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CASE STUDY >> ARKANSAS
Developing in Dixie: A Survey
The American Cultural Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
The South Is Catching On and Catching Up
Although the origins of brownfield redevelopment are the states and cities of the Northeast and Midwest, southern communities are quickly closing the “redevelopment gap.” In fact, many southern states have gone from limited programs to full-blown success stories in a very short period.
Perhaps the best way to understand brownfield efforts in the South is to realize that, as is the case everywhere, there are various levels of development with significant differences within states and between states:
• Virginia has developed an interesting tax credits program to encourage
additional private business activity.
• Georgia received EPA Pilot grant monies to assess properties and redevelop for green spaces and soccer fields.
• The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) developed a grant awards program for the establishment and enhancement of the state brownfield programs that will allow ADEM to develop a brownfield inventory, establish a public record and perform assessment activities.
• Louisiana, on April 20, 2001, promulgated the Louisiana Voluntary Remediation Regulations to formalize the Voluntary Remediation Program within the Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ).
Cities in the South have also done a tremendous job. Perhaps none have done better than the City of Houston, a Phoenix Award winner. There, brownfields coordinator Dawn Moses has overseen and developed almost $500 million worth of projects and improved the lives of people in her community through job growth, reduction of blight and the city’s increased tax roles at the same time.
But there are other areas that many would not think about. Community leaders from Birmingham, Alabama are looking to expand redevelopment efforts to parts of their city that had been previously left behind. A solid waste director from North Carolina is looking to expand his program to include voluntary cleanup programs. Pensacola, Florida, by working with the Trust for Public Land, remediated and redeveloped properties along its bayfront to include green spaces, apartments and an amphitheater.
Big Goings-On In Little Rock
One Southern community that has excelled in just about all fronts is Little Rock, Arkansas. Whether it is involving the community, harnessing private funds and leveraging public monies or finding viable regulatory solutions, Little Rock (and Pulaski County) is an emerging success story.
Since Little Rock represents a significant part of the total population of Arkansas, redevelopment there has the potential to spark projects throughout the state. This would represent a major step forward, as the bulk of everything else in Arkansas falls within rural and smaller communities.
Paige Grafton is the director of Pulaski County Community Services. She reached out to other agencies in the Greater Little Rock community, the City of North Little Rock and the City of Little Rock along with the Pulaski Enterprise Community Alliance, to increase the number of stakeholders and the information transfer between them.
But her work also included a major effort to bring about a diffusion of information to citizens so that they could impact the planning process as well. Further, without the assistance of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and EPA Region VI, none of this would be possible.
One initiative that has proven particularly useful was securing the Empowerment Zone (EZ) designation for urban communities in historically distressed areas. The Pulaski County EZ was one of seven urban areas nationwide selected by HUD. Part of the benefits of the EZ designation has been a business tax incentive package valued at $17 to $22 billion nationwide.
The designation period runs from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2009. The EZ area in Little Rock and Pulaski County is composed of fifteen census tracts in downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock that had to meet specific poverty and population criteria as established by HUD.
The EZ area totals 17.2 square miles and includes an additional 2,000 acres of developable area that was exempt from poverty and population criteria. This has provided a basis for redevelopment in an area along the riverfront that has historically been underutilized.
Public and Private Projects
The Greater Little Rock area will see almost $400 million in brownfield redevelopment over the next few years. All of this is not just private business. The Bill Clinton Presidential Library project will be in this area and Heifer International, a nonprofit organization devoted to ending world hunger, is developing its new world headquarters and education center on a 28-acre former industrial area of downtown Little Rock.
But redevelopment is not just based on establishing zones or holding community meetings. Little Rock has fashioned a business-friendly environment coupled with a long-term plan for sustainable development. Most programs around the country have tax credits or some type of low-interest loans for private developers.
Little Rock includes others, including New Markets Tax Credits, which provide a credit for investors against their federal taxes of five–six percent of the amount invested in the EZ, and a Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which provides credit against federal taxes for owners of newly-constructed or renovated rental housing.
Anyone who has not been to Little Rock in the last five years, especially the riverfront, would hardly recognize it. Perhaps the intangibles are just as important. Crime and graffiti are noticeably reduced. A sense of community and purpose has been invigorated. A potential Phoenix Awards nominee? Maybe.
A Recipe for Success
One thing is obvious. Regardless of geography, success anywhere is dependent on community involvement, regulatory flexibility and a specific use for a property. But such a statement does not fully address the multitude of problems faced by brownfield developers.
The famous American journalist H.L Mencken once claimed, “For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”
In brownfields, solutions are complex, messy and must be correct. The stakes are too high.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of programs and local experts in the South that are producing creative alternatives that are redeveloping properties and facilitating urban renewal and spreading to rural communities.
By Dr. John Sutherlin, a visiting professor at Tulane University where he teaches courses on environmental policy and natural resource management. He is the producer, director and writer for the “Brownfields: Reclaiming Our Urban Environment” documentary series.
Read about Heifer International’s new
headquarters in Volume 9 Issue 1.