“This has been used for a really long time to do a very certain, specific thing: to make it the same cost to develop a contaminated site or a blighted site as it costs to develop a site in a greenfield.”
Consultant Olivia Selby explains to the East Grand Rapids City Commission the purpose of a Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, which the commission voted 6-1 in favor of establishing.
The mayor and commission will now need to appoint board members, elect officers and establish bylaws and policies for the authority. They can then consider developers’ applications for local and state incentives to support new development.
Commissioner Bradley Hunter was the lone “no” vote, saying he has concerns that the board would prematurely support a proposed housing and commercial project downtown from developers, Gaslight Investors.
“I think we should know before we set up the brownfield what the plans of the developer are.”
Mayor Katie Favale noted that the brownfield authority is only a tool that gives the city the ability to incentivize development. The commission will still have the opportunity to make policies for the authority and establishing it doesn’t specifically support or oppose actual proposals.
“It creates leveraging opportunity, and without this tool, we could have very little say in the ways in which our community properties are developed.”
