The first meeting of the Brownfield Advisory Committee (BAC) was held in Council chambers at the Lincoln City City Hall on Monday March 11.
The BAC was formed as an advisory group comprised of local business and government officials that might have some interest in identifying brownfield sites within Lincoln City.
A brownfield is land that has been identified as or identified as possibly having some type of toxic material on it or under its surface.
Remediation of contaminated land can be a time and money consuming process that may, essentially, destroy the value of a parcel of land and threaten the worth of neighboring property-depending on the type of contamination present and whether there is a threat of it spreading via ground water or runoff.
Thanks to a grant that Lincoln City applied for and received a few years ago, the city has partnered with environmental consultants from Maul Foster & Alongi and Akana.
Together with oversite from Economic Development and Urban Renewal Director Alison Robertson and Economic Development Project manager Seth Lenaerts, the BAC hopes to help identify heretofore unmarked properties that could benefit from analysis of their condition.
In particular they are tasked with noting properties that may have sat vacant for a while and forwarding that information to the consultant team so they might approach the land owner and offer help-if needed.
According to Lenaerts all potential clean ups are “owner driven,” meaning that no government intrusion would occur without being invited by the property owner to participate.
The BAC is comprised of;
Lori Arce-Torres-Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce
Tracy Baily- Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Korey Hazard-Taylor and Taylor Realty
Amy Libby Graham-Taylor and Taylor Realty
Karen Rockwell-Housing Authority of Lincoln County
Paul Schuytema-Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County
Chad Ulrich-Oregon State Credit union
Tammy Viles-Washington Federal Bank
While most admitted that they had little to no knowledge about brownfields they showed an eagerness to learn and to help the process move forward. The group is tentatively scheduled to meet quarterly for updates and training.
