Thought Leadership

$1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Will Provide Big Boost to Community Projects

By Monica Heil, Vice President of Municipal Services, WSB

On Monday, November 16, President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act into law. This $1.2 trillion package, which includes $550 billion in new federal spending over the next five years, gives local and state governments significant opportunities to fund infrastructure improvements over the next several years.

What’s in the Bill?

For communities and states eyeing dollars for projects, here are some highlights of what is included in the bill:

• $110 billion for roads and bridges
• $39 billion for public transportation
• $66 billion for railways
• $73 billion for power grid upgrades
• $7.5 billion for EV charging stations
• $50 billion to address cybersecurity and to fight the effects of climate change, including dollars for flood mitigation and drought preparedness
• $55 billion for clean drinking water, water and wastewater infrastructure including replacing lead pipes and addressing chemicals
• $1 billion to reconnect communities that have been divided by past infrastructure projects
• $11 billion for transportation safety

What is the Timeline?

States and communities across the nation have a laundry list of projects and priorities that they are hoping can be funded by this legislation. But what comes next, and when can local and state governments expect to see funding?

Federal money will be allocated through a variety of programs, mostly run by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as a handful of other federal agencies. There are two ways that most of the funding will then be disbursed to states – either annually through a formula or through a competitive grant program.

For the competitive grants, timing is unclear at this point as the Department of Transportation will have to set the criteria, then solicit and review applications from state and local governments before announcing the awards. This process could take several months.

For formula funding, dollars may begin to go out as soon as in the next few weeks and are expected to be distributed over the next six months. Funding that goes into existing federal programs with formulas already in place, as well as certain more basic projects like resurfacing, improving roadways, bridges, and transit, are expected to see dollars faster than more complicated capital projects or ones that require new rulemaking.

What’s Next?

Communities can begin preparing now to tap into funding for infrastructure improvements and take advantage of new spending.

One thing to note is that once dollars are allocated to states from the federal government, they will have quite a bit of flexibility on how those dollars are spent. Many state departments of transportation have funding priority lists, and in some states, legislatures or other local entities may try to earmark projects.

At WSB, we help many clients tap into grant funding, and have resources from the community level to planning to design and construction. For local communities vying for community projects – whether it’s road construction, transit, wastewater, clean energy projects, etc., it’s critical to ensure you have as much information as possible prepared and stakeholder support so you can apply for grant-based funding quickly when parameters and deadlines are announced. This will help put your project in a strong position.

What’s clear is that this $1.2 trillion package will catapult many essential and innovative projects forward, positively impacting local communities, residents, and businesses, promoting clean water and energy investment, and making critically needed improvements to our nation’s infrastructure.

The Intangible Values of Master Planning

The author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu, is quoted as saying, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” The quote originated in the 6th century BC, but the wisdom can be applied to many modern endeavors. It is easy to dismiss the need for planning because the outcome of a plan usually lacks a tangible outcome. But even in today’s materialistic society, leaders who take the time to plan before execution will achieve their goals faster and with the clarity that your team and constituents deserve. The following five reasons are why you should invest in master planning:

1. Engagement. Planning is a collaborative way to engage and connect with your constituents. People create a sense of ownership and pride when genuinely asked about their opinions. Invite diverse perspectives to the table, including those who may not be in favor of your goal. By eliminating the curtain on “the government,” or “the (faceless) man,” and interacting with your constituency, you create social entrepreneurs who will become your most effective advocates.
2. Momentum. Dreaming of “what can be” is energizing and uplifting. Appreciative planning starts from a strengths-based perspective of focusing on things that are going right and using that momentum as a springboard to your desired future state. A well-facilitated planning process can get you past the airing of the grievances and focus on what you really need: a shared vision of what good looks like and a roadmap to get there.
3. Vision. If you can visualize it, you can achieve it. Spend time defining the purpose and desired outcomes. Often people have a gut instinct of what they want or is needed but fall short it being able to articulate that feeling to others. A professional planner listens to all the feedback, eliminates the noise, focuses on the key themes, and clarifies the need. The vision is often expressed in words and imagery — the simpler the better.
   
