Brownfields, Success Story
Like many cities in the Midwest, Janesville, Wisconsin, has a long and
rich history of manufacturing. Janesville’s General Motors (GM) assembly
plant was once the oldest in America and employed about 7,000 people
at its peak in 1970. But industry trends and broader shifts in the U.S.
economy forced the plant to close in 2008, leaving residents without an
economic anchor and city officials without a clear path forward.
To complicate matters, the city’s many different manufacturing
operations resulted in concerns about potential environmental
contamination. To spur private redevelopment and create a more
modern and sustainable city, city officials needed a coordinated
approach. “We knew we couldn’t take on this project alone,” says
Duane Cherek, Janesville’s planning director. “We’re fortunate that we
had a lot of help from a lot of different people.” He adds, “We recognized
the need for an action plan, a tool that defines measures to overcome
barriers to redevelopment, particularly on brownfields sites.”
The Site Assessments
Janesville officials met with representatives from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources to discuss their options. EPA provided a $400,000
Assessment Grant to investigate potentially contaminated properties.
The next step was to prioritize which sites to remediate first. “It wouldn’t
be feasible for us to tackle all this at once, so we had to look at which
properties would best facilitate economic investment.” Cherek says.
To no one’s great surprise, a 2012 brownfield inventory revealed a
concentration of sites in the city’s core.
The next step was to prioritize which sites to remediate first. “It wouldn’t
be feasible for us to tackle all this at once, so we had to look at which
properties would best facilitate economic investment.” Cherek says.
To no one’s great surprise, a 2012 brownfield inventory revealed a
concentration of sites in the city’s core.
City officials held outreach events with residents and the local chamber
of commerce to create a plan that considered all parties’ perspectives.
All agreed to prioritize the downtown area adjacent to the Rock River,
and EPA provided a $200,000 Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grant to
create a redevelopment strategy and jumpstart reinvestment.
An 80,000-square-foot parking deck spanning the river presented
a major obstacle. The deck had begun to deteriorate over the years,
creating potential contamination issues and a flood risk for businesses
and residences. The massive structure also limited waterfront
accessibility, preventing redevelopment and public improvements to
activate the waterfront.
The Redevelopment
The EPA funding allowed the city to develop its own locally driven
revitalization plan, known as the Rock Renaissance Area Redevelopment
and Implementation Strategy (ARISE). ARISE detailed plans to turn sites
near the parking deck and along the river into a downtown destination,
stimulating activity and reinvestment, complete with a riverwalk, iconic
pedestrian bridge across the river, multifunctional communal areas,
spaces for new business and housing opportunities. Equally important to
the plan is the implementation. As part of its outreach, the city worked
with state and federal agencies, private investors and the public to
identify solutions to environmental and economic challenges. The city
went back to many of these same stakeholders to identify funding and
leadership support to make the vision a reality.
As a result of the city’s focus on implementation and stakeholder
support, the parking deck demolition was completed in less than a year.
To assist in that effort, the state of Wisconsin provided the city with
roughly $800,000 in grants to remove the structures. The state also
stepped up to provide funding for outdoor recreational improvements
along the river, the Ice Age trail and demolition of the GM site.
“The river has traditionally served as a divider rather than a connector,”
says Cherek. “When we removed the parking deck, it showed the
community how much potential this area has.”
The Benefits
Today, the ARISE projects are making a visible difference all along
the riverfront. Upgrades to the area on the west side of the river are
nearing completion, and improvements to the east side are underway.
Construction of the pedestrian bridge that connects the two areas is
slated to begin this year, and local organizations such as ARISE Now and
Downtown Janesville, Inc., have stepped up as project champions. The
city expects the centerpiece of the ARISE plan, the town square, to be
completed in the coming year or two and to bring lasting environmental
and economic benefits.
Private investment is beginning to return to the city as well. The GM
plant has been demolished in preparation for redevelopment. Downtown
retail occupancy has doubled since the project began. A community
credit union is considering plans to invest $30 million along the riverfront
on former brownfield sites, including a new corporate office providing
hundreds of jobs and a “Legacy Center” that honors GM’s contributions
to the region.
Jon Grosshans, community planner for EPA Region 5, believes that
Janesville’s revitalization can be an inspiration for other cities looking
to accelerate redevelopment. “From the outset, this strategy focused
on implementation,” says Grosshans. “What started as a brownfield
redevelopment strategy on paper has quickly turned into a series
of tangible projects that set the stage for additional investment in
downtown Janesville.”