Save Brownfield Funding: Tell Legislature Not to Take Money Away From Redevelopment

There is a movement in the State House to reduce the ability of communities to receive state dollars for brownfield projects by not allowing obsolete or blighted properties to qualify for new state dollars. The vote will be taken on these bills in committee next week! Your State Representative needs to hear from you NOW to oppose the amendments to SB 567.

As you know, the Legislature and Governor eliminated the Brownfield and Historic Tax Credits.  They then funded a line in the budget of $100 million for economic development incentives.

Now, the Legislature is debating legislation that would create the Community Revitalization Program. As passed by the Senate, this program will give out the $100 million to communities for revitalization.  There are several conditions that must be considered, including density, job creation, existing infrastructure, etc.  The League is very supportive of this because it ensures state dollars go to redevelopment projects and helping to revitalize our communities and our state.

This week, an amendment was proposed that would scale this program back to only contaminated properties, and not allow it to be used to redevelop blighted and obsolete buildings.  This would drastically reduce the ability to have state dollars used in redevelopment projects around the state and could put many future projects at risk.  This amendment would greatly reduce the effectiveness of this new program and break the promise made to replace the brownfield credits with state appropriations.

The vote will be taken on these bills in committee on Tuesday, then are expected on the House floor shortly after!  Please call or email your state representative and tell them to pass the Community Revitalization legislation (SB 567) without these amendments which will roll back the brownfield program and cost jobs and investments in our communities and our state.

Andy Schor is the Assistant Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. Contact him at (517) 908-0300 or by email at aschor@mml.org.