Cuyahoga County Brownfields Geographic Information System
The Cuyahoga County Brownfields GIS was developed by the County Planning Commission as a project through its Brownfields Pilot Demonstration project. The system, begun in 1995 and updated in its current status as internet application, was designed to promote both economic development of industrial property and to provide information to the public on the status of industrial and commercial sites.
Background
The GIS task group was convened from the Brownfields Working Group to assess user needs and
levels of sophistication for the original Brownfields GIS system. Funding was provided for
contractor support by the Cleveland Foundation
and George Gund Foundation. A Request for Proposals
circulated and Spatial Insights, Inc., of Vienna,
Virginia selected to design and develop the system. October 1996 the system was demonstrated
for the Working Group and a cast of interested observers. In 1997 the Brownfields GIS was
featured in Kansas City at the USEPA Brownfields conference. A year later, the County Planning
Commission issued a contract to update the system as an internet application.
Brownfields GIS today
Foremost, the site provides an array of environmental data which we hope is useful in transaction
screening analyses and Phase I assessments. This should reduce the time and research necessary
in the selection of sites for redevelopment. Economic factors and certain infrastructure
attributes can also be screened through radial searches featuring demographics, census blocks,
travel time, roadways, utility and rail lines.
CPC plans for the future
The Planning Commission is evaluating alternatives to application of the Brownfields GIS system
for many more uses, utilizing its map-based architecture and radial investigative capacity.
