Brownfields Redevelopment Section

The Brownfields Redevelopment Section of the Division of Waste Management (DWM), North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), works under the Brownfields Property Reuse Act of 1997 (G.S. 130A-310.30 and following) to put abandoned, idle or underused properties back into use where real or perceived contamination stands in the way. It works with prospective developers: in the statute's terms, people who want to buy or sell such a property to redevelop it and who did not cause or contribute to its contamination. At the program's core is the brownfields agreement, which DEQ likens to a covenant not to sue. The developer takes on the actions DEQ judges essential to make the property fit for its planned reuse, and DEQ limits the developer's liability to those actions. DEQ says the agreement does not change the legal liability of the responsible parties.

In a Phase I ESA

The section's Brownfields Projects are the North Carolina form of the state brownfields records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a brownfields listing is on the Brownfields page.

Four North Carolina details shape how to read one.

• The map shows projects in the program. DEQ's Brownfields Projects map places the projects recorded in the section's database and links each to its online documents folder. DEQ says regulatory decisions are not bound by the map, and gives no warranty of the data's accuracy or completeness. Its FAQ says DEQ does not offer a list of available brownfields properties. On counts, the section's main page speaks of more than 500 sites in one place and more than 650 in another, undated; the FAQ says that as of January 2023 the program had made more than 650 agreements, with over a hundred more under way.
• The restrictions run with the land. After the Notice of Brownfields Property is recorded at the county Register of Deeds, its liability protections and land use restrictions pass to every later owner. DEQ's FAQ adds that a later owner gets the liability protection so long as it did not cause or contribute to the contamination, and keeps it so long as it adheres to the land use restrictions. DEQ says the notice generally carries the signed agreement as Exhibit A, with a site map, environmental data tables, a reduced plat and a legal description. Any deed, lease or other instrument that transfers an interest must say the property is subject to the agreement, and DEQ's sample wording cites the book and page of the recorded notice. Look for that statement in the title documents, and read the notice's restrictions.
• Owners certify each year. Each owner of any part of a brownfields property must send DEQ a Land Use Restriction Update (LURU) by January 31, certifying that the property kept to its restrictions the year before; DEQ counts about 750 of these property-specific forms. DEQ's page says that under the statute an owner who violates a restriction is subject to losing the liability protection and is liable for cleanup to unrestricted use standards. Ask whether the file holds the recent updates.
• Older agreements and vapor. DEQ says some early brownfields properties may not have had vapor intrusion risk assessed when their agreements were written, and its Brownfields Property Management Branch lists a review of existing agreements for unidentified vapor risk among its goals. For an older agreement, check whether the file addresses vapor intrusion.

The FAQ says the statute bars National Priorities List sites from a brownfields agreement, and that a party that caused or contributed to the contamination cannot get one. For responsible parties with inactive hazardous waste sites who only want to transfer the property, DEQ points to the voluntary cleanup program run by the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch; see Inactive Hazardous Sites Program and Registered Environmental Consultant (REC) Program.

Where to look a site up

• DEQ's Brownfields Projects Map, Inventory and Document Download page. DEQ says the map's layers can be downloaded from its GIS open data portal, and each property's LURU form from the map.
• DWM's Laserfiche WebLink, searched by Brownfields Project Number, which DEQ writes as #####-##-###. DEQ said that as of late 2025 it had nearly finished scanning its paper brownfields files.
• DWM's Site Locator Tool shows brownfield locations with the division's other sites.
• The Property Management Branch gives BFpropertymanagement@deq.nc.gov for questions on Environmental Management Plans, lists its staff on the section's contact page, and asks that official requests come through AccessDEQ.

Getting the file

DEQ points to Laserfiche, by project number, for the scanned brownfields files. DWM's file room page names file rooms only for its Hazardous Waste, Solid Waste, Superfund and UST Sections; the pages read do not name a brownfields file room. DEQ's online request form is the department's general route; see Requesting Public Records.

Sources

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:

• Brownfields Redevelopment Section
• Program Information
• Brownfields FAQs
• Brownfields Projects Map, Inventory and Document Download
• Brownfields Property Management Branch
• Waste Management
• DWM File Room Procedures
• Requesting Public Records