   

   

   
   _{A hand sketch provided a vision for a new entryway bridge in Bozeman, Montana. The aesthetic won a local award for design.}
   
4. Accountability. An outcome from planning is that it creates an expectation — a promise to deliver. Continued momentum and credibility are outcomes of a successful plan. Failure to deliver contributes to apathy. A vision that is realistic and achievable creates a sense of shared purpose that empowers people. A plan that includes tactical objectives creates accountability for people, policies, and processes. Include measurements of success or key performance indicators (KPIs) to track implementation.
5. Growth from Experience. Use the master plan as the litmus to identify blind spots and learn from them. Reserve the right as the gatekeeper to course-correct the plan when unexpected influences appear but use professional judgment when deciding on the power of the influence. Spend time at the conclusion of the planning process to review and note what went well. Finally, celebrate early and often the accomplishments that are tied to the plan. This demonstrates the intangible value in the time and funding spent to create the plan.

The Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act: 4 Tips to Set You Up for Success

By Morgan Dawley, Sr Director of Municipal, WSB

2022 is here, and many state and local leaders are eyeing how the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, passed late last year, can help fund priority projects. While there are still some questions to be answered on how funding will come down and what final projects will be chosen, there are significant opportunities across the country, and things community leaders can be doing now to give them a leg-up.

Here’s how to start.

Think Big.

You may have a list of projects you are working to advance, but don’t be limited by your list. Because of the size and breadth of this funding package, this is a chance to think big. Rather than looking at what projects may be most eligible for capital funding, pause and take a larger look at the needs of the community. Additionally, with so many different categories within the bill – traditional infrastructure, sustainability, cyber security, reconnecting communities and more – how you approach the scope of your project could help tap into new opportunities to secure funding.

Similarly, if you have a project that is already on a high-priority list, don’t miss out on the chance to use the Infrastructure Bill to fill funding gaps or expand the scope of the project!

And as you think big on what the Infrastructure Bill can do, it’s also critical to

Bring Stakeholders Together to Explore What the Community Needs.

Approaching community needs in a holistic way means bringing multiple stakeholders together to talk about what opportunities are out there, and what priorities should be advanced. Elected leaders, state and local agencies, engineers, public works, local business owners and the public are just some of the voices you can bring to the table. If you have strong stakeholder support, it can put your project in a better place to secure funding.

Furthermore, with a greater emphasis on community solutions that address the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved populations, viewing infrastructure projects from various lenses can not only solve big community problems – but put your project in a better position to receive funding. For instance, the legislation includes $1 billion to reconnect communities that have been divided by past infrastructure projects.

A variety of voices and stakeholder support is important, and there may be a project or objective that you didn’t think could be tackled until further in the future, but there is an opportunity to advance it now.

Engage Your Neighbors.  

Similar to engaging various stakeholders, looking at bigger projects that may span multiple communities could provide a significant advantage. Multiple local funding sources, as opposed to one, demonstrates collaboration and can help lock in dollars for bigger projects that serve multiple communities and more people.

Consult with the Experts

At WSB, our job is to help our client connect the dots between their vision and reality. We have an in-depth understanding of not only planning and designing projects, but also tapping into diverse funding sources, engaging with the community to advance a project, and solving the complexities that come with engineering projects. What a community may think of as a simple street repair project could have implications for sustainability, clean water and more. Understanding and tapping into every opportunity possible is key!

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Want even more information on the Infrastructure Bill? Check out WSB’s other piece on what’s in the bill here.

Improve Project Outcomes Using an Owner’s Representative

By Bob Barth, Director of Land Development, WSB

From inception to completion of a project, having an expert walk alongside you can make all the difference. An owner’s representative, often seen as a significant value in private sector projects, can and should be used for public projects to add value as well.

What is an Owner’s Representative?

An owner’s representative is essentially the eyes and ears of a project – representing the owner, investor, or developer throughout a project. A deep understanding of the overall goals of the project, as well as having an in-depth knowledge of engineering and construction, means this person is an advocate and champion that can ensure a project goes according to plan, while helping to mitigate risk.  

Given the proven value of the service, it is curious that public sector vertical construction has traditionally underutilized the owner’s representative in favor of project leadership from the lead architect or general contractor. So why should the public sector use an owner’s representative?

They help keep projects on track and on budget.

The more expensive the project, the more the architect and contractor get paid. Though obvious, this fundamental conflict creates competing incentives for both the architect and contractor. The owner representative’s compensation, in contrast, is often determined by the original project budget and does not subsequently increase or decrease as the project budget increases or decreases. Their job is to act on behalf of the owner, keep the budget on track, and represent the overall financial interests of the project.

Owner’s representatives see the big picture.

