Peter B. Meyer

Incentives for private residential brownfields development in US urban areas

Abstract Public agencies in the US have committed resources to encourage private investment in reusing contaminated sites. With public funds in short supply, the effectiveness of their efforts matters both to the agencies and the development community. This paper draws on a mail survey of private developers that uses conjoint choice experiments to investigate the relative attractiveness of incentives to promote residential infill on contaminated property. Results suggest protection from third party liability offers the most value, with protection from cleanup liability and relief from public hearing requirements also important. The findings indicate several opportunities for planners to promote infill on contaminated sites in a socially and environmentally appropriate manner.

Ex-Urban Sprawl as a Factor in Traffic Fatalities and EMS Response Times in the Southeastern United States

Many writers have covered the negative consequences of sprawl on community life and urban development in the US over the years. This paper looks at how sprawl impacts traffic fatalities and EMS response times in the Southeastern United States. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Bankers, Developers, and New Investment in Brownfield Sites: Environmental Concerns and the Social Psychology of Risk

The 1980 Superfund Act has severely retarded economic development efforts to renovate abandoned and underused lands and buildings by holding past and present landowners liable for environmental hazards on their properties. This article takes a look at some noneconomic factors shaping investor risk perception. We review risk characteristics such as uncertainty and uncontrollability, the workings of the availability heuristic (a critical psychological factor), and the social amplification of risk We apply findings and insights from the literature to property developers and financiers to better understand both their motivations and specific fears of brownfield opportunities. This review permits us to assess the opportunities available for public sector intervention to stimulate capital flows to brownfield locations. We conclude by recommending public sector efforts that could both improve the environmental status of old brownfield sites and stimulate new investment and economic development in locales suffering excessive capital flight.

New and fringe residential development and emergency medical services response times in the United States

Much has been written over the years about longer emergency medical services (EMS) response times in rural areas as opposed to urban areas. Yet within urban areas, outside of case studies of certain cities, not much has been written about longer EMS response times in newer, fringe suburban or ex-urban areas. Examining first the largest county within each metro area and next the municipalities and unincorporated areas of all of the counties of metropolitan areas, the findings of this exploratory research note show that the density and age of different residential areas or jurisdictions explain some of the variation in average EMS response times between urban and suburban or ex-urban locations. Holding other things constant, those who live in more sparsely settled and newer developments tend to have longer waiting times for EMS. The implications for regional growth management are discussed.

Insuring Redevelopment at Contaminated Urban Properties

Environmental insurance (EI) can facilitate the redevelopment of potentially contaminated sites in distressed urban areas by providing a means to manage the environmental and financial risks at these properties. We draw on a survey and interviews of private brownfield developers to provide information on current EI utilization, factors that affect this, and ways in which public officials can facilitate its use when appropriate. We find that EI appears particularly relevant at sites where high-risk financing capital is used, off-site contaminant migration is likely, institutional controls are prevalent, or when developers lack adequate risk spreading across their project portfolios. Local governments and nonprofit organizations can promote EI use at both private and public properties through information dissemination, direct use of insurance-based risk transfer tools, and financial subsidies to developers for EI use.

Project scale and private sector environmental decision making: Factors affecting investments in small- and large-scale brownfield projects

The past decade has seen substantial policy effort directed at promoting the reclamation and reuse of urban brownfields or potentially contaminated properties. This paper is based on interviews with developers and lenders involved in redevelopment efforts. Findings indicate that effective policies and programs need to be framed within an understanding of the different needs of smaller and larger redevelopments. While market forces were equally significant inducements for both types of projects, important needs of small developers were not met. Overall, they were less likely to receive government subsidies, had greater difficulty accessing private capital, and lacked information about processes associated with remediation. Developers of large projects were more likely to benefit from public financing and were able to mobilize a network of supportive organizations to help them manage barriers to project completion. Additional findings suggest problems with legal mechanisms intended to promote brownfields cleanup in the course of redevelopment. While lender financing and public involvement of large projects encouraged environmentally responsible behaviors, self-financing of small redevelopments permitted some developers to skirt environmental requirements and avoid cleanup altogether. The paper ends with a discussion of the value of placing greater public emphasis on small projects and offers suggestions for policies to address their needs.

Brownfields and Red Ink: The Costs of Contaminated (and Idle) Land

Land contamination imposes a wide variety of different types of financial, environmental, and social costs, some of which may be experienced by individuals and organizations located far from any brownfield sites. The better these diverse costs are understood and recognized, the more prepared public sector managers will be to make choices about economic development efforts and other subsidies that may minimize them. This article examines two distinct sets of costs, which need to be compared with respect to how they accrue to the citizens of different political units so that decision makers can determine their most appropriate courses of action: (1) status quo costs—those associated with not mitigating and redeveloping brownfields, including lost real estate and business tax revenues, decreasing densities and their costs, and the public health and pollution mitigation costs associated with ignoring sources of contamination; and (2) mitigation costs—those associated with redevelopment efforts, including site assessments, actual mitigations, redevelopment, and possible post-remediation monitoring and maintenance. In both instances, I disaggregate costs and point to some of the less direct impacts and spillover effects that need to be considered. I then consider the parties that may be likely to bear these economic burdens—and highlight the fact that even urban brownfields are not exclusively a “city problem.” I conclude with evidence from the public record on the efficiency of brownfield subsidies, and review the economic rationale for public sector brownfield programs as a key element of economic development efforts.

Making economically sound confinement decisions: A response to the zedlewski thesis

This paper examines the economic costs and benefits of incarceration of criminals, elaborating upon and correcting flaws in Zedlewski’s 1987 claims that incarceration is a cost-minimizing crime prevention strategy. We use Bureau of Justice Statistics data to demonstrate gross errors in Zedlewski’s crude estimates. We find that the costs of incarceration are more than double the benefits in costs of crime avoided. We conclude that the cost-saving incapacitation effects of incarceration do not warrant either the current levels of imprisonment or any future increases.

RESEARCH ARTICLE: Do Urban Regeneration of Brownfields and New Emission Efficiency Needs Conflict? An Economic Perspective

The redevelopment of brownfield sites poses costs due to prior land uses and obsolete structural features, not just real or perceived contamination. Regeneration may require public subsidy, and the process may be further “threatened” by higher standards for building energy efficiency likely to arise with new climate change policies. New structural standards might undermine private reuse of old buildings on cost grounds. This article examines the potential conflict in terms of benefit trade-offs and the distribution of costs and benefits across current and future populations, examining impact assumptions and the approaches taken to risk of failure in emissions reduction, especially with regard to irreversible impacts. Two examples of pursuit of both objectives are considered: land-use planning and densification, including contaminated-land reuse; and new building standards and financing for retrofitting older structures for energy efficiency. It concludes that the conflicts are overstated and that complementarities are stronger, especially when viewed from a public sector perspective.

Workplace-Based Education and Economic Development

Increased international competition has placed a premium on the quality of the labor force in a local economy. This article examines the forces shaping worker-employer joint education and training efforts, and the roles local development organizations can play in promoting such investments in local human capital. Cases involving public and private sector employers in Britain and the United States are examined, so as to assess the ways in which union militancy and forms of worker organization may affect efforts at cooperation. As may be expected, the authors find that successful programs depend on shared management and labor objectives. Local development groups can shape those objectives by providing information to both businesses and workers. Thus development organizations can invest their industrial recruitment and business retention data in improving the quality of local labor forces by promoting workplace-based joint education and training programs.