Brownfield Stakeholders

There are multiple stakeholders involved in brownfields.  This page gives you a list of the most common ones:

• Owner:  not surprisingly, this is the person or entity that owns the property.  They may wish to sell it to another person or entity, or they may want to redevelop it themselves.  The owner may be a person, company, or organization, or the municipal, provincial or federal government.
• Developer:  a person or entity that purchases a brownfield, remediates it, redevelops it and then sells or leases it.
• Municipality:  the village, town, city or region in which the brownfield is located.  Their interest in a brownfield action (unless they actually own it) is to ensure that public consultation on the redevelopment takes place when required by bylaw and that the redevelopment respects the rights of inhabitants to a safe and healthy environment.  Where the municipality owns parts of the redevelopment (e.g. roads, parks), it is interested in managing future maintenance costs and the health and safety of its maintenance workers. Where the municipality itself owns the brownfield, it is also interested in seeing it put to productive use or, at the least, in managing any contamination.
• Provincial regulator:  this is usually the provincial ministry of the environment or its equivalent.  It establishes regulations for risk assessment and remediation and authorizes redevelopment once the remediation is complete and risk management measures are in place.
• Other provincial ministries:  some provincial ministries may have a policy interest in brownfields.  For instance, the ministry of housing (or its equivalent) may be interested in brownfield reuse for affordable housing.
• Federal government:  the federal government may also have a policy interest in the remediation and reuse of brownfields.  This might include consultation with aboriginal communities affected by the process, fit with the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, or the impact of the remediation/redevelopment on water quality, wildlife (including fish), and vegetation.
• Qualified person:  known by a variety of names in different provinces, the qualified person is the individual retained by the owner who conducts the environmental site assessment on a brownfield, to determine what contaminants are present, their location and their concentration.  This person may also recommend remediation and risk management measures to the owner and/or to the provincial regulator on behalf of the owner.
• Lawyer:  a lawyer may be involved at various stages in the redevelopment process – sale/purchase of the property, public consultation, zoning hearing or application to the ministry of environment, to name a few. 
• Remediation contractor:  the remediation is conducted by a company (usually an engineering firm) with expertise in this area.  This contractor may also oversee the activities of subcontractors involved in any remediation.
• Adjoining property owners:  owners of nearby properties are often interested in the use to which the remediated property will be put and in the way it will be remediated.  They may also be concerned about the risk of migration of existing contaminants onto their land and the disruption caused by the remediation (e.g. road closures, creation of dusty conditions, etc.).
• Lender/Investor: an individual, group or financial institution that makes funds available for brownfield redevelopment with the expectation of generating interest, fees, or some form of profit ensuing from the development.
• Community:  property owners or residents of the community at large, they have the opportunity to present their concerns and learn about the proposed remediation and reuse of the brownfield through a public consultation or a zoning hearing.
• Public good:  not a person or group, but the idea of the public good has taken root in the last few decades.  Some professions (such as planning) have incorporated this concept into their practices; their codes of ethics or professional practice require them to consider whether a particular project or program serves the wider public good and to balance various public and private priorities in reaching that decision.  The concept includes not only the present but the future.  A variety of individuals or groups may represent (or claim to represent) the public good on any issue.