Public project financing is very different from private project funding. Public sector projects are often financed through bonding, and operating budgets serve as a proxy for revenues. Cost needs to be managed throughout a project’s duration, as do relationships. An effective owner’s representative does this.

Additionally, the project schedule is more complex than the design schedule kept by the architect, or the construction schedule managed by the contractor. The project schedule includes time building stakeholder consensus, conducting preliminary environmental and property investigations, aligning financing, and developing project parameters. These activities often precede the architect’s involvement and need to be managed by someone with a wider perspective on the project – the owner’s representative. The project schedule also includes post-construction activities such as commissioning, grant close-out, sustainability certification, occupancy, and logistics. These are not activities contractors can effectively manage but, rather, activities that the owner’s representative expects to manage.

They simplify decision-making and mitigate risk.

Finally, well-structured projects allow the owner’s representative to lead in all aspects of a project, empowering them to make decisions over contractors, architects, and other consultants. Effective owner’s representatives also build consensus among teams and stakeholders. All of this brings critical leadership and certainty to projects.

When unexpected change orders, cost overruns, unforeseen environmental and property issues, or other problems arise, a good owner’s representative help manage and mitigate risk. 

In summary, owner’s representatives bring expertise, leadership, and credibility projects. Given their value, they should be utilized in more public projects.

The Hydrogen Revolution

Hydrogen has long been utilized in niche industries as a feedstock for fertilizers and to aid Oil and Gas companies in processing hydrocarbons. Several times throughout history, hydrogen supporters have attempted to push the element into the mainstream as a clean energy source. But these attempts have failed due to a few factors that, until recently, have held hydrogen back as a legitimate fuel. 

Separating hydrogen

These restrictions have revolved around the fact that hydrogen loves to bond tightly to other elements like oxygen and carbon. It is also the smallest atom in nature and can leak through most materials. The first restriction of its bonding ability means that striping hydrogen from other elements has been extremely costly and intensive. The process to separate hydrogen from oxygen is called electrolysis and requires clean water and a massive amount of energy to generate hydrogen in bulk. The process to separate hydrogen from carbon, which has historically been the accepted way to generate the fuel, uses natural gas as the feedstock, separates the hydrogen from the carbon, and releases the carbon as CO2 into the atmosphere. The obvious drawback to this is the release of the greenhouse gas (GHG) in large quantities. 

Why is this revolution different?

What makes this push to establish hydrogen as the fuel of choice for the energy transition more likely to develop then the half dozen times previously? Well, that’s the big difference. The energy transition movement is sweeping the globe and forcing every nation to establish carbon neutrality goals. The associated costs and risks of leveraging hydrogen as the energy transition fuel of choice seems highly likely depending on several factors. There are massive government subsidies that will aid hydrogen development costs and technical developments. These subsidies and developments will reduce the cost of materials and will lower the risks involved with large scale hydrogen energy development.

What technologies develop hydrogen?

There are many factors to consider when exploring the best way to develop hydrogen. What are the costs involved and what technology makes the most sense to invest in? Most people in the hydrogen industry discuss the different processes in terms of colors. Green is hydrogen generated from water using renewable energy (Wind, Solar, Geothermal, etc.) to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. This process relies on electrolysis using either a proton exchange membrane (PEM) or alkaline electrolysis. On the surface, this is a very clean method of making hydrogen but also the most expensive, and depending on the study one references, not nearly as clean as the industry would like everyone to believe. The other largely referenced color is blue. This is same technology referenced earlier that converts natural gas into hydrogen. What makes blue different is the addition of capturing the CO2 and either utilizing it in other industries or sequestering the GHG underground. This technology, called steam methane reforming (SMR) with carbon capture (CCUS), has much lower associated development costs but still has the stigma of utilizing hydrocarbons as its feedstock and the associated costs of capturing carbon. 

Outside of the two main avenues of creating hydrogen are a handful of technologies that are quickly gaining in popularity. The first, is new tech called methane pyrolysis. This technology uses natural gas as its feedstock to create hydrogen but unlike SMR, this method (dubbed turquoise hydrogen) has no CO2 byproduct but rather solid carbon.  This technology uses a carbon negative process to generate the hydrogen. Other technologies include in-situ combustion, plasma gasification, and photocatalysis. All of these have amazing upside potential and distinct advantages over both blue and green hydrogen.

What’s leading the hydrogen revolution?

