Phase I Environmental Site Assessment in Long Branch, NJ
Long Branch covers just over six square miles of eastern Monmouth County, fronting the Atlantic Ocean from North Long Branch and Pleasure Bay on the South Branch of the Shrewsbury River south through Pier Village, West End, and Elberon — served by Route 36, Route 71, Ocean Avenue, and the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line. Property owners, developers, contractors, municipalities, and counsel working across the northern Jersey Shore and eastern Monmouth County rely on focused, locally informed environmental due diligence. Resource Renewal supports these projects through RCC’s ASTM E1527-21 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment scope, layered with NJDEP-compliant Preliminary Assessments to deliver both federal and New Jersey innocent purchaser protections.
Resource Renewal connects three service tracks under one platform: ASTM E1527-21 Phase I ESAs and NJDEP Preliminary Assessments delivered by RCC; Phase II Site Investigations and Remedial Investigations when Recognized Environmental Conditions are identified; and full remediation and brownfield redevelopment delivered with our affiliated platform DSR. Project teams coordinate with the NJDEP Site Remediation Program and pursue site closure under LSRP oversight toward a Response Action Outcome (RAO).
Why Property Owners and Developers in Monmouth County Choose Resource Renewal
Resource Renewal's headquarters at 10 Lippincott Lane sits inside the Resource Renewal Business Park, a completed brownfield redevelopment project, and a working proof point for the methodology RCC and DSR apply to client sites across Monmouth County and the Jersey Shore.
- ASTM E1527-21 Phase I ESA
- NJDEP Preliminary Assessment overlay
- Phase II Site Investigation
- Soil & groundwater investigation
- LSRP-led NJDEP closure pursuit
- Brownfield redevelopment via DSR
- Active project work in 5 states
- 30+ years of NJ project history
Environmental Context in Long Branch and Monmouth County
Industrial and Commercial Heritage
Long Branch was set off from Ocean Township in 1867 and incorporated as a city in 1903, taking its name from the long branch of the Shrewsbury River. Its identity was set first by tourism: from the 1860s it was the nation’s first seaside resort and an unofficial summer capital, where seven presidents worshiped at what is now the Church of the Presidents, Ulysses S. Grant summered for most of the rest of his life, and James A. Garfield died at Elberon in September 1881. The New York and Long Branch Railroad, built in 1875 and operated jointly by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey, made Branchport, West End, and Elberon working rail stops, and Long Branch remains the end of electrified track on today’s North Jersey Coast Line. Light industry followed: Wheelock, Inc. built fire alarm and signaling appliances on Branchport Avenue, alongside Ricci Tool and Die, Viking Fender, the Rieche Company, the John Guire Company, Monmouth Petroleum, and the ocean amusement pier and Haunted Mansion complex that burned in June 1987. That layered history drives Phase I ESA recommendations today across former hotel and estate parcels, machine and plating shops, dry cleaners, service station and bulk fuel sites, rail sidings, and filled shorefront lots.
Current Environmental Profile
NJDEP Site Remediation Program records list close to fifty known contaminated sites within Long Branch, concentrated along Broadway, Branchport Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and the Route 36 corridor. Common contaminants include petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH, BTEX) from heating oil tanks at former hotels and estates and from generations of service stations and fuel distributors, chlorinated solvents (PCE, TCE) from dry cleaning and metal finishing operations, heavy metals and PAHs bound in coastal historic fill, PCBs at substation and transformer locations, and pesticide residues on ground that was farmed into the mid-twentieth century. High groundwater, a shallow salt-water interface, tidal influence from the Shrewsbury River and Pleasure Bay, and flood-deposited sediment from Superstorm Sandy make dewatering planning, soil vapor intrusion screening, and PFAS evaluation standard Phase II considerations here.
Real Estate and Development Market
Long Branch’s redevelopment pipeline is the clearest signal of where this market is going. Pier Village and the Beachfront North and South districts turned the burned-out amusement pier site into oceanfront residential and retail, the boardwalk was rebuilt and reopened in 2016 as the last Sandy-damaged boardwalk in New Jersey to be restored, and a replacement ocean pier has been funded and permitted. Inland, Kushner broke ground in March 2024 on a $130 million mixed-use project at 118-119 Broadway carrying 299 apartments and a supermarket, the 305 Broadway project followed, and the City adopted an updated Oceanfront Broadway redevelopment plan in 2025. The Transit Village designation around the North Jersey Coast Line station and the joint Long Branch and Asbury Park Urban Enterprise Zone add an incentive-driven layer, and each of those transactions, financings, and grant applications typically triggers a Phase I ESA across Long Branch, West Long Branch, Oceanport, and Ocean Township.
