Renew America Success Stories

The Rail Corridor Revitalization Program

Description

The Rail Corridor Revitalization Program represents a joint effort among local government agencies and businesses to identify and restore abandoned industrial properties along the rail corridor in the City of York. The Redevelopment Authority of the City of York (RDA) acquires such abandoned properties through eminent domain and the York County Industrial Development Corporation (YCIDC) provides expertise in industrial site reuse. Together, these two organizations identify funding sources and provide environmental assessment and remediation of the site.

Since 1982, the City of York has lost 11,000 manufacturing jobs, which has left the city with acres of abandoned industrial land. Due to the fear of environmental liabilities, developers have shied away from attempting to reclaim these sites and have instead focused on building in nonurban areas where easy-to-develop farmland is readily available.

To make industrial land in the City of York more attractive to private investors, the city has declared the rail corridor an Enterprise Zone, which allows for more permissive zoning. Most important, the state's General Assembly last year passed laws to encourage the development of old industrial sites by providing a flexible standard for environmental cleanup (depending upon the proposed end use of the site) and limiting the environmental liability for site owners who did not contribute to the environmental hazards. Finally, the law provides grants and low-interest loans to conduct testing and remediation.

To date, developers have embarked upon two projects within the rail corridor that have converted nearly seven acres of brownfields to industrial use. Tom Wolf, president of the Wolf Organization, the developer of one of the sites, credits the new law for these successes.

"We would not have built this plant without it," said Wolf. "Instead, we would have built on five acres of land at some greenfields site outside of the city. We would have ploughed under five acres of agricultural land."

Prompting this kind of environmentally-sound development is exactly the goal of the Rail Corridor Revitalization Program. The developers of the program believe that natural resource conservation can go hand in hand with economic improvement. "It simply does not make sense to create additional industrial land when the urban core has neglected industrial industries," said Philip M. Sweigart, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of York. The ultimate goal of the program is to create 3,000 new jobs with an annual payroll of $20 million.

Program Highlights

Industrial Plaza of York

• The Industrial Plaza of York is a former manufacturing facility for refrigeration equipment.
• The 4.3 acre site was transformed into 187,000 square feet of industrial and commercial space that includes services for minority entrepreneurs.
• This project received funding from the Economic Development Administration, the Industrial Communities Sites Program, the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, the Industrial Community Action Program, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of York, the City of York and the Industrial Development Corporation.

• In 1991, the Thonet Furniture Manufacturing Facility suffered irreparable damage due to an explosion and fire. The site has been razed and remediated and will become the new site of a cabinet manufacturing company.
• The Wolf Organization will pay for the construction of its building and will repay the site preparation costs including the environmental remediation costs and will be protected from any possible environmental liability.
• This project received funding from the Department of Environmental Protection.

• The Smokestack Tract was the site of a former foundry throughout the 1900's. Heavily damaged by a hurricane in the 1970's, the buildings had to be demolished. For decades development at this site has been stymied by concern about environmental liabilities.
• Environmental assessment of this property has begun.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Redevelopment Authority of the City of York works with the York County Industrial Development Corporation, the City of York and a variety of funding agencies.

Budget: The total project costs of Industrial Plaza were $15 million. Total project costs for Thonet were $1.2 million.

Community Served: The 43,000 residents of the City of York, which serves as the home to a higher than average number of low-income individuals.

Measures of Success:

Redevelopment of the Industrial Plaza and Thonet sites have restored seven acres of brownfield land and created two modern industrial manufacturing facilities.

The combined tax assessment of both sites has been increased by $2 million.

Industrial Plaza will create 250 jobs.

The Thonet site will create 15 new jobs.

By encouraging brownfield development, the city is helping preserve its agricultural land from development.

 Published: May 1997

Success stories designed by Mark W. Nowak

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