A Decision-Making Methodology to Aid in the Ranking of Brownfield Redevelopment Sites: Seeking Commonality of Interests Among Stakeholders

The problem of contamination on numerous properties across the United States continues to exist, even though there have been tremendous efforts by government, industry and individuals over the past forty years to address and remediate many of these contaminated sites (Brownfields). Many factors concerning the clean-up and reutilization of these Brownfields, including economic costs, legal liability and other known and unknown risks, continue to hamper the speed of clean up. The government has been attempting to address many of these concerns among the various stakeholders in the clean-up process in order to encourage more timely Brownfields revitalizations. Unfortunately, each of the various stakeholders in a Brownfields project has its own priorities and comfort levels concerning the various revitalization projects that it may consider. Often, one or more perceived issues may prevent interested parties from pursuing clean up. Even worse, a lack of understanding of other stakeholder interests and concerns may also prevent timely revitalization. This research project has documented the many issues and concerns that the various stakeholders have with Brownfields revitalization efforts. The author has established stakeholder groups for purposes of a decision model and developed a two-part questionnaire to enable an understanding of the needs and interests of the various stakeholder groups and those stakeholders’ interest level in specific parcels. The research has set the stage for various professionals or leaders in the many stakeholder groups to be surveyed and/or interviewed. Those survey results, by others, would enable the determination of commonality of issues of interest, as well as a ranking of the issues in determining any pursuit of revitalization of applicable properties. This project began with a complete literature review and analysis of decision making and decision-making tools. From this analysis of decision making and the benefits of understanding other stakeholders’ interests and goals in Brownfields revitalization, an expert tool can be developed that would aid in the ranking of various Brownfields according to each stakeholder group’s needs and desires. Of particular interest is a decision-aiding model (ranking tool) for redevelopment firms since it is often the developers’ interests, abilities, resources and knowledge of end-user needs (as well as other stakeholders’ needs) that drive revitalization efforts. This research has helped to move forward the process of uncovering the issues and concerns of the various stakeholder groups and will allow the development of tools for stakeholders to more accurately consider the clean-up of Brownfields. Any decision model, as implemented by the Brownfields community, could dramatically improve understanding and cooperation among stakeholder groups to achieve more timely revitalization of Brownfields