Local Regulators, Authorities, and Stakeholders
The NJDEP Central Regional Office in Trenton provides Site Remediation Program oversight for Monmouth County. Local approvals run through the Long Branch Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and the City’s adopted redevelopment plans, with routine touchpoints at the city engineer and the Monmouth County Division of Planning. Because nearly the whole city sits in the coastal zone, scoping has to account for CAFRA jurisdiction and the NJDEP Division of Land Resource Protection on coastal, flood hazard area, and waterfront development permits, plus tidelands (riparian) grant research on filled land along the Shrewsbury River and Pleasure Bay. NJ TRANSIT and former Conrail easements are common on parcels along the North Jersey Coast Line, and sites near the Oceanport and Eatontown borders can be affected by the Army’s Fort Monmouth BRAC remediation, which is being closed out with NJDEP alongside FMERA redevelopment.
Why This Local Context Matters for Your Project
Local industrial history, the current contaminant profile, regulator office assignments, and the CAFRA and tidelands overlay all feed directly into Phase I scoping decisions and downstream remediation planning. Three decades of project work across New Jersey mean RCC crews already know the NJDEP Central Regional Office, the typical AOC profiles encountered in Long Branch — coastal historic fill, heating oil and service station tanks, dry cleaner solvent plumes, substation PCBs, and high, tidally influenced groundwater — and the surrounding parcels that recur in historical use research. That institutional familiarity shortens timelines and sharpens the recommendations delivered in each report.
Environmental Services Available to Long Branch, NJ Projects
Service availability spans two connected tracks: Investigation & Compliance, including transactions, financing, and regulatory closure documentation, and Remediation & Redevelopment, including physical cleanup, environmental liability transfer, and conversion of impaired real estate. RCC and DSR jointly cover the full project lifecycle from pre-acquisition due diligence through final regulatory closure and redevelopment.
Phase I Environmental Site Assessment
ASTM E1527-21 site assessment with NJDEP Preliminary Assessment overlay for Mount Holly and Burlington County properties.
Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
Subsurface sampling and certified laboratory analysis when RECs are identified during Phase I.
Site Investigation
Comprehensive site characterization, soil sampling, groundwater investigation, soil vapor assessment.
Environmental Remediation
In-situ and ex-situ soil and groundwater remediation, OM&M, and pursuit of regulatory closure.
Regulatory Compliance
Permitting, audits, hazardous waste management, SPCC plans, NJDEP agency liaison.
Brownfield Redevelopment
Acquisition, remediation, and redevelopment of impaired NJ real estate through DSR.
Environmental Liability Transfer
DSR-led liability transfer for owners seeking to exit impaired sites.
Landfill Closure
Closure, post-closure care, and EPA LMOP-aligned beneficial reuse options through DSR's TB2G™ model.
How Resource Renewal Serves Long Branch, NJ
Investigation & Compliance (RCC Track)
The ASTM E1527-21 Phase I ESA scope covers site reconnaissance, historical land use review, regulatory database searches, agency file reviews, and key personnel interviews. RCC layers the federal ASTM scope with an NJDEP-compliant Preliminary Assessment so projects carry both federal CERCLA and NJ ISRA innocent purchaser protections. When Recognized Environmental Conditions or Areas of Concern are identified, RCC moves directly into Phase II Site Investigation and, where warranted, Remedial Investigation — coordinating sampling plans, certified laboratory analysis, and data evaluation under NJDEP Site Remediation Program Tech Rules. Documentation is built for NJDEP review and LSRP certification.
Remediation & Redevelopment (DSR-Affiliated Track)
Remediation capabilities include in-situ chemical oxidation, bioremediation, soil vapor extraction, ex-situ excavation and disposal, groundwater pump-and-treat systems, permeable reactive barriers, sub-slab depressurization, and long-term operations, maintenance, and monitoring (OM&M). For owners exiting impaired property, the DSR platform provides brownfield acquisition, environmental liability transfer, and full redevelopment, applied across more than 100 brownfield sites in NJ, NY, PA, MA, and OH. The Mount Holly HQ at the Resource Renewal Business Park is itself a representative example of a former brownfield converted into productive operating real estate.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes. Resource Renewal serves Long Branch and all of Monmouth County, with three decades of project work across New Jersey’s shore, transit-corridor, and brownfield redevelopment markets. ASTM E1527-21 Phase I ESA, Phase II Site Investigation, NJDEP-compliant remediation, and brownfield redevelopment are all delivered locally. RCC’s Mount Holly HQ at the Resource Renewal Business Park reaches Long Branch via I-195 and the Garden State Parkway, and field crews mobilize routinely to Long Branch, West Long Branch, Oceanport, Monmouth Beach, Deal, Ocean Township, Asbury Park, Neptune, Red Bank, Eatontown, and the broader Monmouth County market.
