Stevens hosts Brownfield redevelopment meeting
HOBOKEN, N.J. — On June 13, Stevens Institute of Technology hosted a meeting to discuss present and future plans for Brownfield redevelopment in the Hudson County area.
Brownfields are sites within commercial or industrial areas presumed to be in need of environmental cleanup. June 13th was the first Brownfield redevelopment meeting to be held at Stevens. The institute is involved with various regional reclamation projects through the Stevens Center for Environmental Engineering and works as a liaison with local municipalities through Dr. Silvio Laccetti, Stevens professor of urban studies.
Brownfield redevelopment is a relatively recent, complex and dynamic area of public policy. Governments at all levels — local, state and federal — have been grappling with the perplexing issues of liability, environmental cleanup, and cost posed by Brownfield reclamation, and have taken steps to resolve them.
In attendance at Stevens were local representatives of the Kearny, Harrison, North Bergen and Hoboken areas as well as state representatives from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and a federal representative from the Environmental Protection Agency. The Hudson County Brownfields chairperson, Elizabeth Spinelli, and representatives from Stevens was also present. Spinelli is the executive director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation.
Participants at the meeting reviewed the status of "active sites" in the area and discussed plans (pilot programs) to help remediate these sites. Pilot programs, also known as cooperative agreements, assist communities by providing the necessary monies in the form of grants to help identify, inventory, assess, clean up and continue to redevelop Brownfields. Integration of privately owned sites into the pilot programs was also discussed.
Participants also provided updates on various outreach activities and information on a conference titled Brownfields 2000, a four-day event/information session set for Oct. 10-13. Brownfields 2000 will attempt to tap into both national and international research efforts as well as successful regional strategies in order to give conference attendees solid groundwork to facilitate revitalization efforts in their respective communities.
As part of the June 13th meeting a Stevens, the Hudson County Brownfields group announced that its Brownfield Assessment Demonstration Pilot Program has received a statewide award in Environmental Excellence Award in the open and effective government category. The award was presented to the group recently by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Robert C. Shinn, Jr.
Environmental Excellence Awards were presented by the New Jersey DEP for the first time this year.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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