City of Santa Barbara, CA Succession Program
    Recognizing that there will be a major turnover in management in the next five to ten years, the City's Executive Management Team explored several strategies to plan for the continuation of a high performance organization through a commitment to sustained initiatives that engage outside the box thinking to attract, develop, and retain needed talent in the City of Santa Barbara.

    In the end, the team produced six strategies which form the City’s “Succession Program.”

New Brownfields Report: Portfields Interagency Initiative

The Portfields Interagency Initiative

By 2020, international maritime trade is expected to double. This boom will exert pressure on coastal areas, which are already highly developed. Redeveloping brownfields in port areas, where available land is often limited, can facilitate marine transportation while providing environmental, economic, and social benefits to the surrounding communities and regions.

Led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and jointly administered by the Portfields Interagency Working Group, the Portfields Interagency Initiative focuses on the redevelopment of brownfields in and around ports, harbors, and marine transportation hubs (“portfields”), with an emphasis on development of environmentally sound port facilities. The Interagency Working Group includes the Environmental Protection Agency, the Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Navy, and the departments of Labor, Interior, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice. Each partner brings its own specialized expertise to contribute to the revitalization of port communities.

Initiative Goals and Administration

The goals of the initiative include improving the delivery of partner agencies’ financial and technical resources; improving coordination among federal, state and local partners; establishing a process for redeveloping portfields properties as productive port facilities, while balancing environmental, social, and economic concerns; identifying tools, techniques, and information needs to improve decision making at portfields sites; and communicating lessons learned from the initiative to other port communities.

The Portfields Initiative is organized into three phases; the first two of which were completed in the summer of 2003. In the first phase, members of the working group interviewed port authorities and other stakeholders at ports that have redeveloped brownfields for port activities, to identify successful practices and strategies. In the second phase, interviews were conducted at ports that would like to redevelop portfields. This information will be used to determine what assistance port communities need and want in their redevelopment efforts so that the federal agencies may better serve them. For the third phase, the Portfields Initiative has chosen three port communities for pilot programs to begin in fiscal year 2004. Federal partners will work with port authorities and other stakeholders during this phase to plan and implement cleanup and reuse of portfields. The Phase I report (see link below) and Phase III pilot communities will both be introduced at the Brownfields 2003 conference in Portland, Oregon (October 27-29). 

Portfields Redevelopment

The benefits of portfields redevelopment are many. Redevelopment can remove or stabilize dangerous structures and contamination in or near waterways; restore health and natural functions to watersheds by improving surface-water and groundwater quality; remediate and restore wetlands, woodlands, and habitat; improve stormwater management systems; reduce health risks for nearby communities and waterway users; remove eyesores; and help improve air quality. Reuse of these sites can provide jobs, goods, and services and help increase the community’s access to, and pride in, its waterfront. By redeveloping portfields sites, communities can expand their port facilities, increase commercial port activity, and provide economic development opportunities. Space is made available for various uses, and more property is available for sale or lease, providing ports with a source of revenue.

Regardless of location, ports share concerns related to management, the environment, development, transport, commerce, homeland security, and stakeholder coordination. Linking and balancing competing interests within a single port can be a tricky proposition. The major goals that drive port revitalization are surprisingly similar nationwide. These include: increasing port commerce while protecting the environment and human health, economic development, job creation, environmental cleanup and restoration of land and water, and improved transportation systems. Ports identified in Phase I also cited the importance of improving harbor access and access to existing port facilities, increased tourism, revitalized fishing and seafood industries, commercial development, expanded distribution capabilities, and "green development."

 

 



For related news, information, and resources, visit Environment, Community and Economic Development, and Brownfields in ICMA's Resource Center.
Downloads
  Portfields Interagency Initiative: Phase I (Adobe Acrobat Document, 321 KB)