Attorneys Assist in Drafting Brownfield Land Bank Law

Pullman & Comley attorneys, in coordination with the State Brownfield Working Group, the Department of Economic and Community Development, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Office of Policy Management and the Commerce Committee of the General Assembly, were instrumental in the creation of a new law that provides greater flexibility and incentives to municipalities for cleaning and redeveloping contaminated sites. The chair of our Real Estate and Land Use practice, who is also co-chair of the State Brownfield Working Group, drafted the initial legislation and worked with legislative leadership to educate them on the benefits of brownfield land banks and refine the legislation.

The new law allows land banks to serve a number of municipalities, while ensuring that only qualified entities possessing the necessary resources and expertise will be able to enter into land banking agreements to redevelop abandoned and contaminated properties. The agreements give each municipality the ability to control the remediation, transfer and redevelop any property which is transferred to the land bank, without incurring the liability, costs and other challenges associated with owning and managing a brownfield site. 

We are currently representing the first brownfield land bank certified under the new legislation. This land bank has already entered into an agreement with a Connecticut municipality and is overseeing the remediation and redevelopment of a brownfield site in that municipality.