A passion for brownfields
Charlie Bartsch is truly a brownfields missionary. He even invented the term: After a long day of meetings in Chicago in 1992, Bartsch blurted out, “Greenfields! I’m sick of greenfields. Let’s talk about brownfields!” And the term stuck.
These days, Bartsch is a senior policy analyst with the Northeast Midwest Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based, nonprofit research organization dedicated to economic vitality and environmental quality, particularly in older, industrial areas.
Bartsch has a background in urban planning and community revitalization. His economic development expertise includes federal and state technical and financial assistance, tax incentives, technology transfer, manufacturing modernization and industrial site reuse.
As a brownfields missionary, Bartsch is both passionate and prolific. He is the author of many publications, including “Revitalizing Small Town America” and “State and Federal Initiatives for Growth.” He is the co-author of “New Life for Old Buildings: Confronting Environmental and Economic Issues to Site Reuse.” His articles have been published in numerous national magazines, and he testifies before congressional committees on issues of economic development and recovery. “He’s also our main advocate in D.C.,” says Sharon Kophs, manager of the Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund for Washington State.
Bartsch claims he got involved with brownfields by default. He says he was simply in the right place at the right time to push the issue. When a couple of court cases extended the Superfund framework to lightly contaminated sites and implicated lenders in liability chain, Bartsch realized there was no crossover between the development side and the environmental side. He committed himself to bridging that gap.
A brownfields missionary
Although he’s based in D.C. and works for a regional institute, Bartsch estimates he spends about a quarter of his time on the road. That’s because part of his job is to advocate for brownfields reuse. Well, it started as job, but Bartsch admits it’s now a mission. He travels and teaches so organizations can move forward with redevelopment projects because he knows the benefits—reducing sprawl and revitalizing decaying areas—are so worth it.
What Bartsch does for Region 10 is what he does for every region: outreach and introductory workshops. He has been involved with the Oregon state brownfields programs from the start, and in September, he’ll be presenting at a NADO (National Association of Development Organizations) conference in Alaska.
Streamlining redevelopment
Bartsch not only teaches the basics about getting started on brownfields. He also strives to create linkages between states to streamline the redevelopment process. Using case studies from all over the country, Bartsch teaches by example, demonstrating what has worked in other areas. He also keeps up-to-date on federal programs. For everyone involved with redevelopment, resources are tight. With Bartsch and others reaching out to increase awareness of programs and successes, organizations can save on startup time because they don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
“No one area has a monopoly on success stories,” he points out. Great things are happening all over the country. The point is to get those stories out there so others can learn from them.
And with Bartsch’s tireless efforts, redevelopment will continue to grow as a viable path to economic development. “Brownfields reuse is really going to continue because more and more people are recognizing the value,” says Bartsch. Since brownfields are a “win win” for both the environment and the economy, the approach has “changed the way cities do community development.”
