Communication: Projects: Brownfields

Five Mile Creek Greenway Project WINS 2007 Phoenix Award. The project participants will be honored at an awards ceremony during Brownfields 2008 in Detroit, Michigan, May 5-7, 2008.  more>>>

BIRMINGHAM – Over the next few months, citizens of communities along Five Mile Creek will be coming together to identify potential “brownfield” sites for a voluntary $200,000 inventory and assessment effort in the Five Mile Creek Watershed. The grant, a joint project of the Black Warrior - Cahaba Rivers Land Trust and the United States Geological Survey, is designed to revitalize the economy and restore the environment in communities within the watershed. The six benefiting communities are Center Point, Tarrant, Fultondale, Brookside, Graysville, and certain sections of Birmingham.

The term “brownfields” applies to former industrial or commercial properties that are currently underused or inactive. These sites may have actual hazardous contamination, or may just be perceived as having such. Because of this problem, these sites have not been redeveloped for new economic or recreational possibilities. Instead, development spreads away from the community center and invests elsewhere.

Public meetings will be held in each municipality benefiting from the grant, in order to identify the potential sites and concerns that the citizens have regarding the voluntary brownfield assessment and redevelopment. The meetings will begin in October at the headwaters of Five Mile Creek in Center Point, and continue along the stream to the last meeting in mid-December at the mouth of Five Mile Creek in Graysville.

Idle “brownfield” sites can negatively impact a community in many ways. The perception of an area as “contaminated” or “abandoned” and the resulting loss of local businesses can reduce the tax base of a community. For the same reasons, developers and lenders are deterred from investing in the area, and instead choose “Greenfield” sites outside the community for development. The resulting suburban sprawl causes a decreased economic base in the original community, the loss of natural and agricultural areas, increased pollution and flooding, and heavier traffic. Finally, brownfield sites with real environmental contamination pose a threat to the health and safety of the community.

Working with the communities and landowners to voluntarily cleanup and potentially redevelop these sites, the Land Trust and USGS hope to provide the Five Mile Creek Watershed with many benefits. By encouraging development in the community, the project will ensure a healthy future for the economy and environment. The long-term results of this project will be revitalized economic growth, restored community pride, the preserving of farmland and natural areas, and the protection of citizen health and safety.

The project aims to involve as many citizens as possible in the process of identifying and prioritizing the sites for cleanup assessment. Because the benefits will directly impact the citizens of the watershed, active citizen participation is crucial to making the project a success.

Special thanks also go to several organizations and agencies for their support of the public meeting process, including: the Metropolitan Development Board, the Brownfield Redevelopment Task Force, CAWACO Resource Conservation and Development Council, the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, and the cities of Center Point, Tarrant, Fultondale, Brookside, Graysville, and Birmingham.