OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO REDEVELOPMENT

1. OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO REDEVELOPMENT ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PA Monday, October 1, 2012

2. TYPES OF REDEVELOPMENT PROPERTIES

3. BROWNFIELDS Homestead Works / Waterfront – Before & After • Abandoned Steel Mills • 7 Properties • McKeesport (2) • McKeesport Industrial Park • Firth Sterling • Duquesne • Leetsdale • Homestead • Waterfront • Rankin • Carrie Furnace

4. Obstacle #1 Site SELECTION / ACQUISITION / designation

5. Site Selection / Designation • Site Acquisition • Private Developer • Regional Industrial Development Corp. • County • Designation as Redevelopment Area • Time Consuming • Costly • Slums & Blight Designation

6. Obstacle #2 FINANCING

7. Organizing Project Funding • What Funding is Available • Length of Time it Takes to Put Funding Together • How to Coordinate • CDBG Funds • CDBG Float Loans • Section 108 Funding • Match for State Funding • TIFs • LERTAs

8. Obstacle #3 ROADBLOCKS

9. Types of Road Blocks • Working with Utility Companies • Antiquated or No Infrastructure • Community Support • Historic Preservation • McKeesport Round House

10. Obstacle #4 EVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

11. Overcoming Environmental Issues • Act 2 Clearance from PA-DEP Required • Remedial Action Plan • To be Followed by Developer / Contractors • Remedial Actions Taken • Soil Cap • The lubricants used by the steel mill were housed in underground storage tanks, which leaked and contaminated the soil. • There was also asbestos contamination, which required soil cleaning. • Trucked in additional soil to raise site above floodplain

12. Carrie Furnace Site

13. Obstacle #5 SITE ACCESS

14. SITE ACCESS - FLYOVERS • 5 Sites – 5 Flyovers • Railroad Tracks made access to sites difficult • Long wait for Train to Pass • $10 Million TIGER Grant – Carrie Furnace Flyover McKeesport Flyover

15. Obstacle #6 Low/Mod Justification

16. L/M Area Justification • Special Assessment Required • A census tract (or block numbering area) qualifies for the presumptions permitted under paragraphs (a)(4)(iv)(A)(1) and (B) of this section if it is either part of a Federally-designated Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community or meets the following criteria: • (A) It has a poverty rate of at least 20percent as determined by the most recently available decennial census information; • (B) It does not include any portion of a central business district, as this term is used in the most recent Census of Retail Trade, unless the tract has a poverty rate of at least 30 percent as determined by the most recently available decennial census information; and • (C) It evidences pervasive poverty and general distress by meeting at least one of the following standards: • (1) All block groups in the census tract have poverty rates of at least 20 percent; • (2) The specific activity being undertaken  is located in a block group that has a poverty rate of at least 20 percent; or • (3) Upon the written request of the recipient, HUD determines that the census tract exhibits other objectively determinable signs of general distress such as high incidence of crime, narcotics use, homelessness, abandoned housing, and deteriorated infrastructure or substantial population decline. • Projects needing Special Assessment: • Duquesne Flyover • Braddock Hospital Site

17. Obstacle #7 SECURING THE SITE

18. Pitfalls of Securing the Site • Jersey Barriers – Water & Concrete • Shot at / Pulled away • Guardrails • Cut and sold for Scrap • Locks • Cut – Replaced at least 10 times • Locked in

19. John J. Exler, Jr., Deputy Director Allegheny County Economic Development 425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 800 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-350-1036 Email: Jexler@AlleghenyCounty.us Questions?