Another key element leading the hydrogen revolution is the incredible surge in development for hydrogen fuel cells. The hydrogen fuel cell industry is one of the globe’s fastest growing markets and is the main target of hydrogen investment funds. Fuel cells have distinct advantages over traditional battery technology and internal combustion engines. Since hydrogen is so small and light and is the most energy dense (per unit mass) fuel on earth, it can be densely compressed to provide electricity through the fuel cell in a more efficient manner and takes up less space while doing so. This makes fuel cells the ideal solution for carbon free long-haul trucking and shipping

With the technological advantages coming to light almost daily, new utilization methods getting deployed, and nearly all governments developing (or already developed) hydrogen strategies and roadmaps, this revolution looks to stay.

How Corridor Studies Play a Role in Community Growth

By Steve Lindsey, Director of Transportation, WSB

In 2021, Texas added more people to its population than any other state. For residents, businesses, and communities, it’s critical for planners to meet the immediate needs of citizens, while also planning for the future. For local, city, and county governments, corridor studies play a key role in creating and executing comprehensive transportation design that adapts to and meets the needs of growing communities.

What is a Corridor Study?

Corridor studies examine the relationship between roadways and adjacent land. In more densely populated areas, this can mean figuring out ways to overcome challenges where roadway expansion is limited. For land in development, it means looking at future population growth and where investments are being made to build homes, businesses, and public services.  Corridor studies also help ensure that if opportunities to acquire land becomes available – whether because they are being sold or planned for future development – there is a long-term view on how to best meet transportation needs.

Corridor studies are instrumental to help communities plan for 5, 10, and even 50 years down the road.

Trends in Community Growth

In Central Texas, Austin and the surrounding communities are growing rapidly. It is a technology hub with major companies like Tesla, Apple, Dell, and Samsung employing thousands of people. Densley urbanized areas have seen population growth, and more people are building homes and businesses in communities farther and farther from the city centers as the population grows.

Additionally, with the ongoing pandemic, we’ve seen more people looking to build homes, expand their space, and work remotely. With a hot housing market and population growth, more people are building and expanding into areas that were traditionally more rural or predominantly farmland.

Communities need properly planned transportation infrastructure to help transport people and commerce in those growing areas.

Working with the Experts

For community leaders facing growth challenges and working to plan for what’s next, it can be difficult to know when and where to start. When we partner with clients, we help them explore what opportunities their community can tap into in transportation design, and corridor studies are an important tool to get them and their community where they want to go.

Supply Chain Woes and Construction Projects: Thinking Creatively to Overcome Barriers & Adjust

By Michael Rief, Sr Vice President of Construction, WSB

The supply chain is tightly integrated, and when one part of the supply chain faces issues, it can have a domino effect. For those working in construction, supply chain problems have caused project delays, a long wait for and lack of key materials, and frustration over the past year. Unfortunately, it shows no signs of improving in 2022.

With a shortage of labor, shipping delays, and trouble getting materials, we should prepare for our recovery to take longer than many people anticipated. As our industry continues to tackle supply chain problems, there are things construction teams can do to anticipate, innovate, and adapt to the current situation.

Be Flexible Where You Can

Flexibility is key to adapting to supply chain uncertainties. While many contracts require specific materials, if clients and contractors can build some flexibility into the contract to use alternative materials, it’s more likely that a project will be completed on time or without significant delays.

For example, some of WSB’s transportation contracts require a certain kind of seed mix, but those seed mixes may not be available for many months or at all into the foreseeable future. Allowing a substitution that is available and still meets the needs of the project allows us to finish the job sooner and more efficiently.

Consider Buying Hard to Procure Items Sooner

This applies to both construction teams and clients.

If municipalities are planning a project where they know they will need to procure certain items that may be hard to come by, doing so early and paying to store it may be more efficient in the long run and ensure your project won’t face unnecessary delays. Similarly, some contractors are procuring high-risk items and pre-purchasing material for clients, working in storage cost to help prevent delays.

Additionally, as more contractors buy materials in advance, they sometimes find they need to move materials around to different projects that face more critical needs or that have tighter timelines. Being flexible when possible can benefit both contractors and clients.

Manage Risk

With every project, it’s important to manage risk. If cities or contractors purchase hard to procure materials in advance or in bulk, and then find the value goes down in a year, they could be stuck paying to store a material that is worth less than what they paid for it. Each will have to make decisions that work best for their needs and anticipated projects.

