The Commissioner — Winter 2003

Riverfront Brownfield Redevelopment

By Roshi Pelaseyed

Hundreds of municipalities in the U.S. were developed along waterways to facilitate industrial development and transport of goods. The location helped these communities prosper, but also left them scarred with hundreds of abandoned, contaminated sites. Federal legislation and state efforts have helped many to reverse this trend and reuse these waterfront areas. The list of famous locales that have undertaken riverfront brownfield redevelopment includes Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Virginia, Memphis, Cincinnati, Reno, Nevada, and more recently Los Angeles. Numerous smaller municipalities also have used creative financing and federal and state resources to reinvigorate their waterfronts.

The Philadelphia Metropolitan Region provides a case study of the latest trends in brownfield redevelopment. Brownfields, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are "abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination."This broad definition encompasses any contaminated property from a local dry cleaner to a massive industrial site.

The biggest hurdle in bringing these properties to better and higher uses is the perceived risk of contamination and the fear of liability for clean-up. Yet, redevelopment of these sites makes economic sense in the face of the nationwide efforts to stop sprawl and to make use of existing infrastructure, for in-place infrastructure reduces the cost of redevelopment. In recent years, the EPA has helped communities overcome these barriers to redevelopment by providing financial assistance through grants and revolving loan funds and by publicizing brownfield redevelopment efforts.

As the fourth largest metropolitan region, the Philadelphia Metropolitan area is home to more than 6 million people and numerous brownfield sites. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, it was the slowest growing large metropolitan area in the '90s. The city has lost most of its population to its suburbs, where a 3 percent population growth has led to a 33 percent increase in development of greenfields. According to the Metropolitan Philadelphia Policy Center, a nonprofit policy research organization, approximately one-fourth of the nation's population and consumer buying power lives within one day's drive of the area.

The region is also home to hundreds of abandoned industrial sites, the legacy left by industries. To turn this around, the region is taking advantage of the available financial tools to convert these brownfields into ratables, such as luxury waterfront townhouses to multipurpose community centers. It is no surprise that President George W. Bush chose Conshocken, a community just on the border of Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River to announce his new brownfields legislation last February, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act will double available funds for brownfield redevelopment for fiscal year 2003 to $200 million.

The City on the Delaware

Philadelphia, despite its historic significance and its strong prominence in the health-care and pharmaceuticals industries, has struggled to become competitive with most metropolises around the nation. Although the city is home to two rivers, the Schuylkill and the Delaware, most of the city's redevelopment efforts ignored that potential, leaving the riverfront areas to trash, crumbling factories, and other unwanted uses. But times have changed. In November 2001, the city unveiled plans to create an American Venice in the tradition of great European cities.

The city soon unveiled plans for redevelopment of two riverfront areas. The City Planning Commission has developed a plan for an 11-mile expanse along the Delaware River to convert this underutilized area into residential and recreational uses, allowing the public greater access to the water.

The proposal includes an incremental clean-up strategy, including phytoremediation. This is remediation technique using plants to remove or stabilize contaminants thereby transforming the blighted landscape into flowering fields. Other innovative techniques that will be used in this area include use of porous pavements on roadways, wetland/vegetated swales along the roads, green infiltration trenching along street, bike trails and parking areas for water quality improvement that will reduce the need for wastewater treatment infrastructure. The cost of clean-up for the area is estimated to be at least $250 million.

The visions for the North Delaware Riverfront include:

• A trail and a linear river park.
• A river road with public access to the river.
• Thousands of new residential and commercial units.

This will require zoning changes and incentives to entice suburban developers. The plans have already captured the EPA's attention. In March 2002, the EPA announced its intention to provide technical assistance and guidance through its regional Smart Growth Agreement with the City of Philadelphia. The city has committed funding from its neighborhood economic stimulus fund to bring to fruition.

In addition to these plans, the Schuylkill River Development Council also has outlined similar plans for the western part of the city. The goal is to create a river trail that connects the existing popular Kelly Drive path to Center City, PhiladelphiaÕs downtown district to encourage further development.

'Two Cities, One Exciting Waterfront'

Nearly a dozen New Jersey towns share the Delaware River with Philadelphia, affording spectacular views of Philadelphia's skyline. Camden, once a bustling industrial port, is home to RCA and Campbell Soup Company. Camden is the poorest municipality in New Jersey, and among the poorest in the nation, with an annual unemployment rate of 12 percent and a median household income of $23,421. In its heyday, the Camden riverfront, known as Cooper's Ferry, served as a tourist destination. The area boasted hotels, taverns, pleasure gardens, and residences. With the economic shift from manufacturing to service and river transport giving way to other alternative modes of transportation, Camden slid into decline.

