The Region of Niagara Brownfield Redevelopment Opportunities Inventory

The Niagara Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) will create a Brownfields Redevelopment Opportunities Inventory to help market 30 prime Region of Niagara brownfield properties to developers and other interested parties. A plan will be developed for each brownfield site based on the Region’s new Smart Growth Urban Design Guidelines. These Smart Growth Concept Plans will demonstrate how to minimize the environmental impact of redevelopment by being energy efficient, promoting pedestrian and transit oriented design, reducing commuting times, improving air quality, promoting a healthy social environment and reducing servicing costs to the municipality. The use of visualization technology will assist developers to incorporate innovative Smart Growth principles such as intensification, energy efficiency, and pedestrian and transit oriented design, for new capital projects on these brownfield sites. Each plan will be fully animated, giving users a 3-D experience of moving around and through a proposed development. This approach is expected to speed the rate and improve the extent of brownfield site remediation in the Regional of Niagara. A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment for each site will be developed also to increase the Region’s knowledge of pollutants on the sites, enabling better site prioritization and management.