Investigating mothballed brownfield properties : understanding the causes and potential solutions

An interview survey with 14 participants representing large corporations, non-profit organizations, regulatory agencies, and law firms was performed to determine the barriers to redeveloping brownfield properties and the proposed policies that might reduce the likelihood of mothballing properties. Based on these interviews, two overarching factors leading to mothballing include the on-going threat of liability for past disposal practices and land values that are too low to make assessment and cleanup an economically viable option for the disposition of a mothballed brownfield property. Even though federal and state statutes were amended to facilitate assessment and cleanup of contaminated property, the specter of the strict liability scheme enshrined in the environmental statutes in the 1980s still haunts corporate owners. Land values are also an important consideration for large property owners. If the sale of the property cannot at least pay for the assessment and cleanup of the property, site owners are less likely to sell the property and prefer to mothball until economic conditions are more favorable. Large property owners need to realize that the regulatory climate of the 1980s is no longer applicable in light of the amendments to federal and state environmental statutes and the enactment of new federal and state brownfield regulations.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Blanchet, Richard J

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lavea Brachman.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34178

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34178