Neighborhood Renewal Project Qualifies for BAT
Pennsylvania Streamlines Cleanup
Proposed Pennsylvania Development Hailed for Smart Growth

Neighborhood Renewal Project Qualifies for BAT

An ambitious redevelopment project in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s Allison Hill section has qualified for brownfield action team (BAT) assistance to hasten cleanup and redevelopment of this vibrant city community. The project will enhance recreational opportunities for residents, especially young people, and create as many as 100 jobs.

Allison Hill is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Harrisburg, with 6,300 residents. Seventy-five percent of the residents are classified as low income by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and more than one-third of neighborhood residents are under age 18. New jobs and recreational opportunities are particularly important for the community.

The project will clean up several acres of abandoned industrial land and turn it into recreational space for neighborhood young people. The site will include soccer fields, basketball courts and playgrounds. A building now being used as a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania print shop, which is adjacent to these planned green areas, will be renovated to become a neighborhood center for education, entertainment and indoor recreation programs. This privately run facility is expected to create 50 to 100 jobs.

Plans for redevelopment also include demolition of blighted structures in the 1200 block of Mulberry Street. A business incubator site to help local entrepreneurs start and grow their own companies will replace them. Expansion of the existing Olympia Restaurant will stabilize an existing business and create more jobs for neighborhood residents.

The Community Action Commission (CAC), a private, nonprofit anti-poverty agency is actively involved in efforts to improve the Allison Hill neighborhood, and several Allison Hill residents play important roles in CAC.

Private sector participation also is important in this overall redevelopment plan. PNC Bank is opening a branch in Allison Hill, as well as providing a $20,000 economic development investment to CAC through the Neighborhood Improvement Tax Assistance Credit.

The BAT management approach creates a one-stop shop with a single point of contact for all agency communication, streamlining redevelopment efforts and helping to restore sites to productive use more quickly. BAT marks a distinct transformation in management style that accelerates brownfield redevelopment, making the process easier and more attractive to businesses looking at places to locate.

The single point-of-contact system restructures the treatment of the permitting process for reclamation projects, ensures dedicated resources to redevelop blighted areas and augments local outreach. BAT works with local community and economic leaders, along with private developers, to expedite permits needed for cleanup and reuse. BFN

Pennsylvania Streamlines Cleanup

Pennsylvania introduced new guidelines in September that aim to make it easier to meet state and federal environmental law guidelines when cleaning up brownfields in the commonwealth.

The new guidelines implemented by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will allow developers to simultaneously satisfy their environmental obligations under the commonwealth’s Land Recycling Program and the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

The guidelines build on an April 2004 agreement in which DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a historic memorandum of agreement (MOA), called Pennsylvania’s One Cleanup Program, making it possible for developers to work toward meeting both state and federal cleanup standards at the same time. Previously, developers had to exert extra time and effort to comply with separate requirements under the Act 2 portion of the Land Recycling Program and federal EPA standards.

The MOA also clarified that sites remediated under the commonwealth’s brownfield program also satisfy requirements for three key federal laws: RCRA, CERCLA (Superfund) and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Currently, 11 sites around the state are being remediated under the MOA signed last year.

Under the new guidelines, most sites that enter the One Cleanup Program only need to fulfill Pennsylvania’s Act 2 requirements to meet their federal obligations, speeding up final cleanup approval and hastening redevelopment.

Another key feature of the streamlined process is the designation of a project manager who will serve as a single point of contact for developers. This person, usually a DEP project manager, will coordinate with EPA and all other parties necessary to make sure all cleanup requirements are met and the project is successful.

Removing the threat of federal legal action once a site meets Pennsylvania’s stringent cleanup standards is expected to encourage more redevelopment of old industrial sites. RCRA is the most common federal law to come into play for cleanups, so streamlining the process for developers to satisfy requirements for this law will have the greatest effect. BFN

Proposed Pennsylvania Development Hailed for Smart Growth

The Crossings at Ambler, to be built next year by Westrum Development Company in Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, has been recognized by The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (DVSGA) as a proposed smart growth development.

DVSGA is a non-profit collaboration of more than 100 government, private sector and nonprofit organizations in the tri-state region. Robin L. Murray, vice chair of the DVSGA and a jury member, said, “Jurors felt that The Crossings at Ambler reflects the criteria for true smart growth — location; density, design and diversity of uses; transportation and accessibility; environmental issues; and community assets and participation.”

The 9.4-acre brownfield site is within close walking distance to the SEPTA R-5 regional rail station and to Ambler’s main street retail district. The site formerly was home to Nicolet Industries’ Keasbey and Mattison asbestos manufacturing facility.

When completed next year, The Crossings at Ambler will feature 316 loft-style condos with a net density of 34 units per acre. A separate developer will convert the adjacent former boiler house to 30,000 square feet of office space with a coffee shop. BFN