The Office of Strategic Planning (OSP) is proud to announce three new Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) projects. The three new areas include the Buffalo Harbor, the Buffalo River Corridor, and the Tonawanda Street Corridor. The project launch will held on November 17th at 6:30 pm at Hutch-Tech School, 256 South Elmwood Avenue. It is open to the public and anyone wishing to learn more or comment is encouraged to attend. Check out the official website here.
Brownfields are current or former industrial lands complicated by the presence (or perceived presence) of contamination. These areas are often located in historical industrial districts, but instead of seeing problems, brownfield sites offer opportunity. They have the ability to boost the local economy and bring reinvestment to nearby neighborhoods by remediating and returning the land back to usable and productive spaces.
The Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program comes from NYS Department of State, enabling communities to create strategies which return the dormant, underutilized land back to a new use. The Department of State awarded the City of Buffalo OSP with three BOA grants to fund the Step 2 Nomination Studies at the three sites. The Studies provide in-depth analysis of existing conditions, identify highest and best opportunities for reuse, and establish remediation priorities.
The project will take place in eight phases between November 2011 and October 2012, while also accommodating public open houses throughout the process. Phases I and II take place between October and December 2011 with the project start-up, initial research and project description. Phase III goes from December 2011 to February 2012 where the BOAs are analyzed. Phase IV runs from February to March 2012 with the development of the Master Plan. Phase V occurs between March and May 2012, which includes the draft nomination and executive summary. In Phase VI, the final plans are created between May and June 2012. Finally, Phases VII and VIII occur in July 2012 with the State Environmental Quality Review and final approvals.
It is crucial to get public input to ensure the program produces effective results, so the project team is reaching out to the community. There will be five open house events to get feedback on the work to date and guide the project in the right direction. The open houses will be held separately for each BOA, with the exception of the Project Launch and the Final Concept presentations.
Get Connected: Dennis Sutton, Brownfield Coordinator, dsutton@city-buffalo.com and 716-851-6587
I'm excited to hear what comes out of this.