Announced October 30, 2023
Renewing its commitment to a fairer and greener New Jersey, Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette today announced the relaunch of the DEP’s nationally recognized Brownfield Development Area Program, which aims to assist selected communities across the state in designing and implementing comprehensive remediation and redevelopment plans for underutilized contaminated properties.
Municipalities are encouraged to apply here through April 30, 2024 to designate abandoned and blighted properties in their communities as a Brownfield Development Area (BDA). A BDA designation will kickstart a coordinated effort through the DEP to advance the investigation, remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites.
A brownfield is a current commercial or industrial site that is vacant or underutilized and which has or is suspected to have contamination. DEP’s innovative and voluntary BDA program partners with a municipality or redevelopment authority and its stakeholders to focus technical and financial resources on brownfield sites, with a vision for redevelopment and community revitalization.
Transforming brownfields begins with applying to the DEP for BDA designation. Once BDAs are selected, municipalities and redevelopment authorities are eligible for up to $5 million annually in Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund (HDSRF) grants, including remedial action matching grants providing up to 75 percent of the remedial action costs for all site end uses. Additionally, DEP provides a single point of contact in the Office of Brownfield and Community Revitalization, who works closely with municipal officials, stakeholders, developers and Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs) to coordinate investigation, remediation and redevelopment plans. Since its inception in 2003, the BDA program has provided nearly $200 million in HDSRF grants to 31 municipalities for environmental investigation and remediation.
For more information visit: https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2023/23_0060.htm
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