Brownfields Redevelopment  Toolbox

Step 3 - Transaction

Step 3 - Transaction (sub-directory)

Develop a Marketing Plan

The Municipal Team should develop a marketing plan to:
  • Promote the opportunities to the community stakeholders and development industry
  • Encourage developers to pursue the opportunities (showcase sites and community to development industry)
  • Communicate the plan and strategy to affected property owners and local stakeholders
The municipality must: prioritize the sites; attract the developers; showcase the opportunities, incentives and benefits of each site and the community/municipality at large.

Attracting Developers: market the best sites and opportunities first. The best opportunities for immediate development need to be prioritized to create an attractive economic growth scenario for future developers and provide a return for investments made.

Steps to a Marketing Plan

Development of a brownfields Marketing Plan involves implementation of the following tools:
  • Appointment of key municipal staff to each site (additions to the municipal team as necessary)
  • Develop a detailed property inventory of attractive sites: provide site characteristics of the sites and adjacent community (details regarding the social, historical, economic conditions and incentives and environmental significance)
  • Engage in market research: investigate areas and sectors of growth and the needs of developers and industry
  • Target the Marketing Plan towards finding investors
  • Educate all parties involved in the marketing plan
  • Advertise and market the sites – research multidimensional media
  • Provide success stories of your community and adjacent municipalities
 Develop Marketing Materials

IIn order to properly market your brownfield properties and economic development opportunities available in your community and municipality as a whole, you will need to develop professional and attractive materials. These can include:
  • Portfolios, Booklets
  • Brochures, Flyers and Pamphlets
  • Advertisements (for Websites, Printed Media and Television)
  • Educational Shows
  • Community Show Case
  • Websites (Pages, Features, Banners and Descriptions)
 Develop Requests for Proposals (RFP)

The Municipal Team may need to prepare or aid in the preparation and review of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for several aspects of the brownfields redevelopment process. Whether the brownfield site is owned by the municipality, is in partnerships with a private or public developer, or if the owner and developers are completely private, the Municipal Team should act as an advisor, liaison and tool for others to rely on. The goal of brownfield redevelopment, no matter who is at the helm is community improvement and economic development, at which the municipality has much to gain.

Development of RFPs may include:
  1. Engaging consultants for purpose of developing Municipal Brownfields Strategy or Community Improvement Plan (CIP). 
  2. Requests for Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, Risk Assessments.
  3. Encouraging innovative proposals from developers and planners for a specific community improvement project.
  4. Engaging proposals for actual remediation and cleanup if project is carried out in full or part by municipality. 
The Municipal Team should also be aware of RFP formats, structures and responses.


The following are examples of RFPs, Responses and Evaluations:

City of Toronto, ON City of Victoria, BC