Furthermore, building risk management into contracts can be helpful. Whether it’s procurement of materials or more flexibility on timing of projects, thoughtful contract terms can help both cities and contractors, mitigating some risk.

A great example of mitigated risk in many current construction contracts is a provision for fuel cost escalation. If the cost of fuel goes up significantly after a contract is signed, a client may pay more to cover fuel costs. Similarly, if it goes down significantly after a contract is signed, a client may recoup some of those savings. Thinking about how contracts can offer more flexibility in ways that adjust to supply chain and labor issues is something that could offer substantial benefit to all parties.

Since supply chain issues, labor shortages, shipping slowdowns, and numerous other factors are expected to continue creating challenges for the construction industry over the next year, innovation, flexibility, and adaptability can help keep projects moving forward for clients and contractors.

Avoiding Vehicle Pileups

By DJ Sosa, Sr Project Manager, WSB

When winter storms sweep across the nation, dangerous road conditions can cause crashes, pileups, and leave commuters stranded for hours on end. How can road design play a role in making roads safer in the winter?

When roads are designed, many elements, such as drainage and flooding, are considered. Unfortunately, snowdrift prevention is often overlooked until after these disasters occur. What’s more, even long after snowstorms are over, snow can get blown back onto the roadway, requiring agencies to plow or push back the snow to clear the roadway. Significant snow accumulation, particularly on a “heavy” snow winter season, drives up maintenance cost for these agencies. Snow drift problems typically occurs on long, flat, rural stretches of highway. To create a snowdrift prevention plan, designers start by analyzing the terrain on both sides of the road. Determining how and where the snow is being picked up and drifted back onto the roadway is important in choosing which solution best suits the road.

Using that analysis, the following three options should be considered for minimizing snowdrifts and avoiding dangerous pileups:

Option 1: Wider Ditches

If there is adequate space, the best option is to have a wide ditch next to the roadway to create a “bowl” effect. These are ditches that serve as another area to capture the snow. Since roads are typically higher than the ditches, it blocks the wind and prevents snow from blowing back onto the roadway. This option requires a lot of room and typically involves additional right of way. If feasible, it is the top choice due to cost and maintenance. 

Option 2: Living Snow Fence

A living snow fence consists of trees, shrubs, or hay bales along the roadway. Farmers can work with their local department of transportation to line the road with hay bales, providing a cost-effective solution to block the wind from stirring up snow from the fields and on the roadways.

Option 3: Structural Snow Fence

This option looks like a robust version of a vinyl fence used for backyards that acts as a direct wind block. These fences often require coordination with property owners because they typically are on private property and outside of public right of ways.

These above three tactics can work for many roadways, but too often they are built reactively and only after a number of crashes, pileups, and other dangers already occurred. All options require room, more often, outside of public right of way. This requires transparent and consistent coordination with nearby residents. Discussions of the benefits for each tactic is key for the residents to allow any mitigation measures in the property. Because many Midwest states see snow for one-third to one-half of the year, agencies must be more proactive, many are now incorporating these tactics into their original planning and design. The Minnesota Department of Transportation, for example, is currently working on major interstate highways in rural locations and are including analysis of the corridor as part of the project. They have a whole department dedicated to working on snowdrift prevention.

Driver safety in winter is important and proper snowdrift prevention design can go a long way to saving lives, preventing crashes, and making roads safer for all of us. WSB’s transportation team can help advise on ways to make roads safer all year round.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Pavement Management

By Matt Indihar, Sr Project Manager

Pavement management plans are crucial for cities to properly oversee their networks of pavement. These plans help decision makers maximize their limited budgets by implementing the most cost-effective maintenance solutions on every segment of their roads, parking lots, and trails. A good pavement management plan helps decide which roads should receive maintenance, when they should receive it, and what kind of maintenance would be best. Additionally, a pavement management plan must be frequently updated to accurately capture pavement conditions and needs.

It can be complicated deciding how to allocate funds in a network of roads. Fortunately, there are analytical and scientific ways to help cities decide on the best way to use their street maintenance resources. While the process of creating a pavement management plan can seem overwhelming at first, it can be broken down into six steps.

1. Assess Inventory

The first step in creating a pavement management plan is to take inventory of all the roads that are to be included in the plan. This usually results in an updated map of all paved streets. Roads can be broken up into numbered segments so each section of pavement can be identified. Taking inventory can also include gathering maintenance records from recent pavement maintenance.

