It increases the local tax base, creates jobs, revitalizes neighborhoods and extends environmental protection for all citizens. The benefits of brownfields redevelopment can be seen throughout a community for years to come. It is not only an investment in a parcel of land, it is an investment in our communities and in our citizens.

In 2002, the AIA strongly supported the federal Brownfields Act, which sparked a nationwide effort to redevelop forgotten buildings in the heart of America's cities. However, there are still hundreds of thousands of brownfields sites that sit vacant or underused. This is a vital concern to both architects and political leaders of urban and suburban communities across America.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 400,000 to one million brownfields sites exist nationwide. New Jersey alone is home to at least 20,000 contaminated sites, the majority of which qualify as brownfields. For this reason, it is imperative that the federal brownfields law be updated to better provide communities with the necessary tools and resources to clean up and redevelop these potentially valuable sites. Without an update of the law, communities that have brownfields sites within their boarders will continue to deteriorate and remain eyesores.

Redeveloping brownfields sites produces undeniable economic benefits, demonstrating that intelligent federal spending on brownfields will have a large boost for cities and communities nationwide. Investing in brownfields will help the economic vitality of our cities and communities, create jobs and stimulate the U.S. economy now that Congress is exploring ways to turn around the pending recession caused by the recent downturn in mortgage and real estate sectors.

Investing in brownfields remediation and redevelopment is an important priority. In addition to increasing funding levels, AIA believes the law should be updated in two other important ways, by providing businesses with tax credits and by adding project qualification.

Each year, the EPA is flooded with requests from local, state and tribal governments for assessment, cleanup and revolving loan grants to begin the process of revitalizing these sites/buildings. At current funding levels, it is impossible for EPA to fulfill even a fraction of the grant requests. For this reason, AIA believes that Congress should increase the overall funding level for the EPA's brownfields program.

AIA also feels that it is beneficial to provide businesses, including developers, with a tax credit for undertaking these redevelopments. Given the extensive competition among applicants for limited grant funding, AIA also feels that including additional project qualifications in the program's grant-making criteria would direct funding to the best possible projects.

One such qualification should be energy efficiency. AIA is a proponent of energy efficiency and green building standards. These green building requirements should be a factor in determining which grant applicant receives funding. As most brownfields redevelopment projects will at the very least require a major renovation of buildings on site, it makes sense that these buildings be designed in an intelligent, energy-efficient way.

Architects and builders across the country are utilizing the most modern design techniques, materials and building systems to achieve significant energy savings in new and renovated buildings. Energy-efficient buildings offer countless benefits to their inhabitants. One such benefit is reduced energy use, which will lessen monthly utility bills for businesses and residents. Since many brownfields are located in low-income areas, reduced energy costs for future building occupants should be a major factor in determining which projects receive grants.

Aside from the economic and community restoration benefits of brownfields redevelopment, reclaiming contaminated sites helps improve the natural environment. Once a site is cleaned up, it is counterproductive to then build an energy-guzzling building on that very same site, especially when the costs of building green are often negligible. Thus, AIA strongly believes that brownfield redevelopment projects that will result in energy-efficient green buildings should be given preference as EPA chooses which projects to finance.

In summary, the federal Brownfields Act is an extremely important piece of legislation for communities nationwide and of special importance here in New Jersey. AIA-NJ requests the support of our entire Congressional delegation in signing on as co-sponsors and providing the positive votes it needs to pass the house.

The views expressed here are those of the author and not of Real Estate Media or its publications.

Jerome Leslie Eben, AIA, West Orange, NJ, is the Immediate Past President of AIA New Jersey, based in Trenton. He can be reached at [email protected].