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February 2, 2004 Meeting MinutesQuarterly Brownfields Roundtable Minutes: February
2, 2004 The meeting began at 10:23 on Monday, February 2, 2004 with participant introductions. The following are short descriptions of the information presented. There were approximately 73 attendees. Introductory CommentsIntroductory comments were offered by Acting Assistant Commissioner Thomas Cozzi of the Site Remediation and Hazardous Waste Programs and from Judith Shaw, Administrator of the NJ DEP Office of Brownfield Reuse. Mr. Cozzi announced that the new Assistant Commissioner of the Site Remediation and Hazardous Waste Programs is Joseph Seebode of the US Army Corps of Engineers in New York. Mr. Seebode managed the NY/NJ port deepening project and was the lead Army Corps manager for post-9/11 response. Mr. Cozzi expects Mr. Seebode to assume his Assistant Commissioner role in early March. Dr. Shaw presented an update on the Brownfield Development Areas (BDA) projects and discussed the synergy among the sites in a BDA that includes planning, funding and anticipation of DEP requirements. She discussed the various tools that are being leveraged to address the environmental remedy of these sites, including enforcement actions, when necessary. The four pilot BDAs include Cramer Hill in Camden, North Camden, Trenton and Elizabeth. Camden has approved a development proposal that will invest over $1.1 billion towards a project in the Cramer Hill BDA. Plans to develop mixed-use residential/commercial development in the North Camden BDA moves forward. There will be a February 10 press event in the Trenton BDA to announce the beginning of the demolition of the Magic Marker site. The City of Trenton expects to designate a developer for this site sometime this spring. In the Elizabeth BDA, responsible parties are negotiating settlement of their Natural Resource Damage claims. The new round of approved BDAs includes the Lister Avenue (Newark) BDA and the Palmyra, Hillside and Irvington BDAs. The Lister Avenue BDA includes 5 responsible parties addressing the remedy of their sites under the direction of one single DEP Case Manager. This will help assure that these sites are managed in a consistent manner and that this management will include an area-wide perspective. Palmyra has ambitious brownfield reuse plans that includes 28 properties. Irvington and Hillside continue to work on their targeted properties. The Milltown BDA, in Middlesex County, is applying the innovative Triad approach to site investigation and anticipates that this will streamline their site investigations. Natural Resource Damages and Brownfield RedevelopmentJohn Sacco, Administrator, Office of Natural Resource Restoration, opened this discussion on the Natural Resources Restoration Program and Natural Resource Damage (NRD) claims by referencing NJ DEP Policy Directive 2003-07 Natural Resource Damages policy that excludes small businesses with an inability to pay and brownfield developers. Specifically, the policy states that claims for damages or compensatory restoration shall not be asserted against brownfields developers meeting the innocent purchaser defense requirements under New Jersey law at sites at which there is a historical natural resource injury. A copy of Policy Directive 2003-07 may be found at https://www.nj.gov/dep/nrr/. Considerable discussion ensued as several attendees asked Mr. Sacco and the Deputies Attorney General in attendance, George Schlosser and Phyllis Bross, about their interpretation of the innocent purchaser defense. Ms. Bross deferred interpreting innocent purchaser liabilities, as she considers this the responsibility of the developers’ legal counsel and the judiciary. Mr. Schlosser seemed to be interpreting the innocent purchaser in a way that would only recognize those brownfield developers that conduct due diligence on a site and disclose no discharges of hazardous substances. If a discharge is discovered, Mr. Schlosser holds that the developer becomes a responsible party subject to NRD once property ownership is transferred. Mr. Sacco directed the attendees to review the formula for determining the amount of NRD claim. Several attendees involved in the discussion were frustrated with the inability of the DEP presenters to state that brownfield developers will not be responsible for NRD claims associated with others’ contamination. They felt that the uncertainty associated with the innocent purchaser defense as it applies to brownfield developers is a significant deterrent to brownfield reuse. The potential claims that may be levied against brownfield developers with projects along rivers, bays, streams and wetlands may be significant, if NRD is applied. Some felt that applying the NRD formulas to brownfield development projects appears to be inconsistent with the legislative intent of the Spill Act amendments embodied in the Brownfield and Contaminated Sites Remediation Act and the Policy Directive 2003-07 section titled, Coordination With