Across Michigan’s diverse landscape, a quiet but persistent legacy of its industrial past presents a formidable modern-day challenge in the form of an estimated 27,000 contaminated brownfield sites. These dormant properties, once home to factories and commercial operations, now stand as barriers to economic progress and community revitalization. A significant portion of this issue stems from the approximately 13,500 sites classified by the state as “orphan sites.” This designation, as explained by Phil Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), signifies that no legally responsible party or current owner can be compelled to finance the necessary cleanup. Consequently, these lands remain undeveloped and stagnant. The profound uncertainty surrounding the nature and extent of the contamination on these properties creates a substantial deterrent for potential buyers or developers, who are justifiably unwilling to assume the unknown financial and legal risks associated with them, leaving vast tracts of land in a state of perpetual disuse.
A Strategic Financial Intervention
To overcome this developmental inertia, the state has implemented a robust financial initiative designed to catalyze the remediation and redevelopment of these blighted lands. Through its environmental remediation program, RenewMI, the state allocated $77 million from its budget to fund a grant system that offers developers up to $2 million per project. The primary objective of these grants, as outlined by Director Roos, is to effectively “de-risk” the properties for private investors. These state funds are specifically earmarked to cover the critical, and often costly, initial phases of redevelopment. This includes conducting comprehensive site assessments to identify the specific contaminants present, formulating scientifically-sound plans for their removal or mitigation, and frequently financing the first stage of the physical cleanup process. By having the state shoulder these significant upfront costs and logistical uncertainties, the program makes these brownfield sites substantially more attractive to private developers, enabling them to more readily secure the private capital necessary to see a full-scale development project through to its completion.
The overarching vision for the RenewMI program extends far beyond mere environmental cleanup; it is a strategic effort to transform these contaminated, unproductive parcels into valuable community assets that stimulate economic growth and enhance the quality of life for residents. Once remediated, these former brownfields are repurposed for a wide array of beneficial uses, including the development of much-needed new housing, the creation of public parks and recreational spaces, the establishment of new commercial enterprises, or the construction of modern industrial facilities. The program has already demonstrated its transformative potential through numerous success stories across the state. A prominent example is Jackson Field in Lansing, the home of the Lugnuts minor league baseball team. This popular community venue was constructed on a former brownfield site and now serves as a major gathering place and a symbol of successful urban revitalization, showcasing how formerly hazardous land can become a source of community pride and economic activity.
Tangible Results and a Tailored Approach
The tangible impact of Michigan’s brownfield strategy is substantiated by significant data reflecting its broad reach and economic benefits. Since 2019, EGLE has actively supported 474 redevelopment projects in 50 different communities throughout the state. These ambitious efforts have successfully leveraged $184 million in state incentives, which in turn have been credited with the creation of over 20,000 jobs. Specific examples of these successful transformations include projects in Grayling, where a former planing mill and lumber yard were redeveloped into the Grayling Northern Market, and a historic site that once housed a hotel was revitalized as the Grayling Sawmill. The program’s influence also extends to communities like Traverse City, which has witnessed four brownfield cleanups since 2020, and Cadillac, which has similarly benefited from four projects. In the past year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has placed a particular emphasis on utilizing these redevelopment projects to address the state’s pressing housing shortage, prioritizing the conversion of cleaned-up brownfields into safe, appealing, and much-needed residential areas.
However, the approach to brownfield redevelopment is not a monolithic one, as there is a broad consensus that not all contaminated sites can or should be treated in the same manner. Mike Witkowski, the director of environmental and regulatory policy at the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA), emphasizes this critical nuance. He points to “legacy sites,” such as abandoned gas stations or large-scale industrial plants, where contamination is so severe and widespread that remediating them to the stringent standards required for residential use would be financially prohibitive. For these particularly challenging sites, Witkowski advocates for a pragmatic, risk-based approach that carefully aligns the level of cleanup with the intended future use of the land. State regulations already accommodate this by allowing for different cleanup standards based on land use. Therefore, a heavily contaminated site deemed unsuitable for housing might still be cleaned to a level that is perfectly safe for a new industrial facility, a commercial parking lot, or another non-residential application, ensuring both public health protection and economic viability.
The Linchpin of Private Investment
The success of a statewide brownfield strategy ultimately hinged on the robust participation of private investment, as the sheer volume of sites far exceeded the state’s capacity to clean them all independently. Mike Witkowski of the MMA stressed that a “robust and well-functioning brownfield redevelopment program” was essential for attracting the private capital needed to tackle this extensive problem at scale. In this context, the MMA voiced strong opposition to a bill that was under consideration in the Michigan Senate. Witkowski stated that the proposed legislation would have introduced additional, more stringent clean-up standards and extended legal liability for developers. He feared these changes would have disrupted the successful current model, making redevelopment more complicated and financially risky, thereby discouraging the very private investment the state needed. The potential negative consequence he warned of was that developers may have turned away from redeveloping existing industrial sites and instead focused on “green space” developments on pristine, undeveloped land, an outcome that ran counter to smart growth and environmental preservation goals. The MMA’s position was that the existing brownfield program had been thoroughly vetted and had proven its success in fostering both economic growth and effective environmental remediation.
