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BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT/MILITARY BASE REUSE

Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP routinely advises clients regarding hazardous materials law and the redevelopment of contaminated properties, including reuse of both brownfields and military bases. Our work includes development of land use-based cleanup strategies, minimization of risks to future landowners, implications for financing, and the powers of local agencies to direct remediation. The firm regularly works with the California and Federal Environmental Protection Agencies, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), various Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and local hazardous materials regulatory officials.

• The firm represents the City of Alameda in negotiations with the Navy, DTSC, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the prospective developer regarding the transfer, cleanup and reuse of the Naval Air Station and the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Alameda Annex. The firm advises the City on the relationship between hazardous materials cleanup and reuse of the properties, including adequacy of cleanup, and appropriate post-cleanup land use. Working with the City, the firm has helped to create innovative solutions to protecting human health and safety after cleanup. The firm has assisted the City in drafting institutional controls, which are non-engineered methods of protecting future residents and the public, including deed restrictions, intergovernmental agreements, and an excavation ordinance.
  

• The firm represented the City of Sacramento regarding potential development of the Southern Pacific Railyards/Richards Boulevard redevelopment area. The proposed plan involved large-scale, mixed-use development adjacent to the City’s downtown area. The firm advised the City on the cleanup of hazardous materials at the state superfund site located on the Southern Pacific property, retained and worked with hazardous materials experts, represented the City in negotiations with Southern Pacific and DTSC over cleanup standards; drafted a memorandum of understanding among the City, DTSC and Southern Pacific regarding ongoing land use authority over the site; and drafted the Hazardous Substances Element for the Railyards Specific Plan , zoning, and a development agreement to govern development and cleanup of the 240 acre site.
  

• The firm represented the City of Benicia with regard to the former operations and closure of a Class I hazardous waste facility adjacent to Benicia. The firm advised the City on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) issues and the legally and environmentally required closure standard. In response to litigation claiming that state hazardous waste law preempted the exercise of Solano County’s local land use authority, the firm authored an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of California cities and counties in support of the County’s authority to require the landfill operator to comply with the County’s land use permit. The Court ruled for the County. (IT Corporation v. Solano County, 1 Cal.4th 81 (1991).)
  

• The firm advised the City of Mountain View with regard to the interrelationship between the Teledyne/Spectra-Physics Lasers ground water plume (a federal Superfund site), redevelopment and use of affected City property, and the City’s landfills. The firm advises the City on an ongoing basis concerning all manner of hazardous material issues affecting real property transactions.
  

The firm has prepared two studies detailing the ways in which local governments can use planning and institutional controls to protect human health and safety in the context of brownfields redevelopment and military base conversions:

• “Institutional Controls” (July 1999) prepared for The East Bay Conversion and Reinvestment Commission.
  

• “A Local Government Handbook For Planning Brownfields Redevelopment” (draft 1997) prepared with the City of Sacramento pursuant to a USEPA Brownfields Grant.