What are Brownfields?

• Brownfields are abandoned, idle or under used commercial or industrial properties.
• Located wherever industrial and commercial activities took place in the past.
• Usually along harbour fronts, railways and downtown areas
• Cornwall, Ontario has many Brownfield Sites scattered throughout the City, as all cities do.

Disadvantages of Brownfields

• Degrade neighborhoods, encourage crime and decrease property value.
• Discourage investors and developers for fear of getting involved with properties that may make them liable for cleaning up contamination they did not create.
• Encourages Greenfield development and urban sprawl.
• This can be costly with the adding of new infrastructure.
• Urban sprawl means more money is needed for bus transit, new schools, emergency services such as policing and ambulance.

Benefits of Brownfield Re-development.

• Increased tax revenue
• Increased property value.
• Less money spent on infrastructure.
• Revitalized communities.
• Creation of employment opportunities.
• Removal of potential health threats in our community.

What has Been Done?

• The Ontario Government created a Brownfield Advisory Panel to study this.
• Brownfield Redevelopment Pilot Projects began across Ontario.
• This included Courtaulds Fibre Project in Cornwall, Ontario that after remediation has become a 44 - lot residential subdivision.
• In 2001 the Ontario Government passed the Brownfield Statute Law Amendment Act (Bill 56).

What is the Project?

• The Project is a partnership between Groupe Renaissance Group, the City of Cornwall and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)
• To map the Brownfields sites within the City of Cornwall, using a Geographic Information System (GIS).

What are the City of Cornwall, Ontario and Groupe Renaissance Group doing?

• Formed a Brownfield Advisory Committee
• The City of Cornwall and Groupe Renaissance Group agree to work cooperatively on Brownfield Redevelopment.
• Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) has provided funding for an employee to create a Brownfield Database.

How to Manage the Information

• By using a Geographic Information System (GIS)
• A GIS is a computer-based tool with maps and a database linked together. You can view the maps the database or both.
• Potential re-development sites can be rated on an existing infrastructure, environmental assessments, past industries etc.

Next steps

• The City of Cornwall, Ontario has all the information needed to create a Brownfield database. Some of this information is in digital form and some are paper files.
• The paper files must be converted to digital form, this includes the storm, sanitary and combined sewers information.

What will be accomplished?

• The data can then be used to prioritize Brownfield sites based on different criteria.
• For example, where sewer upgrades are needed, where sewer upgrades have been completed.
• Or where there is little environmental contamination.