Feedback Derails Brownfield Vote

Mary Archie learned recently that the New Port Richey City Council was considering declaring almost all of the city a brownfield area.

Archie is a Realtor who lives in Holiday but owns property in the city.

She wrote on Facebook about the designation, which paves the way for economic incentives to be offered to those who redevelop or clean up properties in New Port Richey that are contaminated or appear to be contaminated.

She sent off emails about the subject, saying the designation would kill property values and business.

Then she came to the City Council meeting Tuesday.

“I think this is a negative tag,” Archie told council members. “We already have a negative tag as a blighted city. … I don’t think it’s going to be a benefit in the long run” for property owners, she said.

Even before she and others spoke, City Council members agreed Tuesday to table a final vote on declaring nearly all of New Port Richey a brownfield area, saying they had received comments from the public. City staff had proposed calling the brownfield an “Economic Incentive Area” to lessen the stigma attached with the designation.

They agreed to discuss the idea at a work session in December and are offering residents a chance to state concerns or questions on the matter in the meantime.

City Council members did not detail during the meeting what the comments said or who they came from. Mayor Bob Consalvo said he had learned about them on Monday and and didn't feel comfortable proceeding with a decision on the matter Tuesday.

Concerns About Brownfield Designation

About 15 people came to see whether the City Council would vote on the subject. All who spoke expressed concern about the designation. Most of them were local Realtors concerned about how the designation would affect property values or sales.

Councilwoman , who had expressed during the first reading of the resolution to declare the city a brownfield, said she had heard from the public and was happy to see the council had “engaged“ the community.

Incentives used to stimulate rehabilitation of brownfield sites are offered by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency. Tax credits are offered for the costs of voluntary cleanup of brownfield sites. Businesses qualify for bonus tax refunds of up to $2,500 per job created when rehabilitating a brownfield site. The state also offers partial loan guarantees and liability protection.

Brownfield sites are mainly industrial or commercial property.  Not all properties in a brownfield area are necessarily contaminated. The city had proposed tapping some of the $1 million Pasco County received from the EPA to identify specific parcels that qualified for incentives.

Sonia Magruder, a real estate broker, cited a 1985 Florida Supreme Court decision that stated a seller has a duty to disclose to a buyer anything they know about that could affect property values. The presence of the brownfield designation could affect the value of residential properties that are not contaminated, she said.

"Perception and stigma are very, very strong," she said.

The Whole City Designated Brownfield?

New Port Richey declared itself blighted in 2001 and expanded its Community Redevelopment Area to encompass the entire city at that time, although the city later annexed properties outside that area. The proposed brownfield designation would cover the entire CRA.

Deputy Mayor had said previously that he did not see any disadvantage to a brownfield designation for the CRA.

He said after the meeting that he had since received e-mails from Realtors and an attorney about the matter. He said Tuesday that he didn’t think the designation should be for almost the whole city.

“The question is: Should it be any part of the city?” he said.

He elaborated in an e-mail Wednesday that he could see it targeting properties like the "old First Baptist Church property downtown and some of the old gas stations with underground fuel tanks."

Some people hear "brownfield" and equate it with "Superfund site," he wrote.   

"I'm having a hard time seeing where this would necessarily help anyone else enough to justify the Superfund type stigma that comes with designating the entire CRA area as a brownfield area," he wrote.

Resident Denise Houston posted in opposition to the designation on the Patch Facebook page on Wednesday.

“We became a blighted area years back, and some of us benefited from the grants, but if we become a Brownfield will our city ever become a destination?” she wrote.

The workshop at which the city is planning to discuss the designation with the public scheduled for Dec. 13. Concerns and questions about the designation can be emailed to Lisa Fierce. She can be reached at fiercel@cityofnewportrichey.org. She can also be called at (727) 853-1038. The city has also prepared a form that can be completed with concerns or comments and being acepted through Nov. 28.