Leaders of the Unshackle Upstate coalition and Rochester community leaders Monday called upon the state Legislature to act before the end of session in June to approve brownfields reform that will clean up our communities and spur much-needed redevelopment.

"Brownfields are not just eyesores; they restrict economic growth and lower property values in our area," said Sandy Parker, president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance and a leader in Unshackle Upstate at a news conference today. "Over the past five years, the current brownfields law has not lived up to its original promise of cleaning up and redeveloping blighted properties across Upstate. It must be reformed now."

The news conference – one of several set for cities across Upstate - was held at the former Photech Imaging Systems Inc. on Driving Park Avenue, a film manufacturing plant that was abandoned in 1991, and is now one of thousands of brownfields in Greater Rochester. The city of Rochester acquired the property through tax foreclosure in 1997, and has secured more than $3 million in state and federal grants to clean up environmental contaminant sin the land and building, including heavy metals and asbestos. Much of that funding came from a 12-year old state program that will run out of funding unless the legislature takes action this session.

"It is vital that we continue working to remediate brownfield sites and prepare them for future development," said Rochester Mayor Robert J. Duffy, who joined Parker, state Assemblyman Joseph Morelle (D-Irondequoit) and Sen. Joseph Robach (R-Greece) at the news conference.

"During the past ten years, the city has successfully completed cleanup actions on more than 285 acres of brownfield properties and secured $15 million in competitive state and federal brownfield grant funding," Duffy added. "There is still much to be done. These reforms would go a long way towards helping us realize the tremendous potential that exists for development at many of these sites."

Also speaking at the news conference was Laurence C. Glazer, CEO of Buckingham Properties, a local developer who has shown significant interest in redeveloping brownfields and George Thomas, executive director of the Center for Environmental Information.

"As a developer, I see brownfields as a tremendous waste of economic potential," Glazer said. "Many of these sites, if properly cleaned up, could be turned into thriving developments for businesses, housing, retail or other uses that would create jobs and spur the economy. Private developers like me stand ready to invest in these properties, but the onerous and costly regulations regarding clean-up often stand in the way, particularly Upstate where land values have not appreciated as much as in other areas. We need the state to help us by putting in place the right regulations and programs that will make it desirable and possible to develop these parcels."

Brownfields are underutilized commercial properties with environmental problems. The National Brownfield Association estimates that 20 to 50 percent of commercial properties have environmental impairments that affect property values.

Brownfields are about property values, return on investment, and the willingness of businesses to assume the uncertainty, cost, time and liability associated with cleanup. In Upstate, low property values and depressed economic conditions have limited the number of Brownfield projects undertaken by the private sector. Since the statutory Brownfield cleanup program (BCP) took effect in 2003, less that 92 acres have been remediated in all of Upstate, as of August 2007.

Unshackle Upstate is advocating for incentives and improvements to the brownfield cleanup program to encourage the private sector to invest in brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, and assist municipalities in their brownfield cleanup efforts. Specifically, Unshackle Upstate urges legislators and agency officials to:

• Create a state Brownfield Revolving Loan program for the private sector to help business finance brownfield investigations and cleanups.
• Increase and expedite Brownfield Cleanup Program tax credits in the economically hard hit Upstate region.
• Reduce the oversight cost requirement for volunteers in the Brownfield Cleanup Program and develop an appropriate fee schedule.
• Develop an Interagency Brownfield Program Support Unit through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Empire State Development (ESD) to optimize the likelihood of cleanup and redevelopment success.
• Renew and expand the state's investment in the Environmental Restoration Program to address the clean-up of environmental contaminants on urban sites;
• Amend the Municipal Redevelopment Law to strengthen its Tax Increment Financing (TIF) provisions to promote the redevelopment of brownfield and other blighted sites. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia make effective use of TIFs.

The Unshackle Upstate coalition has written to Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders expressing its concerns about brownfields, and members of the coalition are headed to Albany on May 7 to push legislators to consider making these important changes before the end of the session.

The news conference in Rochester was one of several to be staged by the coalition in cities across the region to draw attention to the issue of brownfields.

Unshackle Upstate is a coalition of more than 70 organizations, representing more than 45,000 employers and 1.5 million workers across Upstate. For more information on Unshackle Upstate, log on to www.UnshackleUpstate.com.