Re: [CPEO-BIF] Brownfields Digest, Vol 78, Issue 3

["Robert Joehnck" <joehnck@usamedia.tv>]

Mr. Siegel:  Thanks for your note on redevelopment agencies and their impact
on California's budget issues.  The L.A. times did a series of articles last
year that devastatingly demonstrate the overall worthlessness of
redevelopment agencies in California, and their failure to "create" jobs or
even follow the Legislature's mandates to provide lower-income housing.  As
counsel for several such agencies in the past and as a city attorney in
various jurisdictions housing those agencies, I think it is clearly safe to
generalize that redevelopment agencies are used exclusively as a means of
subsidizing large development projects, generally those that will generate
sales or property taxes in a particular jurisdiction, and for almost no
other purpose.
The mis-allocation of sales and property taxes is already a
beggar-your-neighbor proposition that is only exacerbated by redevelopment.

If the need for redevelopment agencies to function is truly to remove
"blight" or to correct planning deficiencies of the past, authority to use
eminent domain for those purposes probably already exists, but can be made
more statutorily explicit if necessary.  The funding for that can be
provided by developers if they are ultimately to be conveyed the property in
question.  The property in question can be sold to the developers at "cost"
to the redevelopment agency. Presently, valuations for sale are based on the
"intended use under the redevelopment plan" and that amount may be far less
than the redevelopment agency paid for the land, relocation, associated
"public improvements", etc.  

Robert Joehnck

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 10:05 AM
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Subject: Brownfields Digest, Vol 78, Issue 3

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Today's Topics:

   1. Mountain View's Shoreline tax-increment financing (Lenny Siegel)
   2. Next Alternatives Battery plant, Battle Creek, Michigan
      (Lenny Siegel)
   3. Mill at South River site, Waynesboro, Virginia (Lenny Siegel)
   4. "Community Board 12 [Manhattan] responds to proposed
      brownfield clean up" (Lenny Siegel)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:03:05 -0800
From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
To: Brownfields Internet Forum <brownfields@lists.cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Mountain View's Shoreline tax-increment financing
Message-ID: <4D4B5E59.60006@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Most of the people I know who work on brownfields reacted strongly 
against California Governor Jerry Brown's plan to cut back the state's 
redevelopment agencies. To be sure, in many instance tax-increment 
financing by those agencies enables valuable redevelopment projects that 
would otherwise be infeasible. However, there are other situations where 
I believe the costs of such diversions of local tax money outweigh their 
value.

One such instance is in my own community, Mountain View, California, 
where the redevelopment district containing Google's world headquarters 
is overfunded while local schools are scraping to maintain their 
programs. I haven't been involved in the campaign described in this 
article, but to me it illustrates the need to find balance between 
redevelopment funding and support for entities from which they "borrow" 
tax money.

Lenny



Parents seek larger slice of Shoreline taxes
Issue goes before City Council next Tuesday

by Daniel Debolt
Mountain View Voice (CA)
February 2, 2011

In one of its most challenging discussions in recent memory, the City 
Council on Tuesday will talk about the possibility of relinquishing to 
local schools a larger share of property taxes from North Bayshore 
companies, including Google.

A group of parents have organized a formidable campaign, called "Share 
Shoreline," to retrieve the funds, which they say are unfairly withheld 
in a 40-year-old tax district known as the Shoreline Community. City 
officials say they are sympathetic to the parent's concerns and are 
carefully considering a solution. Nevertheless, the City Council 
chambers is expected to be packed on Tuesday at 5 p.m. with school 
parents recruited by the campaign's Facebook page, the 
shareshoreline.org website and pitches to local Parent Teacher 
Associations and school site councils.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=3894&e=y

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org





------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:49:39 -0800
From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
To: Brownfields Internet Forum <brownfields@lists.cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Next Alternatives Battery plant, Battle Creek,
	Michigan
Message-ID: <4D4B6943.8070003@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

City OKs incentives for Elm Street project
Battle Creek hopes to lure more than 100 jobs

Barrett Newkirk
Battle Creek Enquirer (MI)
February 2, 2011


The city of Battle Creek has approved a plan to encourage a company to 
bring more than 100 jobs to the city.

The City Commission on Tuesday approved a new brownfield development 
plan for a site at Elm Street and East Michigan Avenue southeast of 
downtown for Next Alternatives Inc.

The Arizona-based company wants to create about 117 jobs at the Battle 
Creek site. The workers would assist in the production of lithium-ion 
battery packs used in electric vehicles.

The Elm Street site has served as a lumber yard, sign shop and oil 
storage site. An environmental assessment determined the property was 
not suitable for residential use. It is, however, eligible for a 
brownfield tax credit.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20110202/NEWS01/102020306/City-OK
s-incentives-for-Elm-Street-project

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org





------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:06:28 -0800
From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
To: Brownfields Internet Forum <brownfields@lists.cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Mill at South River site, Waynesboro, Virginia
Message-ID: <4D4B6D34.5080105@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

The Mill at South River Property Clean-up Complete

The site of a former fabric plant in Waynesboro is one step closer to 
taking on a new purpose.

Todd Corillo
WHSV TV-3 News (Harrisonburg, VA)
February 2, 2011


Waynesboro, VA - The site of a former fabric plant in Waynesboro is one 
step closer to taking on a new purpose.

The Mill at South River is now clear of any potential environmental 
hazards and ready for development.

The cleanup at the property started in 2005 and cost $5.5 million.

It was part of the first phase in a plan that developers say will turn 
the site into a mixed-use development of businesses, offices and homes.


...

For the entire story, see
http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/The_Mill_at_South_River_Property_Clean-up
_Complete_115138569.html?ref=569

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org





------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:37:59 -0800
From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
To: Brownfields Internet Forum <brownfields@lists.cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] "Community Board 12 [Manhattan] responds to
	proposed brownfield clean up"
Message-ID: <4D4B82A7.7000106@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Community Board 12 responds to proposed brownfield clean up on Broadway 
at Nagle Ave.		

Manhattan Times (NY)
February 1, 2011


EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a summary of a letter CB12 sent to the 
N.Y. State Department of Environmental Conservation on Jan. 25, 2011 
concerning environmental issues at a site that was a former gas station 
that is being considered for development.


Dear Mr. Sadique Ahmed, Project Manager, N.Y. State Department of 
Environmental Conservation

 From what we know about the condition of 4566 Broadway, it is clear 
that this is a very serious situation, and it is our hope that the 
supplemental investigation will produce the information necessary to 
make a determination on the level of threat that the brownfield site 
poses to this community.

We offer the following comments with that objective in mind: ...

For the entire article (summary of letter), see
http://www.manhattantimesnews.com/2011/community-board-12-responds-to-propos
ed-brownfield-clean-up-on-broadway-at-nagle-ave.html 


-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org





------------------------------

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End of Brownfields Digest, Vol 78, Issue 3
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