Roanoke Takes Brownfields to 'Task'

EPA recently awarded approximately $4 million in pilot grants to 23 communities nationwide to support area-wide planning approaches to address local brownfields challenges. The City of Roanoke, Virginia, is one of three ommunities in EPA’s mid-Atlantic region to receive up to $175,000 in EPA cooperative agreements and/or technical assistance. The pilot program will help further community-based partnership efforts within underserved or economically disadvantaged neighborhoods by confronting local environmental and public health challenges related to brownfields, while creating a planning framework to advance economic development and job creation. Read more about EPA’s Area-Wide Planning pilots check out our article, It’s an Area-Wide World out There.

The following list highlights six tasks the Roanoke community is undertaking to address blight in a designated ‘corridor’ of land, known as the Rail Corridor Revitalization Area (a subset of the city-wide redevelopment plan). Roanoke planners hope their final plan can serve as a model for transforming other areas throughout their city. Let’s take a closer look at their task breakdown…

Task 1: Compile and Refine Current Plans:  A team comprised of city staff and planning partners will work with consultants to compile existing plans, brownfields site inventories, GIS information, and 2010 census data. This task will include outreach to residents and businesses in the corridor to develop a revised baseline of goals, objectives, and vision that build on previous efforts.

Task 2 - Define Future Uses for Brownfields:  The team will develop aninventory of brownfields in the corridor, and analyze economic conditions in the corridor. Based on the economic analysis and public input, the team will determine the best potential uses for specific sites. Uses may include continued industrial use in some areas; conversion to residential, mixed use, or commercial development; and public open spaces.

Task 3 - Plan for Reuse of Infrastructure: The team will review the adequacy of existing utility systems and make recommendations for improvements that may be needed for various future uses, both industrial and recreational.

Task 4 - Policy and Strategy for Reuse:  After a comprehensive review of past and ongoing revitalization, development, and incentive programs as they relate to city policy, the team will recommend a set of policies and actions for the Rail Corridor Revitalization Plan. Task 4 will likely include marketing available properties.

Task 5 – Implementation Steps and Resources: The team will identify next steps and resources necessary to implement the plan, as well as a project timeline. Resources will include potential additional brownfields grants, technical assistance, and other funding that could be leveraged to address future sites.

Task 6 – Compile Area-Wide Plan: Upon completion of Tasks 1-5, the team will publish the final plan, along with fact sheets and other tools to share and implement the plan. For more information, visit Roanokeva, Va's Brownfields website.