Reinventing Great Lakes Waterfronts

By Andrew Savagian

Our coasts are where much of the business of humanity takes root. They’re where the water greets the land, where we as societies are gathered up and brought together into communities, and where the booms and busts of history have played out for centuries. With time came a struggle to deal with modern problems as well — ever-increasing water use, sprawl, species invasions and the like. We eventually turned our attention back to the polluted places where those industrial boom and bust days ran their course.

The empty factories, abandoned warehouses and old gas stations that dot the Great Lakes landscape by the thousands present us with unique and often difficult issues. They are, however, issues that must be dealt with before communities can reclaim and redevelop these coastal eyesores, now labeled as brownfields.

Coastal redevelopment of brownfields has become a hot topic for both public and private entities. For Great Lakes communities, they also provide a rare opportunity — an opportunity to reinvent our waterfronts, making them a gathering place once again, while at the same time merging the indelible history of our industrial past with the potential for a very bright economic future.

Why Do It? The Benefits of Coastal Redevelopment

What’s driving our coastal cities, suburbs and small towns to tackle these brownfields is a combination of basic common sense and supporting numbers. All across the country communities have realized the benefits of coastal redevelopment.

A recent U.S. Conference of Mayors survey revealed that in the past five to seven years, 121 cities have successfully redeveloped more than 1,187 brownfields on 10,882 acres — many of those along coastal waterways. Another poll from the same group taken in 2003 showed that neighborhood revitalization is the second-most cited benefit of brownfield redevelopment in U.S. cities (tax-base growth being the first).