2. Pavement Inspection

Next, gather raw data from the pavement segments in the inventory. To understand the condition of each segment, the present pavement distresses are noted. Walking the streets and visually documenting distresses is one of the most detailed methods of capturing the data. An inspector can provide notes relating to unique distresses, maintenance, and other factors that cannot be captured by simply driving the road.

3. Condition Assessment

Once the raw data is recorded, the condition of a pavement section can be quantified using a single number such as a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) or Overall Condition Index (OCI) value. These numbers are calculated from the amount, type, and severity of the distresses surveyed. Having a segment represented by a single number makes it easier to compare against other segments. An average value condition index of the entire pavement network can be calculated to set budgets and track trends in the city’s pavement.

4. Condition Forecasting

Most pavements in a specific area exhibit a common pattern as they age. A standard degradation curve or a custom curve based on historical pavement maintenance tracking can be used to predict the condition of a segment in the future. This is important because pavement degradation is not constant. Knowing when a segment is about to enter a period of steep decline in condition is useful when deciding how to allocate maintenance resources and dollars.

5. Scenario Modeling

Using the current condition information and future condition information, a model can be created to analyze the future of a pavement network. Inputs such as budget, priority segments, preferred maintenance techniques, and construction costs are all variables that can be analyzed as models are created. These factors are dependent on discussions with the city to maximize the pavement conditions and align with a preferred strategy.

6. Capital Improvement Planning

The condition analysis allows cities to create a plan that optimizes pavement condition. Results usually include a list of road maintenance and construction projects that should be completed in each of the upcoming years. Furthermore, letting a computer optimize spending removes the guess work and ensures travelers are getting access to the highest quality roads possible. City officials can use the work plan to request work from contractors and notify residents of future projects.

While the six fundamental steps of pavement management are outlined above, every city has something that makes them unique. WSB has the technology and expertise to help tailor a pavement management plan for your community. We would be happy to discuss how we can help meet your pavement needs.

The benefits and risk of brownfield redevelopment

Senior Environmental Scientist, Ryan Spencer

Q: When someone hears the term ‘brownfield’ there are a lot of visuals that come to mind, but what is an actual brownfield site?

A: That’s a good question. Brownfields are more encompassing than the traditional rundown or abandoned urban building. A brownfield is a site that has a development history which resulted in the release of contamination, often a dry cleaner, gas station, or an industrial manufacturing site come to mind. However, they can also extend to rural areas such as farmstead dumps, agricultural storage facilities, and junkyards. In general, a brownfield is any site that has documented contamination, or potential contamination, which inhibits redevelopment.

Q: Contamination in redevelopment sounds risky. What are the benefits of brownfield development?

A: There is a certain amount of risk associated with brownfield redevelopment and it varies by a community’s appetite for risk. Often, it’s a great opportunity to revitalize an area of a community that is underutilized. Those factors can strengthen the case for grant funding sources, as well.

Q: Good point.  Funding is key to any project. Are there a lot of funding resources for brownfield development?

A: There are several local and federal funding sources for brownfields. Locally, funding opportunities are driven by an economic development angle and hinges on the project bringing more jobs, affordable housing, and capital investment into the area. Federally, funding sources are generally more environmentally driven and focus on cleaning up the site or a targeted area.

Q: Is brownfield redevelopment a trend right now?

A: I would not say it’s a trend right now. Rather, successful brownfield redevelopment has been occurring for many years. I see this trend continuing as developers and lenders better understand risk, funding sources are available, and undeveloped land is less common. Coming out of the pandemic, it seems that more and more brownfield redevelopment is occurring within suburban communities. There are various factors that go into both greenfield and brownfield redevelopment. It depends on what’s driving the market.

Q: What is attractive about brownfields?

A: They can drive growth and prosperity in a community. When you take an underutilized part of a community and revitalize it, it can spur more development in the area. It can also provide more housing and commercial development that leads to an increased tax base. And it’s also better for the environment – cleaning up soil or groundwater contamination is always an added benefit.

Q: What is the most important thing a community should know and how can they prepare for brownfield development?

A: It all comes back to managing risk. Understanding the site and collecting data is where I always recommend people start. Working with a trusted environmental consultant and performing the proper due diligence (e.g. Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) and Phase II ESA) allows for a deeper understanding of the site and the work that would need to be performed. There are brownfields in every community, and I think there are always benefits and opportunities associated with taking something blighted and turning it into an economic driver.

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