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DEQ explains revisions to Brownfields Agreement template, declines to restore long form
Summary
DEQ’s Brownfields Redevelopment Section presented a revised Brownfields Agreement template that trims non‑statutory material and re‑directs history/decision memos to the public Laserfiche record; the agency plans to post a response‑to‑comments document and reopen the template comment period in early 2027.
Tracy Wall, the newly named Section Chief for the Brownfields Redevelopment Section, opened the stakeholder meeting and turned the presentation over to Sharon, who reviewed changes to the Brownfields Agreement (BFA) template.
Sharon said the revisions aim to improve efficiency and ensure the template conforms to statutory requirements. “The statute dictates what is in our agreements,” she said, explaining the office removed non‑statutory material such as a restored long‑form BFA and a full history/environmental summary from the template because those elements are not required by statute and would slow negotiations.
Sharon said the information that had been in the long form will remain available in the public decision memorandum and records in Laserfiche. She told stakeholders the division modified the template in several areas after reviewing proposed edits from commenters — notably definitions tied to the construction fee and the period of active construction, edits to the prospective developer covenant‑not‑to‑sue, and clarifications to land use restriction (LUR) language including PFAS and tenant‑renovation notice requirements.
On submissions, Sharon said DEQ will not accept routine email submittals and advised stakeholders to use the project portal on AccessDEQ to avoid lost messages: documents “should be submitted through the specific project portal on AccessDEQ,” she said.
Sharon said DEQ received only a small number of substantive comments — principally from three attorney entities — and will publish a response‑to‑comments document and the revised template on the stakeholder webpage within a few weeks. The division plans to reopen the annual template comment period in early 2027, with comments due March 1, 2027.
Stakeholders asked whether draft BFAs currently in negotiation could adopt the revised language. Tracy said that incorporation is possible if a prospective developer prefers the new language, but that choosing to wait for revised text is the developer’s decision and DEQ will not hold projects unless the developer requests the change.
The meeting included technical questions about linking related records (for example, UST or other program files) and public‑notice concerns for follow‑on owners. DEQ staff said they will link related records to the Brownfields project record in Laserfiche/AccessDEQ rather than duplicate documents across systems and will continue work to improve project notification settings.
The division will send the updated template and a response‑to‑comments file to the stakeholder distribution list and post both on its website after the meeting.
