• The first step of any Oakland County Project is to reach out to Brad Hansen, Oakland County’s Department of Economic Development, to discuss all aspects of the project: hansenb@oakgov.com.
• Once a draft Brownfield Plan is ready for formal review, it will get placed on the Oakland County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (OCBRA) agenda.
• With any Oakland County BRA project, the local unit of government in which the project resides needs to pass a resolution concurring with the provisions of the Brownfield Plan.
• If the OCBRA approves the Brownfield Plan for the project, they make ;a recommendation that the Board of Commissioners vote on the Brownfield Plan for the project.
• If approved by the Board of Commissioners, all local taxing jurisdictions (e.g., County, City, Township, Village, Intermediate School District, Huron Clinton Metroparks, Oakland County Parks & Recreation, etc.) are eligible for capture and can be used for developer reimbursement.
• If a project is seeking State school taxes, the development team needs to submit a 381 Work Plan, which includes the approved Brownfield Plan and all related resolutions to the State for their approval.
• The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF), with assistance from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), administers the reimbursement of costs associated with non environmental eligible activities that support redevelopment, revitalization, and reuse of eligible property using State school taxes.
• The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) administers the reimbursement of environmental response costs for eligible environmental activities using State school taxes.
• Brownfield Intake Form

• A BRA provides an opportunity at the local level to address brownfield properties of concern.
• When a BRA has designated a property eligible, local and school property tax revenues can be used for approved activities, such as environmental response, demolition, lead or asbestos abatement, infrastructure improvements, and site preparation.
• The impact to the taxing jurisdictions is minimal during the brownfield redevelopment phase due to increasing property values.
• Ultimately, when the TIF ends, all taxing jurisdictions receive increased tax revenues that may not have been realized without this incentive.

• A Brownfield TIF provides reimbursement to developers for eligible redevelopment activities.
• The incentive begins when the redevelopment achieves increased taxable value.

The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) is the administrative board advancing the goals and accomplishing the tasks identified for the Oakland County Brownfield Initiative.

Brownfield Redevelopment Authority is utilized specifically:

• To assist key developments in communities that may be averse to establishing their own BRA as part of the county's ongoing economic development efforts and/or to protect key environmental assets
• To assist specific developments in communities that may have few parcels or limited capacity to administer a redevelopment project

Under state law, a BRA is able to access tax increment financing to recover eligible remediation expenses for projects. BRAs also allow for the development of a revolving loan fund and a means for recovering administrative costs of the BRA.

In 2024, the Oakland County Brownfield Consortium, working in partnership with Community Housing Network and the City of Southfield, was awarded $1,500,000 from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to perform environmental assessment work for the Brownfield program. Phase I, II, Baseline Environmental Assessments, Due Care Plans, Brownfield Plans, Lead and Asbestos testing are all eligible through this grant until September 30, 2028 or until grant funds are exhausted. 

If you have a project that is ready for redevelopment please feel free to fill out the Brownfield Intake Form and return to Brad Hansen at hansenb@oakgov.com.

Capture of increased local and school property tax revenues on eligible property by a brownfield redevelopment authority to pay for the costs of the following eligible activities:

1. Environmental response, demolition, and lead or asbestos abatement statewide
2. Infrastructure improvements and site preparation in qualified local governmental units

Core Communities

• City of Ferndale
• City of Hazel Park
• City of Madison Heights
• City of Oak Park
• City of Pontiac
• Royal Oak Township
• City of Southfield

Tax increment revenues are generated by investment in, and redevelopment of, eligible property which includes contaminated, blighted or functionally obsolete. The eligible property must be approved in a brownfield plan.

Eligible Activities and Costs

Eligible activities are conducted on the property as part of the redevelopment project. As the property value increases, the captured tax increment revenues are used to reimburse the eligible costs. If captured school taxes will be used to pay for certain environmental response activities or all of the non-environmental activities, prior approval of a work plan by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy/Michigan Economic Development Corporation (EGLE/MEDC) is necessary.

A business, person, or municipality that who incurs eligible costs under an approved brownfield plan is entitled to reimbursement with tax increment revenues captured by a BRA. Visit Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy's (EGLE) Online Environmental Mapper to learn about active brownfield redevelopment projects.

• EGLE RIDE Mapper an interactive online map showing remediation and redevelopment sites