| USA. Governor Rendell spurs riverfront development in Philadelphia |
|
|
|
|
; "Governor Rendell © CMS Photo Terry Way")
| Sunday, 26 February 2006 | |
|
Environmental news: Riverfront revitalization projects along the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers got a boost today as Governor Edward G. Rendell designated both sites for Brownfield Action Team assistance. The Governor also announced the award of $400,000 to help develop a key recreational trail along the Schuylkill River. "Our cities, towns and boroughs not only are economic centers, but they are regional hubs that offer residents culture, recreation and a unique way of living," Governor Rendell said. "The ambitious projects planned here will make Philadelphia's waterfronts more inviting and exciting places to live and play. It will also enhance the work we have done to make the city more attractive to investments that spur development and create jobs." Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty announced BAT designations for both the Schuylkill River and northern Delaware River sections of Philadelphia's River City Project The designation helps accelerate redevelopment deals and gives investors the incentive they need to clean up contaminated industrial sites. BAT projects typically get permitted in half the usual time. McGinty presented $400,000 in grants to the Schuylkill River Development Corp., a nonprofit community organization that is redeveloping the Schuylkill River corridor with plans to create a 14-foot wide asphalt recreation trail along a section of the east bank of the river in the 34th Street/Grays Ferry Avenue area. The trail will provide recreational riverfront access that is now lacking. Schuylkill River Development Corp. will use the funding to conduct environmental assessment and remediation on the land where the trail will be located. Grading and landscaping will be done on land adjacent to the trail, which ultimately will connect to the Schuylkill Trail and Schuylkill River Park and to Bartram's Garden on the west side of the river, about a quarter mile downstream. The funding comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfield Revitalization Act, which provides money to states to pay for assessments and cleanups. Pennsylvania has received about $1 million from EPA in each of the last three fiscal years. "The riverfront access and recreational opportunities this trail will provide for families along the Schuylkill is a critical component to the larger redevelopment plans for this corridor," McGinty said during a news conference along the eastern banks of the Schuylkill near Grays Ferry Avenue and 34th Street. The Brownfield Action Team designation for the Schuylkill River site includes the planned assessment and remediation of several properties, which will then be developed as residential neighborhoods with supporting service businesses. Approving a larger section of the riverfront as a BAT project now allows Philadelphia to add individual properties to this Schuylkill River Project as they become available, without having to apply for a new designation for each property. This will help to further expedite the overall waterfront redevelopment. The Northern Delaware River BAT site calls for the redevelopment of several properties into residential uses. These sites include Independence Pointe, Tacony Warehouse, Dodge Steel and Philadelphia Coke. As many as 2,600 residential units are planned for these properties, with supporting services businesses. Philadelphia, Tacony Civic Association, Tacony Business Association and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council are all supporting the plan. Developers for the various projects include Transactionable Property Solutions, George Deimer and George Deimer Jr., and K. Hovanian and Westrum Residential Development. Governor Rendell has worked aggressively to provide new incentives and financing and put in place enhanced management approaches that hasten brownfield redevelopment. McGinty highlighted the administration's significant track record of making environmental protection work for businesses and employees during testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives panel in September. The Governor's Business in Our Sites Fund provides $300 million to help local redevelopment authorities and economic development corporations acquire, remediate and prepare shovel-ready sites for businesses that are seeking to build or expand immediately. PennWorks, a $250 million voter-approved bond initiative, finances improvements to aging water and wastewater systems that can serve as a disincentive to development. Launched in 2004, the Brownfield Action Team creates a single-point-of- contact to streamline permitting processes for sites that local officials target for redevelopment. BAT relies on communities to tell DEP which brownfield projects are priorities for revitalizing an area and requires communities to show cleanup and financing plans as well as the proposed use of the site and its benefits to the area. Under the Governor's direction, Pennsylvania entered into a historic Memorandum of Agreement between DEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make the commonwealth's land recycling program the first and only in the nation to serve as a "one-stop shop" for state and federal standards guiding the cleanup of brownfield sites. The memorandum clarifies that sites remediated under the state's brownfields program also satisfy requirements for three key federal laws: the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation Liability Act, commonly referred to as Superfund; and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Brownfields are abandoned, idled or underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by environmental issues. For more information, visit DEP's Web site at http://www.dep.state.pa.us/, Keyword: "Land Recycling." The Rendell Administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. |
|
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 26 February 2006 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|