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Edens Lost & Found “Edens Lost & Found,” a new four-episode PBS documentary on sustainability airing nationwide next spring, includes segments on brownfield remediation. The series explores the many possibilities for urban communities in meeting growth and infrastructure demands while providing and protecting a clean environment. Each episode will focus on greening efforts in a different city: Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle. More than 700 people turned out for the Chicago premiere of “Edens Lost & Found,” including many of the community members featured in film and government officials. The Chicago episode focuses on the cleanup of industrial sites in neighborhoods, protection and restoration of a wetland prairie on the city’s south side, and city hall’s rooftop garden. In the documentary, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley stands atop the landscaped roof of city hall and explains, “Most people believe urban communities are steel, dirt, concrete, and they don’t look at the environment, so what I’m trying to do is bring greening and green technology to our great city.” The film was produced by independent filmmakers Wiland-Bell Productions. “Edens Lost & Found” tells the stories of ordinary citizens and local governments working together to redevelop urban brownfields as sustainable green spaces. The documentary illustrates how the impetus for brownfields redevelopment can come from all levels — as much from everyday citizens as government officials. BFN Non-Profit Brownfield Proceeds Now Tax-Free by Kenneth S. Kamlet Imagine a not-for-profit hospital, nursing home, or pension fund that invests in a brownfield property, then cleans up and redevelops that property, and then sells the property for a profit. Even if the non-profit entity were tax-exempt, the income from this business activity, which is unrelated to the entity’s primary tax-exempt purpose, is considered Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI). It would normally be taxable at a corporate or trust tax rate (a combined federal and state tax rate of at least 40 percent). However, under a little-noticed change in federal law late last year, the tax on such a UBTI transaction may now be nothing! The change was effected by a provision in the 2004 omnibus “American Jobs Creation Act,” which amended the federal tax code to exclude gain or loss on the sale or exchange of certain brownfield sites from UBTI. To qualify for the UBTI tax exclusion, the tax-exempt organization must satisfy three requirements: 1) It must secure state certification that it is acquiring (or has acquired) a “qualifying brownfield property” from an “unrelated person.” A qualifying brownfield is one that meets the CERCLA definition.2) It must be an “eligible taxpayer,” which requires it to pay or incur “eligible remediation expenditures” at the acquired brownfield site in an amount that exceeds the greater of $550,000 or 12 percent of the property’s fair market value at the time of acquisition. Eligible remediation expenditures include the costs of certain types of environmental insurance, etc. 3) Within one year of the property’s transfer to an unrelated person, the eligible taxpayer must secure a second certification from a state or U.S. EPA that, “as a result of the eligible taxpayer’s remediation actions,” the property would no longer be treated as a qualifying brownfield property. This means all remedial actions have been substantially completed, a remediation plan has been implemented to bring the property into compliance with all applicable local, state and federal environmental laws, regulations and standards, and “the reasonably anticipated future land uses or capacity for uses of the property are more economically productive or environmentally beneficial than the uses of the property in existence” on the date of the first certification. BFN Kenneth S. Kamlet is director of legal affairs at Newman Development Group in Vestal, N.Y. Governors’ Institute on Community Design The Governors’ Institute on Community Design has been formed to support governors’ leadership in good community design and sound planning. The institute, funded with $200,000 each from the U.S. EPA and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will be jointly administered by the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, both at the University of Maryland. Three former governors with a long history of promoting smart growth —Christie Whitman (New Jersey, also former EPA Administrator), Parris Glendening (Maryland) and Angus King (Maine) — made the announcement about the institute in July. ”Many governors want to address housing, transportation, health or other issues related to land use and development, but need the tools to do so,” said Governor Glendening. “There are many examples of successful community design. Our goal is to share those strategies with governors and their staffs.” “Air and water quality, brownfields, water infrastructure and wetlands protection are all linked to how and where we grow,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. In the coming year, the institute will conduct up to four workshops to pair governors and their cabinets with top planning experts to identify strategies that spur smarter development that serves the economy, public health and the environment. Other forms of assistance that will be available to governors include ongoing advice on technical issues and a publication listing a range of policy options to consider. BFN |
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