Redeveloping Gas Station Sites to Pocket Parks in the City of Seattle – A Benefit-Cost Analysis

Abstract

The City of Seattle has little vacant land to accommodate its projected growth in population and jobs. Due to this lack of land, developers are looking to redevelop land that is currently being used or is underutilized. One type of property that is becoming more available for redevelopment is gas station sites. However, gas station sites are categorized as brownfields, meaning that on-site contaminants must be removed from the sites before they can be redeveloped. Also, these sites are small and will not provide many additional residential housing units and commercial space. Due to these limitations, this thesis proposes that the City of Seattle purchase gas station sites and redevelop them as pocket parks. A Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) was run on three existing gas station sites to compare the monetary cost and benefits that redeveloping gas station sites to pocket parks would have on the City of Seattle. The three gas station site’s BCAs resulted in a negative net benefit, which suggests that purchasing gas station sites and redeveloping them as pocket parks would not benefit the City. However, the City should consider possible alternatives to reduce the costs of redeveloping gas stations site to pocket parks because this redevelopment strategy would benefit the surrounding residents and environment and implement the current planning theory.