Abstract
A Framework for Integrating Community Benefits Agreements into Brownfield Projects
Track: Environmental Management
Author
In 2005, Chelsea, MA, was distinguished as the third most environmentally burdened community in the Commonwealth, with approximately 177 hazardous waste sites per square mile.
Over the past decade, residents have organized against the environmental injustices in their community. This growing movement demands that redevelopment projects benefit the environmental, economic, and social quality of the City.
Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) are legal contracts negotiated between developers and community coalitions whereby developers gain community and municipal support for a project in exchange for providing a set of public benefits determined by the coalition.
This project uses environmental, land use, and community data to establish a spatial framework for integrating CBAs into brownfield redevelopment projects. Although ultimately the benefits would be negotiated by the community itself, this framework shows how GIS mapping might be used by community planners to begin targeting sites for redevelopment and identifying coalition stakeholders for future CBA negotiations.
Courtney Knapp
Northern Middlesex Council of Governments
40 Church Street
suite 200
Lowell, Massachusetts 01852
United States
Phone: 617-755-8412
E-mail: courtney.e.knapp@gmail.com