TRIO LEADS PRESENTS BROWNFIELD INFORMATION!

 

Holly Bullman	Kate O'Hara	Tracy Wahl

 

Holly Bullman, Regional Planner for the Land-Of Sky Regional Council began the presentation. Holly provided an overview of the program and said she and the other two speakers were going to talk about Brownfields, explaining what and where they are, the benefits of redevelopment, how the federal state and local programs work together under the Brownfields Program, and cleanup opportunities for developers.

Kate O’Hara, Brownfields Project Manager – Land-Of-Sky Regional Council gave a definition of Brownfields.  A Brownfield is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. Typical Brownfield sites are located in urban core areas, textile mills, light and heavy industrial properties, automobile service stations, manufacturing facilities, machine shops and dry cleaners.

Kate outlined the benefits of Brownfield Redevelopment which include: Environmental improvements that reduce the threat to human and environmental health through pollution abatement. Reuse of existing infrastructure near power, water/sewer and roads that result in efficient investment. Removal of blight and crime areas which reduces the threat to the community. Implementing smart growth strategies by utilizing green building design. And finally, preservation of greenspace and increased property values and tax rolls which is good for the community.
Holley discussed the specific tax benefits developers can reap by redeveloping a Brownfield.  The North Carolina Brownfields Program provides a five year local property tax abatement plan and there is a Federal Tax Credit for Brownfields cleanup.

Tracy Wahl, Project Manager, NC DENR Brownfields Program spoke about the Federal Brownfields Program. The Federal Program provides grant funding and guidelines to the states. The North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (NCDENR) administer direct guidance to developers and provide liability relief. The Land-Of-Sky Regional Brownfields Initiative (RBI) provides financial and technical assistance to prospective developers.

Tracy described the Brownfields Process as follows: A developer wants to redevelop, but is concerned there might be contamination on the property. The developer enters the NCDENR Brownfield (BF) Program by submitting an application to develop a BF site. DENR deems them eligible or ineligible. If eligible a development work plan is prepared with an environmental consultant. The consultant performs assessments, based on DENR’s recommendations and redevelopment plans. Once assessments are complete, results are reviewed by DENR. DENR indicates whether or not redevelopment can proceed and formalizes a Brownfields Agreement (BFA). The Brownfields Agreement may allow the developer to proceed with plans as they are, revise plans based on state’s recommendation, require land use restrictions based on findings or require cleanup based on findings. Once this is accomplished, redevelopment begins. The entire process will take approximately one year.

Kate explained the Regional Brownfields Initiative (RBI) Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund. It offers up to $200,000 per site for cleanup with low interest and flexible terms. There is a 45-day turnaround from completed application submission and it is available to developers for sites in Haywood County.
Contact Information was provided:

Kate O’Hara – kate@landofsky.org
Holly Bullman – holly@landofsky.org
Tracy Wahl – Tracy.wahl@ncdenr.gov

 

 

 

 

ANNUAL NIGHT OF CELEBRATION SET!

Waynesville Rotary's annual Officer Induction and Night of Celebration will be held on Tuesday, June 30th at Laurel Ridge Country Club pavillion. A social hour with cash bar will be held between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. with entertainment provided by the Haywood County Community Band. Supper will follow at 7:30 p.m. and the formal program will begin at approximately 8:00 p.m. Cost of the meal is the same as last year at $36.00 per person. A number of awards and honorifics will be announced on this evening including this year's selection for the Tony Caudle Award. Additonally, Paul Harris Fellows will be recognized as well. Incoming District Governor Carol King will preside over induction of the slate of Officers and Board of Directors for the coming year. Your hosts for the evening will be outgoing President Cecil and incoming President Mark. Further details will be forthcoming. Please mark your calendars now for this important event in the life of our club. The Night of Celebration will be the scheduled meeting for the last week of June.Please note that if you sign up for the meal and do not attend, you will be charged for that meal(s). There will be NO MEETING on Friday, July 3rd.

PLEASE REGISTER FOR THE BIG PARTY!

Indicate your name and the number of individuals that will be attending with you our big night of celebration. In order to receive confirmation, you MUST enter your email address in the appropriate field.:

Event Name: NightCelebration

Rotarian's Name:

Including Rotarian, number of people attending:

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Total Fees to be charged to your Rotary Account: Pick One 1 Person 2 People 3 People 4 People No Charge

Click the SUBMIT button in order to send your information:

ARE YOU REGISTERED YET? Check here to see... Current Registration as of 06/28/2009 @ 08:50 p.m.

MAKE-UPS, MAKE-UPS, AND OH YEAH, MORE MAKE-UPS!

Your Board of Directors has recently been discussing the role of make-ups in the fellowship of our club. Having the opportunities to perform on-line make-ups has been an excellent boon for many members in being able to meet the attendance expectations of our Rotary Club and that of Rotary International. However, sometimes too much of a good thing can have less than desired consequences. The Board of Directors and your elected officers want to emphasize the importance of attending our regularly scheduled meetings. The strong foundation of fellowship in Rotary is what binds us together and is the very building block of our organization. As the current stewards of our club, the Board and Officers wish to remind members that on-line make-ups should be used as a tool to meet the attendance expectations and should never become the predominant method for maintaining membership in the local club. The Rotary International Manual of Procedures provides cogent guidelines on attendance and make-ups. Our club also remains within the spirit of R.I. by providing for occasional make-ups that are approved by the Board for purposes of attending community services events, serving on committee assignments, and other service oriented procedures. As we approach the beginning of a new year in Rotary, we ask that each Rotarian spend some time focusing on the fellowship of our Friday meetings and make a renewed effort to regular attendance using on-line make-ups as a supportive tool.

With the impending transition from one Executive Secretary to another Executive Secretary on July 1st, the Board has agreed that no make-ups will be carried forward into the new year in order that we might begin attendance charting fresh and allow our newest Executive Secretary a clean slate from which to begin his duties.

ROTARY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Shelter Box Update - You may view the latest on Shelter Boxes and the recent catastrophe in Myanmar by CLICKING HERE! Waynesville Rotary participated in the world wide Shelter Box project by donating a Shelter Box in this current fiscal year. You, as a Waynesville Rotarian, helped make District 7670 one of the TOP 10 suppliers of Shelter Boxes within Rotary!

 

NEW FUNCTION ON CLUB WEBSITE!

Club members will find a new link on the home page of the club website. The link, Directory On-Line, will take you to the District 7670 database where you can access your Rotary account to handle updates, your Rotarian subscription, and many other items related to your membership in Rotary. This is a secure site and you will be asked for your user id (your email address as entered by our Executive Secretary) and your password, which is your account number found on the mailing label of your Rotarian magazine. New members must wait until the Executive Secretary receives back from Rotary International your ID number before you can access the site. ONLY Rotary International can create the passwords.

We are examining the many new features offerred by this on-line database. In the near future, we may be replacing our current member directory with the District Directory. Existing members may now access this database using the user id and password as listed above. You may go directly to the database from this page by clicking on the Directory On-line link above.

 

UPCOMING PROGRAMS IN JUNE

June 19th

Kate O’Hara – Brownfields Project Manager - Land-Of-Sky Regional Council

                                Tracy Wahl – Project Manager, NC DENR Brownfields Program

                                Holly Bullman – Regional Planner Land-Of –Sky Regional Council

Land-Of Sky Regional Brownfields Initiative

June 26th

Jim Brewer, Associate Chancellor for Major Gifts & Endowments, UNC Asheville

It’s Not Easy Being Green…Energy