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A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is a documented review of a property’s current and historical land use, regulatory database records, and environmental conditions, conducted under ASTM E1527-21. It is typically required by lenders, buyers, sellers, and tenants in connection with the acquisition, financing, or refinancing of commercial, industrial, or multifamily real estate. In Long Branch, Phase I ESAs are routinely required for oceanfront and downtown mixed-use acquisitions, adaptive reuse of former hotel, retail, and light manufacturing buildings, City redevelopment plan and Planning Board approvals, NJ EDA financing, and NJDEP brownfield grant and HDSRF loan applications. RCC delivers ASTM E1527-21 Phase I ESAs layered with NJDEP Preliminary Assessments so projects carry both federal CERCLA Landowner Liability Protections and statutory defenses under SRRA.
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A typical Phase I ESA runs two to three weeks from authorization to draft delivery, depending on environmental database turnaround, depth of historical research, agency file review timing, and site access. RCC can accelerate timelines for time-sensitive transactions when scope and access permit. Layered NJDEP Preliminary Assessment work is coordinated within the same engagement. Under ASTM E1527-21, a Phase I ESA is valid for 180 days, with extensions of up to one year possible if specific components are refreshed.
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When Recognized Environmental Conditions are identified, the natural next step is a Phase II Site Investigation: a defined sampling plan, certified laboratory analysis, and data evaluation against NJDEP standards. If contamination is confirmed, RCC develops a Remedial Investigation and a Remedial Action Workplan, pursuing a Response Action Outcome under LSRP oversight. For owners who prefer to exit the property rather than carry it through closure, DSR brownfield acquisition and environmental liability transfer are available as an alternative path.
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DSR is Resource Renewal's brownfield redevelopment company, with experience across more than 100 brownfield sites in NJ, NY, PA, MA, and OH. DSR services include site evaluation, environmental liability transfer, and full redevelopment. DSR is a member of the EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program and the Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast, and applies its Turn Brown to Green™ (TB2G™) model for landfill closure and beneficial reuse. EPA Brownfields Program grants and incentives may apply to qualifying Long Branch and Monmouth County sites.
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Under the NJ Site Remediation Reform Act of 2009, contaminated sites are remediated under Licensed Site Remediation Professional oversight rather than direct NJDEP case management. The LSRP defines the technical approach, files key submissions, and issues a Response Action Outcome when site conditions meet applicable remediation standards. Typical sequencing is Preliminary Assessment, Site Investigation, Remedial Investigation, Remedial Action, and final RAO issuance. The RAO confirms regulatory closure and supports transactions, financing, and redevelopment.
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Long Branch sits at the intersection of two of the shore region’s strongest demand drivers: oceanfront residential development and the redevelopment of an aging downtown. Pier Village, the Beachfront North and South districts, and the rebuilt boardwalk pulled investment back to the ocean side, while the $130 million Kushner project at 118-119 Broadway, the 305 Broadway development, the 2025 Oceanfront Broadway redevelopment plan, and the Transit Village designation around the North Jersey Coast Line station are reshaping the Broadway corridor. Nearly every one of those transactions triggers a Phase I ESA, and coastal historic fill characterization, underground storage tank closure, dry cleaner solvent delineation, soil vapor intrusion screening, and dewatering in high, tidally influenced groundwater push a high share of them into Phase II investigation across Long Branch, West Long Branch, and eastern Monmouth County.
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The Resource Renewal Business Park at 10 Lippincott Lane is itself a brownfield redevelopment project that moved through the same investigation, remediation, regulatory closure, and reuse process RCC and DSR deliver for clients. It is a working demonstration that contaminated parcels can move from environmental liability to productive operating real estate when investigation, remediation, regulatory strategy, and redevelopment are executed by an integrated team. Prospective clients are welcome to walk the site as part of project scoping.
Visit Our Mount Holly, NJ HQ or Find Us Near You
The Resource Renewal Business Park
10 Lippincott Lane, Unit 1
Mount Holly, NJ 08060
For ASTM E1527-21 Phase I ESA, Phase II Site Investigation, remediation, regulatory compliance, or brownfield redevelopment support on a Long Branch, NJ project, contact Resource Renewal directly. Project work in New Jersey is delivered under LSRP oversight, with field crews mobilizing from our Mount Holly HQ. Call (856) 273-1009 or request a project consultation.
