Land Redevelopment and Restoration

Redeveloping and Reusing Land can be a Winning Proposition for Your Project and Our Environment

Cox & Fisher, LLC recognizes the value to our environment of working with property owners, developers, lenders, and economic development agencies to redevelop and reuse contaminated property known as brownfields. Every day in South Carolina, many acres of important open space are lost to development while previously used sites suitable for your project sit idle.

In an effort to limit urban sprawl, the EPA and most states have implemented brownfields initiatives under the federal Superfund law (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to encourage the reuse and redevelopment of land. Brownfields redevelopment is a potential winning proposition for business, government, and the environment: it slows the pace of sprawl and loss of open lands; it addresses contamination; and it returns undervalued and underutilized properties to productive use.

The success brownfields redevelopment has led to the creation of state and federal regulatory programs to set cleanup standards, streamline the review and approval of brownfields cleanups, and grant various forms of liability protection.

Contact an experienced attorney at Cox & Fisher, LLC, to learn more about brownfields initiatives in South Carolina.

Wetlands and Stream Mitigation and Restoration

If your project impacts wetlands or streams, you will be required to obtain a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. As part of the permit, you will be required to mitigate for your impacts to these waters. Creating an acceptable mitigation plan can be the most difficult, most expensive, and most time consuming parts of the permit application. The lawyers at Cox & Fisher, LLC have experience in assembling a team of consultants to employ creative and cost-effective ways to locate and acquire acceptable mitigation opportunities to move your project forward. We can also work with your team to minimize and avoid environmental impacts that will require mitigation, thereby saving you time and money.

Never try to cut corners and believe that you won’t get caught for draining or filling wetlands. The civil and criminal penalties are severe and at $32,500 per day, per violation, it doesn’t take long to face a multi-million dollar fine.

If you have some land that has been converted from wetlands to other uses, our attorneys can advise you on how you may be able to restore the land to its previous natural condition and use it for a money making return by creating a mitigation bank. Mitigation banks generate environmental mitigation credits that can be sold to developers and others for use in their mitigation plan for a 404 Permit.

To learn more about how we can help you with redevelopment, mitigation, or restoration, contact an environmental law attorney at Cox & Fisher, LLC for a free initial consultation. We represent businesses throughout South Carolina, including those in Spartanburg, Columbia, Charleston, and Rock Hill.