Environmental contamination, brownfields policy, and economic redevelopment in an industrial area of Baltimore, Maryland

Recently, many states hate passed brownfields legislation to limit the liability of innocent property redevelopers, based on the assumption that pollution systematically affects land use and development. The goal of this study it-as to examine this assumption. The study area was an industrial area of Baltimore, Maryland, characterized by brownfields and recent economic development. Data from 1963-1999 for brownfield and non-brownfield parcels were collected and compared to identify variations in assessed land value, vacancy, sales, and redevelopment. The absence of a systematic relationship between pollution and land use variables suggests that other factors may also be involved in vacancy and underuse.