Redevelopment in New Jersey

Brownfields Redevelopment Program
Summary

On January 6, 1998, Governor Christine Whitman signed into law a comprehensive urban development program that should pave the way for the cleanup and reuse of former industrial properties known as “Brownfields.”

The “Brownfield and Contaminated Remediation Act” is designed to spur the redevelopment of Brownflelds sites through a system that reforms New Jersey’s onerous cleanup liability scheme, reshapes NJDEP’s Site Remediation Program and creates significant financial incentives for those willing to invest in the redevelopment of our urban areas. The redevelopment program includes:

New protection from the expansive liability provisions of New Jersey’s existing environmental cleanup laws including:
- Protections for innocent purchasers of contaminated property;
- State-issued covenants not to sue; and
- Protection from potentially damaging third party liability.
Financial incentives designed to help recycle industrial properties that consist of:
- State cost reimbursements for up to 75% of site remediation costs;
- Matching grants for persons using innovative technologies to cleanup a site; and
- Exemptions from property taxes for up to 15 years.
Remediation cleanup reform provisions that include:
- Variances for remedial standards and criteria;
- Prescriptive remedial actions not requiring the prior approval of NJDEP;
- Incentives for innovative technologies;
- Remediation funding source exemptions;
- The creation of a Brownfields Redevelopment Task Force to actively market Brownfields sites;
- State-wide ground water studies to identify and map areas of known contamination; and State-wide historic fill identification studies to map areas of known historic contamination and ease cleanup efforts on historic fill sites.

The Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act is the cornerstone of New Jersey’s Brownfields Redevelopment Program. The law contains substantial incentives for cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned urban industrial areas. These incentives are manifested in property tax exemptions, cost reimbursements from the State, and major reforms to New Jersey’s cleanup liability scheme. The law also reforms NJDEP’s Site Remediation Program — a major step in promoting the voluntary cleanup of contaminated Sites by developers. Now that the Brownfields Development Program is in place a major question that remains is whether the incentives and reforms contained in the program are enough to reverse the economic forces of today’s global economy and attract industry back to the very same places it only recently abandoned.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/sblrbra.htm