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County Has Visions Of Green In Brownfields

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By JULIA FERRANTE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 29, 2008

DADE CITY - Several times a year, John Walsh gets a call from a company looking for "brownfields" in Pasco County.

The Economic Development Council vice president, who recruits and assists businesses moving to Pasco, has had to tell potential clients the county has no such designation for abandoned mines, landfills and other contaminated sites ripe for redevelopment.

"There is an entire industry that looks for brownfields," Walsh told the county commission last week. "If brownfields were available it would open a large area for us to locate companies."

After hearing from Walsh and county biologist Bob Tietz on April 15, commissioners voted unanimously to create a brownfields program to encourage redevelopment and cleanup of contaminated sites. The designation affords developers tax breaks in exchange for removing contamination and creating jobs, affordable housing, parks or conservation areas.

Commissioners were more skeptical about the program last month when Tietz gave another presentation. Commissioner Pat Mulieri asked Tietz then if he was proposing the program because he was "looking for job security" and asked him to gather more information.

Pasco officials anticipate a tough budget season in light of state-initiated tax cuts and a weak economy.

Chief Assistant County Administrator Michele Baker said the program will not require any staff but will be incorporated into the review of developments. The board approved the program April 15 without discussion.

Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and the city of Clearwater are among the governments that have brownfields programs. They are authorized under a 1992 state law intended to make better use of abandoned borrow pits, rock mines, construction and demolition landfills, dry cleaning facilities and gasoline stations where contamination has been left behind, according to the Florida Brownfields Redevelopment Program.

Walsh said that he gets calls from consultants who specialize in finding and redeveloping brownfields.

"They know how to deal with them," he said. "They are turning lesser performing properties into something new and exciting."

The Lacoochee Industrial Area east of Bower Road and U.S. 301 in northeast Pasco is a likely place for a brownfield, Walsh said. A grain silo built in 2000 is all that's left working on the 136-acre site. Infrastructure is in place to provide water, electricity and rail service, according to the Economic Development Council.

Tietz said a brownfields designation is another planning "tool" that provides opportunities for preserving open space and improving the environment.

Commissioners directed the county's attorneys to draft an ordinance and resolution creating the program.

Developers would apply through the county and be regulated by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The county benefits, Walsh said, because the developers pay taxes on property that otherwise would lay dormant, and the new projects replace blighted patches.

The former Centro Asturiano Hospital in Ybor City became a brownfield after it was abandoned in the 1990s then condemned in 1996 as part of the state program.

A developer purchased the property in a tax deed sale in 2002, cleaned up medical waste, broken equipment, oil storage tanks and other hazards and built apartments for residents older than 55.

Incentives available to brownfield developers include job credits, sales tax discounts for affordable housing projects and federal grants.

For information, go to www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/brownfields.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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