Many people view Salt Lake's Delta Center only as home of the Utah Jazz. But the nation's mayors say it is an example of how recycling an environmentally contaminated "brownfield" can breathe new life into cities.
A new U.S. Conference of Mayors report notes that before the Delta Center was built on Salt Lake City's Block 79, the area was unsightly, with abandoned buildings and a gas station with leaky tanks that caused some underground contamination.It was cleaned up, and the city helped build the public plaza around the arena. The report says the center "now employs 1,452 people and generates approximately $1 million in tax revenue annually." It is "the driving force surrounding the revitalization of western downtown."
The conference says too many such op-por-tunities are being missed nationally, and that's leading to the loss of farmland and green space as development moves to the suburbs instead of recycling problematic brownfields in cities.
"We simply cannot go on destroying our farmland and greenspaces while neglecting these abandoned or underutilized brownfield properties," said Paul Helmke, president of the conference and mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind.
The report, "Recycling America's Land," said a survey of 126 cities (including Salt Lake City, Ogden, Murray and West Jordan) found they had at least 16,500 brownfield sites with 47,000 acres of abandoned or underutilized property.
It said cities nationally estimated they could increase annual tax revenues by $205 million to $500 million if they could clean up and use such sites. Approximately 236,000 jobs could result.
But they said hindrances include lack of money for environmental cleanup, liability problems for developers and lack of environmental assessments for properties that may or may not have contamination.
Helmke said that while such brownfields sit abandoned, a recent study by the American Farmland Trust said 13.8 million acres of greenspace (including 4.3 million acres of prime farmland) were lost to new development between 1982 and 1992.
Those 13.8 million acres are roughly the size of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and half of Maryland combined.
The study said Salt Lake officials estimate they could increase tax revenues another $1 million to $3 million a year and create 10,000 more jobs by cleaning up and using other brownfields in the city.
That includes the new "Gateway Project" to replace many of the unused railroad yards on the city's west side with new offices, housing, entertainment sites and stores.
City officials reported that developers negotiating for part of that land have letters of interest from six tenants for a project with more than 2.5 million cubic feet of rentable space.
Murray officials also told the conference that redevelopment of the 140-acre Murray Smelter brown-field site appears headed for success and may increase tax revenues by $1 million a year or so and create 150 jobs.
The report said, "This site when fully developed in five to 10 years will contain 450,000 cubic feet of office and high-end retail with restaurants and a major theater complex."
The report also said Ogden officials estimate they have 12 brown-field sites with 250 acres that could be redeveloped. And it said West Jordan identified one 75-acre site it said could be redeveloped to create $100,000 or so in tax revenue a year plus 150 new jobs.