Brownfield Policies, issued by Commissioner Campbell. Further, it was pointed out that the easy-to-develop brownfield sites have been redeveloped. Significant public resources are being applied towards the remedy and redevelopment of the remaining challenged brownfield sites. NRD liabilities serve as a disincentive to the successful reuse of the remaining brownfield sites and, therefore, contradict New Jersey Smart Growth principles. Mr. Sacco discussed how NRD responsible parties are encouraged to assess their damage claim amounts. The formula for assessing NRD claim amounts associated with ground water impacts is posted on the Natural Resource Restoration web site (https://www.nj.gov/dep/nrr/). Mr. Sacco described this formula and encouraged those responsible for NRD to run the calculations themselves. The Office of Natural Resource Restoration will work with the responsible parties towards an Administrative Consent Order to finalize NRD liabilities. National Association for Local Government Environmental ProfessionalsKenneth Brown, Executive Director of NALGEP, a national brownfields redevelopment support and lobby group assisting municipalities to advance the successful reuse of brownfield sites. NQLGEP has entered a partnership with the Northeast-Midwest Institute to promote brownfield redevelopment. They hope to develop an informational network available to municipalities that describes new brownfield redevelopment initiatives, provides technical expertise & training and serves as a legislative advocate for municipalities in Washington, D.C. NALGEP began their brownfield work in 1998 with the US EPA Brownfield Showcase Communities, such as Trenton. This included working in partnership with US HUD, the Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA and the brownfield communities. The report generated from this partnership likely influenced policy at the federal level. Mr. Brown referenced a more recent NALGEP report title that addressed recycling America’s gas stations. NALGEP is also studying the redevelopment of railroad properties and the liability of local governments that acquire brownfield sites. Additional information about NALGEP may be found at www.nalgep.org. This web site and the brochure distributed by Mr. Brown include a membership application and a more complete description of NALGEP issues and efforts. Cleanup Star Program UpdateKen Kloo, Bureau Chief, Office of Brownfield Reuse, described the Cleanup Start initiative. Sites eligible for oversight b a Cleanup Star will be low-complexity sites that have less than two areas of environmental concern and have no ground water impact. The intent of the program is to maintain standards for site cleanup, standards for environmental professionals and to free up DEP case managers to focus on higher priority sites. Mr. Kloo has received 411 applications from individuals working in 85 firms. About 50% of these applicants met the application criteria, submitted their applications on time and had complete applications. The application criteria requires a Bachelor of Science degree or Engineering degree in a related environmental field of study, a DEP-recognized professional certification, at least five years continuous experience working in the environmental remediation field, with the last five years doing this work in New Jersey. Mr. Kloo announced two mandatory training sessions being offered for Cleanup Star candidates; on February 23 from 9:00 to 12:00 AM and on March 1, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Mr. Kloo then introduced Gary Sanderson of the Office of Brownfield Reuse. Mr. Sanderson will administer the newly developed Cleanup Star. Additional information on the Cleanup Star program may be found at https://www.nj.gov/dep/srp/cleanupstar/. Eventually, a web site will be developed to identify Cleanup Stars. Middlesex County Improvement Authority (MCIA) Brownfields UpdateDenise Nickel, MCIA, gave an excellent overview of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority Brownfields Program. MCIA offers planning, redevelopment guidance, staff & operational financial support, project funding search, direct project construction, and financing services to Middlesex County municipalities and to the county itself. She described the lessons MCIA has learned in selecting sites. She described several brownfield redevelopment projects, including Sewaren Park, the South Amboy Intermodal Transportation Center and the Milltown Ford Avenue Redevelopment Area. Ms. Nickel described the challenges met in each project and the lessons learned and being learned on each project. Ms. Nickel did an excellent job describing the MCIA brownfield redevelopment experience and lessons learned. EPA Brownfield Assessment, Revolving Loan and Cleanup Grant UpdateVince Pitruzzello of US EPA provided an update of the grant submittals nationwide. US EPA expects that about 200 grants will be funded out of about 1,000 applications. Decisions will be probably be finalized by April with announcements made in June.
