Brownfield Redevelopment What is a "brownfield" and what has it got to do with redevelopment? The term "brownfield" originated from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfield Pilot Program and generally refers to contaminated commercial or industrial sites. The official definition used by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and taken from the Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act is: "any former or current commercial or industrial site that is currently vacant or underutilized and on which there has been, or there is suspected to have been, a discharge of contamination." The redevelopment powers provided under the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (LRHL) can be used to support municipal efforts to redevelop brownfields. Not surprisingly, brownfield remediation and redevelopment have become integral to many local redevelopment strategies, particularly in communities with older commercial and industrial areas in need of redevelopment. These local efforts have targeted brownfields of all types and sizes -from single parcels to multiple properties scattered throughout designated redevelopment areas. (The information in this section is based on the soon-to-be-released book, The Redevelopment Handbook: A Guide to Rebuilding New Jersey's Communities, written for the NJ Department of Community Affairs and the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association.) Brownfields and Redevelopment Typology of Brownfields The Brownfield Redevelopment Process Funding Sources and Incentives