2006 Conference Program

Track: Knowing Your Community

KNOWING YOUR COMMUNITY: BUILDING A PROPERTY INVENTORY

Monday, 1:00-2:30PM

No matter what the size, brownfields can be a community asset. Building a property inventory and understanding the location and information associated with these community assets is essential to community, economic and real estate development planning. Property inventorying, a critical first step in the development process, can set the tone for a community seeking to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in brownfield sites.

Knowing Your Community: Building a Property Inventory will explore different strategies and technologies that communities and government agencies are using to identify and encourage the reuse of brownfield sites in communities. Presenters will provide a balance between investigating large sites such as former industrial properties, as well as smaller, neighborhood sites such as the former gas station on the corner.

Moderator: Grant Ervin - 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PA

Jill Gaito - PADEP, Harrisburg, PA

Bob Gradeck - Carnegie Mellon University - Center for Economic Development, Pittsburgh, PA

SEEING THE FUTURE: LONG TERM STRATEGIES

Tuesday, 1:30-2:30PM

Communities across the nation have inventories of environmentally unsafe properties ranging from vacant buildings with lead-based paint to LUST-contaminated sites to unsafe industrial wastelands, and everything in between. They range from one lot to multiple acre sites. These brownfields offer opportunities for community and economic development, tax base, employment generation, and homeownership. Legions of professionals, agencies and programs are available at the state and national levels to help communities see the long-term value of current brownfields.

Visioning the adaptive re-use of brownfields is a long term strategy. Come and learn about some of the help available to your community for planning the tactical and strategic steps needed to return local brownfields to useful and productive assets of the community.

Moderator: Joseph Yarzebinski - Rural LISC, Pittsburgh, PA

Mather-Colliery: From Coal Mine to Brownfield Reclamation
Don Chappel - EverGreene Technology Park, Waynesburg, PA

Stanley Lowe - National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC

Planning and Budgeting Considerations for Facility Decommissionings from the Private Sector Point of View
Doug Sappington - Michael Baker, Jr. Inc., Moon Township, PA

BROWNFIELDS PR: MANAGING COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Tuesday, 10:30AM-NOON

Managing relationships with local communities about the redevelopment of a brownfield and other contaminated properties can be a challenge, particularly for large sites. This panel will discuss unique approaches to community relations when brownfield redevelopment is being orchestrated on a local and regional level. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with panelists to test new ideas and strategies.

Moderator: John Kromer - Fels Institute of Government - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Orchestrating Brownfield Redevelopment on a Regional Level
Margaret Farrell - Cummings/Riter Consultants, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA

Managing Relationships Around the Sensitive Topics of Vacant Properties and Brownfields
John Kromer - Fels Institute of Government - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Effective Risk Communication Strategies: The New Jersey Experience
Terri Smith - Environmental Liability Management, Inc., Princeton, NJ

BROWNFIELDS IN COAL COUNTRY: NEW APPROACHES

Monday, 3:00-4:00PM

This session, combining both successful completed projects and new applications, will explore a diversity of approaches to Brownfields redevelopment in the coal fields of Appalachia.

Moderator: Bruce Golden - WPCAMR, Greensburg, PA

Hilary Aten - The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

Abby Stangl - University of Virginia at Wise, Wise, VA

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