Making good use of Wisconsin's brownfields
By WFRV
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) - Area lawmakers are hoping to pass legislation to bring new life to blighted properties across the state. As Local 5's Kris Schuller reports, they are pushing a bill designed to help local communities dealing with this issue.
Across the city of Green Bay there are numerous brownfield sites, land that might hide some sort of environmental issue.
“Basically, every parcel along Velp Avenue is considered a potential brownfield,” said Matt Buchanan, development specialist for the city of Green Bay.
Matt Buchanan says these sites are the result of the city’s industrial past, and when it comes to redeveloping them, often it’s a hard sell.
“Developers are sometimes a little scared of investing in a property like that,” Buchanan said.
But with Assembly Bill 179, two area lawmakers have developed various tools to help local governments turn blighted sites into productive developments.
“We’ve got thousands of vacant parcels that have various types of contamination preventing them from being built on,” Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay, said.
The bill makes it easier for brownfield sites to be cleaned up by dealing with multiple issues, such as liability or when a county forecloses on a contaminated site.
“Entering into the chain of titles by the county on a brownfield property is seen as a risk that a lot of counties are very hesitant to get engaged in,” Rep. André Jacque said.
Or allowing local governments to develop and manage specific loan programs.
“They can come from that parcel’s property tax and then create a repayment up to 20 years under the legislation,” Cowles said. “So, they can’t do that currently.”
“If the city could be in charge of our own program like that … we would love to be in control of,” Buchanan added.
Buchanan says remediation on these sites in downtown Green Bay in the past 10 years has created $120 million in private development. With AB 179, more success is sure to follow.
There are an estimated 10,000 brownfield sites in Wisconsin.