\nMetroCOG recently completed a comprehensive economic development strategy for the region that identified industrial space as the highest demand for real estate. There is a growing interest from companies in the transportation, logistics, and supply chain industries to have their own space, and it\u2019s difficult to find that in the region.\r\n\r\nWith the port, the interstate, and a state highway that originates in Bridgeport and moves north to connect to Interstate 84, the region is well positioned for advanced manufacturing. Defense contractors\u2014such as Sikorsky Aircraft headquartered in Stratford\u2014reinforce the viability of the area for other manufacturers. With more than 300 small-to-multinational manufacturers in the region, MetroCOG and the municipalities it serves are hopeful that new industrial uses will lead to renewal and drive the economy forward.\r\n\u201cMapping the vacant or underutilized parcels in Bridgeport has helped us work with the city and with developers to prioritize locations for remediation,\u201d Fulda said. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful those locations will have a cascading effect\u2014to get more properties cleaned up, advertised, and developed so they will attract other developments.\u201d\r\n\r\n "}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nCities rehabilitate past industrial sites<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The growing demand in the United States to return to manufacturing and add warehouses to shore up supply chain gaps has made past-industrial land more interesting, particularly in and around the major port city of Bridgeport, Connecticut\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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