Mayors proud of brownfield work

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 9:11 a.m.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said Tuesday that Las Vegas is poised to become a national leader in the redevelopment of so-called "brownfields" -- land that is difficult to develop because of environmental contamination.

A senior center opened on a brownfield site on North Eastern Avenue last year, the historic Fifth Street Grammar School up and the old Union Pacific Railroad yard are among the city's once environmentally damaged land that has been reclaimed.

Goodman returned Tuesday from last week's five-day U.S. Conference of Mayors in Denver, where a report was released noting that 575,000 new jobs and $1.9 billion in new taxes could be gained by redeveloping brownfields nationwide.

Under federal law, anyone who buys contaminated property is responsible for cleaning it up, making it difficult for cities to find buyers willing to take the risk on what otherwise could be prime parcels of land. The federal government estimates there are as many as 600,000 brownfield sites across the nation.

Goodman said that in Las Vegas there has been a degree of success in reclaiming such land, especially the 61 acres of former railroad property the city plans to develop.

"The 61 acres is all brownfields and there are 140 acres of Union Pacific land around it that is brownfields," Goodman said, noting that cleanup efforts have paved the way for development. Another 50 acres near the 61-acre parcel is being used for the Furniture Mart project.

"We are one of the nation's leaders" in brownfield redevelopment, Goodman said.

The city initiated a cleanup program for brownfields in October 1999.

In 2000 the city received $500,000 from a $250 million annual grant package that Congress had approved in 1999 to clean up former urban industrial sites contaminated with chemicals.

Part of that money was used to clean up the town's historic original elementary school on Las Vegas Boulevard -- now the University of Nevada, Las Vegas downtown campus and Metro Police offices.

Also, some of the money was used to clean up a contamination at Third Street and Bonneville Avenue that was caused by chemicals from an old cleaning business.

More of the money was used to clean up a small area contaminated with diesel fuel from the former National Guard Armory at 250 N. Eastern Ave., which today is the site of a state-of-the-art senior center.

According to a survey taken at the conference, 153 cities have successfully developed 922 brownfield sites, totaling 10,594 acres. The reclamation has resulted in $90 million in revenues to 45 cities and more than 83,000 jobs to 74 cities, the survey said, noting there are 205 cities that have 24,987 brownfield sites awaiting redevelopment.

The Conference of Mayors has taken a leadership role in raising the brownfields issue since 1992. The efforts helped result in the 2002 passage of the Small Business Liability and Brownfields Redevelopment Act, from which Las Vegas received funding.

While Goodman appeared to have high hopes on the brownfields issue, he did not seem enthusiastic about the conference's endorsement of a plan by President Bush to end chronic homelessness in 10 years, a resolution for which he voted.

"I wish it were a two-year plan," Goodman said, noting that he saw nothing specific to Las Vegas.

Goodman said while in downtown Denver, he saw numerous homeless people holding plastic cups seeking handouts, calling it a "more dramatic homeless problem than Las Vegas" has.

The 225 mayors attending the conference endorsed the president's proposal, which seeks to provide permanent housing and services to chronically homeless people, freeing up resources for people who find themselves temporarily homeless.