Mr. Pitruzzello offered the use of the US EPA Mobile Lab to help assess brownfield properties. The Mobile Lab may be used to generate data more quickly than the traditional approach, where samples are sent to a laboratory for analysis. Traditional lab analysis takes 4-8 weeks for analysis. The Mobile Lab can analyze samples within a day or two. For further information about the Mobile Lab, please contact Benny Hom at (212) 637-3964, or, Pete Savoia at (732) 906-6170. EPA Brownfield Assessment, Revolving Loan and Cleanup Grant Recipients UpdatesThose grant recipients in attendance provided updates on their projects. Trenton received a $400,000 assessment grant and a $400,000 cleanup grant towards remedy of the Hanover Place site, the African-American Cemetery site, the Magic Marker site and the Freight Yard property. The African-American Cemetery site and Freight Yard site are within the Assunpink Greenway Project area. The Assunpink Greenway Project will be a linear park along the Assunpink Creek. Demolition of a 4-acre concrete slab at he Magic Marker site will commence within the next month. The Bayonne grant project will address sites along their Route 440 corridor. The Route 440 corridor is a major artery in town and a redevelopment priority for the City of Bayonne. Gloucester City in Camden County will use the grant to conduct three Preliminary Assessments on one city-owned property and two private properties that represent redevelopment opportunities for the city. The funds will also be used to conduct a Site Investigation on the city-owned property. One of these properties is next to a school site. Gloucester City is expanding their redevelopment area near their new school expansion project. $1 million has been secured for the assessment of the Coast Guard Pier, another redevelopment priority for the city. The Hudson County grant is being applied to an area-wide assessment approach using the Triad methodology. Currently, the county is securing access to the project area sites. The Middlesex County Improvement Authority provided an update of their grant-funded project as part of their Brownfield Program update, described above. Ms. Nickels offered the following caution. The federal $200,000 assessment grant can be used up quickly on a large site. She suggested that dividing the larger project into several smaller project areas, then submitting separate grant application for the smaller projects might result in several $200,000 grants being approved for the larger project area. In Camden, the $200,000 assessment grant received by the NJ DEP will be applied to the investigation of the 90-acre Harrison Avenue Landfill. A development proposal by Cherokee, recently approved by the City of Camden, represents an investment of over $1 billion in the Cramer Hill BDA. New Jersey Regulatory UpdateAn update of brownfield related legislative proposals was presented by Colleen Kokas of the Office of Brownfield Reuse. These proposals address changes to Spill Act liabilities relative to the time necessary to provide site access, further definition of the No Further Action Letter and other liability and funding issues. New Jersey Redevelopment Authority Brownfields Site MartLori Sheppard of the NJRA explained the benefits of using the Brownfields Site Mart and asked the attendees to enter sites on the Site Mart. Information about Site Mart may be found at http://njbrownfieldsitemart.state.nj.us/brownfields/site/default.asp. Ms. Sheppard may be contacted at 96098) 292-2659.
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)Barry Seymour, Assistant Executive Director for Regional Planning described the authorities and responsibilities of the DVRPC. Established in 1965, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission provides comprehensive, coordinated planning for the orderly growth and development of the bi-state region. This region includes Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer in New Jersey and Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania. As an interstate, inter-county, and inter-city agency, DVRPC advises on regional policy and capital funding issues concerning transportation, economic development, the environment, and land use. Mr. Seymour described a DVRPC grant program, The Transportation and Community Development Initiative, that is available to municipalities in the DVRPV region to fund, primarily, transportation planing projects. This grant may also be applied towards the development of brownfield inventories and market feasibility studies. The DVRPC also maintains a library of aerial photographs that are available for review. Currently, the DVRPV is working on about 50 projects. Additional information about the DVRPC may be found at http://www.dvrpc.org. The Roundtable adjourned at 3:15 PM.
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