CALRC 2025: Transforming Land, Empowering Communities
This year’s California Land Recycling Conference (CALRC) convened diverse voices in brownfields and beyond to tackle our central question, how does land reuse empower communities?
The short answer is that land reuse empowers communities at every step. Regulatory agencies and lawmakers presented hard earned victories and future goals to bring health and wellness to the forefront of policy. Cities, non profits and community groups shared efforts to engage locals in citizen science to test their back yards for lead contamination, restore and revive historic sites, provide high quality affordable housing, build fire-safe neighborhoods and more. Success stories inspired audiences to get creative with funding and share their project wins, no matter how small.
In her opening remarks, California DTSC Director Katie Butler shared success stories from the Equitable Communities Revitalization Grant, which has provided $130 million in support of identification, assessment and cleanup of brownfields. ECRG projects will provide thousands of housing units, as well as new parks, medical facilities, grocery stores, food banks, and more. Director Butler declared, “All of you are on the front lines of making these transformations possible. Please, continue your work, continue changing the map of California block by block. You have what it takes. Collectively, we are more powerful together to make these transformations possible.”
Communities across America face urgent health and livability concerns from legacy contamination and the remnants of natural disasters. But they also capture the inherent hope of brownfield reuse. The knowledge that with hard work and partnerships, we can restore land for the benefit of communities. As any of our expert speakers will tell you, brownfields are opportunities!
At the sixth-annual CALRC, organizers were pleased to offer two new sessions. The pre-conference Brownfields 101 session offered a basic framework for understanding the windy road of brownfield redevelopment. Attendees heard from CCLR’s technical assistance team, and got a rundown of EPA funding anticipated for FY26. The Perfect Pitch Competition closed out the week with a spirited series of presentations from West Coast brownfield teams competing to win up to $25,000 in bro-bono consulting support! Presenters from Coconino County, Arizona, Tulelake, California, and the Central Assembly of Richmond all shared their ambitious brownfield reuse plans. In the end, Central Assembly of Richmond and Wyatt Ptak, ECRG Manager of the Triangle Development project, eked out a win. They will receive support to identify the best end use for their project, and identify funding to make it happen. CCLR extends a huge thank you to everyone who participated and shared their exciting redevelopment plans with us.
For the statistics lovers in the audience, here is CALRC 2025 by the numbers. This year we saw 32 thought-provoking sessions spread across 6 tracks, heard from 94 expert speakers, networked with 333 attendees from 144 organizations, visited 20 sponsors and exhibitors, and sent an amazing 495 messages on the Whova conference app!
In post-event polling, 93% of participants rated CALRC 4 or 5 stars and reported a high ability to use what they learned at the conference in their job or community as well. One attendee provided this review: “This conference sets the bar for quality. Top notch speakers, topics, presentations. The BF 101 pre-conference session allowed the main conference sessions to focus on more advanced topics which I really appreciated. The limited number of concurrent sessions ensured a good audience in all sessions and didn’t dilute the impact. Well done CCLR!!”
And it wouldn’t be CALRC without karaoke. 75 singers packed into a bustling room to belt out classic songs re-written with a brownfields twist. CCLR’s Ignacio Dayrit is to blame thank for the extensive catalogue of land reuse tunes, his hard work makes the party possible.
In Yana Garcia’s closing remarks, the Cal EPA Secretary said, “This is a powerful moment to reflect on land reuse across California and how we can all better align environmental cleanup, community interests, and housing investment. It’s about transforming land with purpose and in doing so, uplifting communities, protecting public health, restoring the environment, and supporting housing where people can safely live, work and play….When we clean up contaminated properties, we don’t just reclaim land. We restore opportunity and hope, especially in communities that have long suffered environmental burdens.”
Garcia summed up why we all undertake the complex and complicated world of brownfield reuse. We hope that you found the information, inspiration, and connections you need to continue to transform land and empower communities.