Camden's salvation came in 1984 with the establishment of the Cooper's Ferry Development Association by the city, the Campbell Soup Company, RCA, other private companies, and government and civic leaders. Since then, the waterfront has been transformed into an entertainment mecca with the infusion of millions of public dollars. Just seven years after the State of New Jersey's announcement of $52 million funding for its development, the New Jersey State Aquarium opened in 1992. It is now one of the five most visited attractions in the region. The addition of a four-acre $9 million horticultural playland, the Children's Garden, made this destination even more attractive. Other new attractions on Camden waterfront include the Tweeter Center — a $56 million indoor-outdoor entertainment facility that can seat up to 25,000 people, and a minor league baseball stadium, Campbell Fields.

While Coopers' Ferry has made the plans for the rebirth of Camden's waterfront, the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a regional transportation and economic development agency, and owner and operator of four of the river bridges, has financed most of the developments. It has invested more than $200 million in waterfront projects on both sides of the river. Just last summer, it provided $2.5 million for the completion of the pier and visitors center for USS New Jersey battleship, one of the latest tourist attractions in Camden. Another high-priced investment is the $32 million tram to link Philadelphia's Penn's Landing to the Camden waterfront.

As Camden has made steady progress in redeveloping this side of the waterfront, plans on the other side have been at a virtual standstill. Philadelphia's plan for Penn's Landing is a family entertainment center to house, among others, the Please Touch Children's Museum. Since 1997, the city has relied on the promise of one developer to create this magnet. Yet not a single brick has been laid due to continued delays in starting construction. The city is attempting to get construction started by March 1, 2003.

Despite the setbacks with the planned developments in Philadelphia, plans for capitalizing on the tourism potential of the area are in full gear. The Delaware River Port Authority, the agency that has created many of the existing tourist attractions along the river, recently announced the development of a new nonprofit agency to coordinate all tourism marketing efforts.

A Public-Private Partnership

The Borough of Paulsboro also has tackled brownfield redevelopment. This 2.1-square-mile borough of 6,535 residents ranks 20 on the list of 100 most stressed municipalities in New Jersey with 21 percent of the population living below poverty level in 1990.

The borough maintained a relatively small industrial base, with BP and Essex Chemical as two of its major industries. Paulsboro suffered an economic blow when these two entities ceased operation due to stricter environmental regulations. The closing of the Mobil plant in a neighboring town has further eroded employment. Lack of developable land is another impediment to Paulsboro's economic growth as most land use is residential.

The 150-acre BP property, the largest available land for industrial/commercial development is located directly across the Delaware River from the Philadelphia International Airport. The property, better known as tank farm, served as an oil storage and distribution center. Several years ago, BP, in an effort to dispose of unused properties around the nation, started investigating the possibility of alternative uses for the property. The company retained an engineering firm to conduct a market feasibility study to determine the highest and best use for the property. At the same time, BP initiated discussion with Essex Chemical about the adjacent property that was used as a gypsum landfill. Essex was receptive to BP's suggestion for redevelopment of the area and pledged its willingness to follow suit with BP plans.

From the start, BP approached the borough about its plans. Because of the location of the site, one of the initial thoughts was to develop the site as a niche port. It was also important to make adequate provisions for public access to the waterfront. The recommended site development plan includes:

• Waterfront Port Development, including a 900-foot wharf structure that can accommodate mid-sea ocean-going vessels up to 800 feet in length. The wharf has upland storage of 30 to 40 acres. The location of the borough and an analysis of river traffic indicate the site could be partially developed as a port facility. Paulsboro is among the four South Jersey municipalities under consideration for the Port Inland Distribution Network.
• Industrial/Commercial Development at the south end of the project site, adjacent to existing industrial uses (five-acre parcels, to be used individually or combined).
• River Gateway, a commercial/retail development with public access to the riverfront.
• Open Space provision consists of a green buffer to separate the industrial uses from the surrounding neighborhood and creation of a neighborhood park.

One of the most innovative components of this project is the building of a solar plant on the Essex-owned former gypsum landfill. The plant, the largest thin-film solar plant in the Northeast, will generate power for the operation of the on-site environmental remediation equipment. While the original plan called for the location of the plant on a more pristine portion of the site, known as the employee ballfield, to increase the development potential of the site, it was decided to move the plant to the landfill, which meant an additional $250,000 for its construction.

