Page 106 - Akerman | 2016 Guide to Doing Business in Florida

as “…real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by actual or perceived environmental contamination.”

Florida offers a number of incentives for participating in the Florida brownfields
program, including: a voluntary cleanup tax credit (§ 376.30781, Florida
Statutes), bonus tax refunds (§ 288.107, Florida Statutes), capital investment
tax credits (§ 220.191, Florida Statutes), certain exemptions from sales taxes
on building materials (§ 212.08(5)(o), Florida Statutes), a loan guarantee
program (§ 376.86, Florida Statutes), an innovation incentive program
(§ 288.1089, Florida Statutes), an educational grant program (§ 288.047,
Florida Statutes), and other various local government economic and regulatory
incentives. Further, participation in the Florida brownfields program generally
results in a limited liability protection to any person, including his or her or its
successors and assigns, who executes and implements to successful
completion a brownfield site rehabilitation agreement, pursuant to
§ 376.82(2), Florida Statutes.

Any person or entity that has not caused or contributed to the contamination
of a brownfield site after July 1, 1997, may be eligible to participate in the
brownfield rehabilitation program pursuant to § 376.82(1), Florida Statutes.
Further, a local government with jurisdiction over a brownfield area is
authorized to designate the area by resolution as a brownfield under the
brownfield program designation and administration process set forth in
§ 376.80, Florida Statutes. Once a site has received the brownfield
designation, the person responsible for brownfield site rehabilitation must then
enter into a brownfield site rehabilitation agreement (“BSRA”) with the FDEP or
delegated local program if actual contamination exists at the brownfield site.
The BSRA, which sets forth the parameters and timeline for brownfield site
remediation, includes, among other requirements, a commitment to conduct
site rehabilitation consistent with state, federal, and local laws and consistent
with the brownfield site contamination cleanup criteria specified in Rules 62–
780 and 62–777 of the F.A.C.

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