Michael Schnappsteiner, an environmental attorney representing redevelopers, and Jessica Gao, counsel supporting current cleanup projects, briefed the City of Daytona Beach Economic Development Advisory Board on five brownfield sites and how state brownfields incentives are being used to accelerate cleanup and redevelopment.

The presentation outlined that two beachside and three inland sites are in active brownfield review or remediation. Speakers said work focuses on getting sites to regulatory closure under Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) review, using voluntary cleanup tax credits and other program incentives to reduce developer costs and speed projects to construction.

The advisory board members were given project-level updates. At 645 North Atlantic Avenue (a gas station across from the Marriott Renaissance), the project team completed an active in-situ remediation injection program and said it is now in the post-injection sampling phase; the team hopes to submit a closure plan to FDEP this year. At 833 West International Speedway Boulevard (the former automotive use property owned by Bethune-Cookman University), FDEP has approved discontinuation of groundwater monitoring and the team expects a formal site rehabilitation completion notice in 2025.

A downtown parcel identified in the presentation as 218 West International Speedway Boulevard (formerly First Baptist Church; the project branded Accent Daytona/Project Delta) is undergoing assessment and soil management work tied to historic oiling of streets. That site has an amended planned-development agreement and a Community Redevelopment Agency incentive package that includes 50 workforce housing units, priority placement for first responders and educators and an obligation by the developer to complete DEP-required cleanup; construction was described by the presenters as ready to begin in Q1 2025 pending final site-plan reviews.

Two sites added to the program in late 2024 were also described. The Bay Street/Burgoyne block (adjacent to the 218 West ISB parcel) showed similar subsurface oiling impacts; the team said the preferred approach is to leave existing impervious surfaces in place where they act as a cover and manage soil under an approved soil-management plan rather than remove and re-grade the area. The other newly entered site is the former Clyde Morris landfill at Bellevue Extension and Clyde Morris Boulevard, where the city has been the responsible party; presenters said Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has joined as a co-responsible party and that excavation, soil management and groundwater-use restrictions are part of the cleanup approach so the property can be integrated into the nearby research-park and Boeing/Hyatt-related development.

Presenters explained the state-level incentives that make voluntary cleanup viable. They summarized the BISRA contract framework (the voluntary site rehabilitation agreement), annual transferable voluntary cleanup tax credits (subject to state allocation), a one-time site rehabilitation completion credit, and sales-tax exemptions for building materials when an affordable-housing element qualifies. Presenters said the brownfields program provides an expedited technical-review pathway at FDEP and a regulatory framework that allows redevelopment to proceed while monitoring and additional remediation continue where appropriate.

Advisory board members asked for details about how landfill materials are handled; presenters described site-specific soil-management plans, test-pit protocols, excavation approaches, and options for reusing uncontaminated concrete on site versus disposal at construction-and-demolition landfills or, for hazardous wastes, licensed out-of-state facilities. Presenters noted that most local brownfield sites have nonhazardous contamination and are handled with standard regional facilities.

The presentation concluded with a reminder that brownfield redevelopment both reuses existing infrastructure and reduces pressure on undeveloped natural-resource areas by putting land with utilities and nearby services back into productive use.

The board did not take formal action during the presentation; the update was informational and board members asked to receive regular follow-ups as projects progress.