The most challenging part of the project is creating access to the site. To reach the riverfront from Interstate 295, the north-south highway which connects the town to the Northeast U.S. market, traffic has to go through a residential neighborhood. To connect the site directly to I-295, an overpass would be needed. This part of the project has proven to be challenging. In addition to the $25 million price tag, the project has to make the list of the transportation improvement plan created by the regional metropolitan planning agency. The borough was able to secure funding from the same agency for initial studies. The construction of the overpass and the site's development are still several years away.

The Feds to the Rescue

One of the brownfield tools the federal government has made available to localities is the grant program. The EPA Brownfield Pilot grants provide $200,000 to municipalities and counties to conduct an inventory of the brownfield areas and investigate the extent of contamination in order to determine a remediation plan and future end uses. More than 300 localities have used these grants. In the Delaware Valley, all suburban counties in Pennsylvania have been awarded an EPA Pilot grant to identify potential brownfield sites for development. On the other side of the river, the Township of Pennsauken in Camden County received a pilot grant. The township has 700 acres of vacant and underused property along its seven miles of riverfront on the Delaware River

Since 1980, Pennsauken Township has undertaken an aggressive economic redevelopment strategy that targets the riverfront. First, it designated the entire area as a waterfront management area under New Jersey environmental guidelines that limit certain types of development and preserve open space. Then it acquired 230 acres of tidal marshland.

The township has identified several properties suitable for redevelopment. Among them is Petty's Island, a 450-acre island in the Delaware River between Camden and Philadelphia. Once an oil storage and distribution facility, the island presently hosts only a container cargo shipping operation. Another major site is a 137-acre inactive landfill used for construction debris and home to a warehouse. The area also includes 17 acres of scattered smaller sites. The township has used the EPA grant to investigate the contamination level at the sites to ensure their suitability for future development.

Pennsauken hopes, that with the completion of the pilot project, it can embark on an aggressive marketing effort to redevelop its waterfront. With two fiber-optic lines serving the area, and the completion of a light rail line by New Jersey Transit, Pennsauken's waterfront should be an attractive magnet for development for commercial, entertainment, and recreational uses. As in Paulsboro, site access remains a challenging issue that must be addressed along with cleanup and acquisition.

Pennsauken has faced some resistance from the site owners. For example, site visits for the EPA grant project has been refused by one owner. In the meantime, the township officials learned about possible negotiations between the land owner and the operator of a cogeneration plant to locate a plant on the site; this development would be inconsistent with the township's current plan. More recently, as the township was preparing to embark on the last steps of the acquisition process of another site, the site owner decided to resume operation of the site as an oil storage and distribution facility.

Other Waterfront Dreams

A number of other Delaware River municipalities have plans. Gloucester City, New Jersey's 12th poorest municipality, is another recipient of an EPA Pilot grant; it has been planning for waterfront revitalization for 25 years. With the help from state grants, the city improved its waterfront park with various active and passive recreational opportunities. Future plans include development of brownfields on the southwestern edge of the city.

In the summer of 2002, Gloucester County, where Paulsboro is located, rolled out its brownfields program at Riverwinds, a 1,200-acre multi-use facility erected on a former brownfield site in West Deptford. Using New Jersey's 1992 Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, the county developed a countywide redevelopment plan to reuse old industrial sites and blighted areas, targeting some 14 municipalities. Burlington and Salem counties, New Jersey, as well as Chester and Bucks counties, Pennsylvania, also have expressed interest in riverfront redevelopment. Further south, Wilmington, Delaware, has been rebuilding the waterfront and redeveloping on its brownfield sites.

Developing housing, shopping centers, office complexes and recreational facilities on once-contaminated land is no longer viewed as undesirable. In densely populated areas, it may be the truly feasible option for development. Despite myriad financial incentives and tools, brownfield development has not yet received complete acceptance as a planning strategy.

Roshi Pelaseyed is an associate with the community and economic development consulting firm of Triad Associates in Dresher, Pennsylvania.

Resources

Images: Top — New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden was a major waterfront redevelopment project. Middle — The ferry boat terminal in Camden, New Jersey, along the redeveloped waterfront. The Ben Franklin Bridge is in the background. Bottom — View of Philadelphia from Camden, New Jersey, showing conversion of the waterfront to a public park. Photos by Roshi Pelaseyed.