United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA 500-F-97-024 May 1997 National Brownfields Assessment Pilot Newark, NJ Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101) Quick Reference Fact Sheet EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower States, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots are intended to provide EPA, States, Tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment. BACKGROUND EPA selected the City of Newark for a Brownfields Pilot. Industrial decline, disinvestment, and suburbanization of northern New Jersey after World War II have left Newark (population 275,000, New Jersey's largest city) with more than 700 acres of largely abandoned and under-used public and private property. These properties are known or suspected to be contaminated from industrial operations and manufacturing. As a result, brownfields hamper the City's ability to attract new investment and retain existing businesses. Newark's industrial past has left a legacy of unhealthy neighborhoods with degraded environments. During the 1980s, the City lost 60,000 residents, and 26 percent of the remaining residents are at or below the poverty level. Newark has been designated a Federal Enterprise Community and an Urban Enterprise Zone. OBJECTIVES The focus of the City's brownfields efforts is to return abandoned sites to productive use, generate tax revenue, and increase space available for business expansion and new jobs. Newark intends to integrate and use New Jersey's innovative legislative and regulatory tools designed to PILOT SNAPSHOT Date of Award: September 1996 Amount: $200,00 Site Profile: The Pilot targets four diverse industrial operation and manufacturing sites. Newark, New Jersey Contacts: Joel Freiser Newark Economic Development Corporation (201)643-2790 Larry D'Andrea U.S. EPA-Region 2 (212)637-4314 dandrea.larry@ epamail.epa.gov Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields ------- streamline brownfields cleanup and redevelopment efforts. In addition, the City wants to produce a pipeline of clean, redeveloped sites while inventing a model expedited process replicable in other cities. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES The Pilot is: • Completing a comprehensive geographic information system (GlS)-based brownfields inventory; • Assessing four diverse sites (140 Thomas Street, Albert Steel Drum/Prentiss Drug and Pierson Creek, Pitt/Consol Dupont, and White Chemical sites) and readying them for remediation and development and continuing outreach to the community through the Newark Brownfields Working Group; • Encouraging private investment by making information on the assessment and cleanup of each site available to potential investors; • Linkingthe assessmentandredevelopmentplanning of demonstration sites to the revitalization of their surrounding neighborhoods; and • Producing and updating a brownfields redevelop- ment plan and program. LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES Experience with the Newark Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities including the following. • Applying innovative site assessment technologies in cooperation with the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University. National Brownfields Assessment Pilot Newark, New Jersey May 1997 EPA 500-F-97-024 ------- |