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Township To Study French's Landfill, Examine Revitalization As Recreation Site
By Catherine Galioto
An important first step in turning a dump into usable land now has a price tag.
For $585,000, the township will study what exactly is possible at French's Landfill, closed for decades but property that is a recurring expense for the township, which pays to monitor the Superfund site. Nearly all of that cost would be paid via bonds: $555,750. The rest, $29,500, is from the capital improvement fund.
The Township Council voted to approve the sum by adding it into the township budget. The project was not there during the creation of the budget, which was approved last month.
The money will pay consultants to see what can be done with the landfill site.
French's Landfill, located in the Herbertsville section of town, was discovered to be contaminated in the early 1980's. Since closing, the township along with the Environmental Protection Agency began investigating its cleanup and possible future use.
The bonds will pay for the landfill closure site evaluation and ongoing remediation, with the state Department of Environmental Protection's closure plan and related engineering costs. The council approved the study earlier this year. It will look at how ideas used at other landfills and how those ideas could be applied to Brick. Officials would like to see whether the landfill could eventually become a place converted into a recreational use.
Such a conversion is called a "brownsfields" project, which take properties with hazardous waste and converted them into usable areas.
The site is about 42 acres in size and is now heavily wooded. It is completely off-limits as a Superfund site, and sits between the parkway and Sally Ike Road. The dump goes by other names, too, includ- ing McCormick's dump.
Since closing in 1979, the landfill has been monitored and was first listed as a Superfund in 1983. During its 30 years of operation, the landfill was a destination for residential, commercial and construction garbage as well as septic waste.
In 1999, groundwater contamination was detected off-site, prompting a ban on the use of groundwater within a mile of the landfill. Private wells in the area were sealed. The contaminant plume is approximately 367 acres, according to the township.
The township will continue to pay for monitoring as long as the site remains an unused landfill. Instead, the township would like to find out how much it would cost to convert the landfill into usable space. Township Administrator Scott Pezarras said such an initiative would take a long time; a study is only a preliminary move.
Following the study, the public will be invited to view the plans to see what engineers feel is possible at the site. Then comes the debate as to whether to adopt those plans or tweak them.
Since the council announced the project, residents from that section of town have come forward at council meetings to say they'd like to be involved in the project, to offer input on what exactly should happen at the site. The council agreed that throughout the project's planning stage, resident feedback will be especially important.
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