Beacon Lakes
Beacon Lakes
3. What does being defined as a “Brownfield Development” mean? What would the benefits of such a designation be to Codina and the Beacon Lakes project? Based on the requirements in Exhibit 3, do you think that they will qualify?
A brownfield is an abandoned, idled, or underused industrial or commercial facility in which redevelopment is burdened by real or potential environmental contamination. Florida Brownfields redevelopment Program provides grants to fund environmental assessment, cleanup, and job training activities to encourage developers to rehabilitate contaminated properties. Codina believed that the prior industrial use and current contamination on property would result in a brownfield designation for the site. This would enable him to take advantage of the associated tax benefits. According to Brownfields Program the project could benefit for the Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit (VCTC) a tax credit of 35% of eligible cleanup costs but the tax exemption could not exceed $250 000 . The second benefit could be the bonus in face of tax refund of up to $2500 per eligible job created. While the Codina Group expected to open up to 9600 new full- time jobs but having considered the fact that tax refund would be much higher than company’s projected annual profit, that is why county commission permit to submit a claim only for workers directly employed by the company. Thus the expected number of employees that would be considered under this tax refund was 10 new employees ($25000).
In order to satisfy Brownfield Redevelopment Act (BRA) Beacon Lakes required to receive Urban Development Boundary (UDB) amendment. This was the most important issue which would determine not only the county decision but the future of the whole project. The past industrial use which made the site idle or underutilized, the projected cleanup works and economic benefits will affect positively on the decision of commission.
3. What does being defined as a “Brownfield Development” mean? What would the benefits of such a designation be to Codina and the Beacon Lakes project? Based on the requirements in Exhibit 3, do you think that they will qualify?
A brownfield is an abandoned, idled, or underused industrial or commercial facility in which redevelopment is burdened by real or potential environmental contamination. Florida Brownfields redevelopment Program provides grants to fund environmental assessment, cleanup, and job training activities to encourage developers to rehabilitate contaminated properties. Codina believed that the prior industrial use and current contamination on property would result in a brownfield designation for the site. This would enable him to take advantage of the associated tax benefits. According to Brownfields Program the project could benefit for the Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit (VCTC) a tax credit of 35% of eligible cleanup costs but the tax exemption could not exceed $250 000 . The second benefit could be the bonus in face of tax refund of up to $2500 per eligible job created. While the Codina Group expected to open up to 9600 new full- time jobs but having considered the fact that tax refund would be much higher than company’s projected annual profit, that is why county commission permit to submit a claim only for workers directly employed by the company. Thus the expected number of employees that would be considered under this tax refund was 10 new employees ($25000).
In order to satisfy Brownfield Redevelopment Act (BRA) Beacon Lakes required to receive Urban Development Boundary (UDB) amendment. This was the most important issue which would determine not only the county decision but the future of the whole project. The past industrial use which made the site idle or underutilized, the projected cleanup works and economic benefits will affect positively on the decision of commission.