SCS’s Green Street Blog Series: Part I
Land recycling and land remediation make valuable additions to communities. In our Green Street blog series, we step you through a successful redevelopment project called Green Street in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Throughout the blog series, we’ll point out how to identify and avoid potential environmental issues that can slow your redevelopment and remediation projects.
What’s a Brownfield and Why Are They Attractive for Redevelopment
While Green Street is not a Brownfield project, SCS uses the same advanced technologies and processes for the site. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describes a brownfield as a property that may have the potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. These are properties where former tenants were industrial or manufacturers, businesses such as dry cleaners or gas stations, landfills, and even golf courses. Often, these properties sit on prime real estate.
The properties are experiencing a resurgence in redevelopment for many reasons, including by reinvesting in these sites, communities are increasing local tax bases, facilitating job growth, utilizing existing infrastructure, taking development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and improving and protecting the environment.
With environmental remediation technological advances and new processes, there are almost no limits to what Brownfield can house – mixed-use, shopping centers, residential, parks, stadiums, and even ski resorts. There are many grant programs available to help, too.
Journey with us to Green Street
Lee’s Summit is doing just that, with the city’s Green Street project adding a vibrant addition to the community, including a farmers market, event space, outdoor performance area, and a beautifully landscaped pavilion. Green Street will enhance the charm of downtown Lee’s Summit and create new public spaces for citizens, visitors, and businesses.
At SCS Engineers, we are proud to play a crucial role in the environmental remediation of the Lee’s Summit Green Street development process. Our team became involved with the city when this project was in the conceptual stages, and we’ve continued to work alongside them as the project progresses.
We begin walking through due diligence in Part II of the Green Street series on January 27.
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About the Author: Michael (Mike) Dustman is experienced in environmental project management, remedial design activities, building inspection, site assessments, and field training. He possesses an in-depth knowledge of relevant and applicable Federal, State, and local environmental laws and protocols. Mike has served numerous local agencies and private clients, including the USEPA Region 4 Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team. Mike is a certified asbestos project designer, management planner, and building inspector, a certified air sample professional, and a certified lead-based paint inspector and lead risk assessor.
