|
Mayor Angry With DEP On Heritage Site
By Keith Hagarty
The Heritage Minerals tract - that vast swath of undeveloped land separating Whiting from the east side of Manchester, some 7,000 acresplus in all - is once again an issue in Manchester.
Mayor Michael Fressola and township officials are questioning the state's past involvement and communication with the town concerning the Heritage Minerals site, after a ruling was recently passed down from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) declaring the 7,000-plus acres of land properly cleaned up of radioactive material.
Portions of the site, specifically a section off Route 70, near Whiting, were once used for mining operations. Those operations left behind contaminated waste.
After a hearing earlier this month by the NRC, the commission ruled they were satisfied with the cleanup efforts to remove radioactive soil at the site off Route 70. However the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants to see more done before development can begin there. In 1990, mining operations ceased at the site. The site had been used for mining and processing local monazite ores for heavy mineral extraction since 1973, when ASARCO Inc. initially owned the property before selling Heritage Minerals in 1987.
The processing of the ore caused the release of the radioactive elements thorium and uranium. Both are naturally occurring elements in the soil after mining activities. Over 1,000 tons of material with elevated trace elements of radioactive materials has already been trucked off the site as per the NRC's 1999 recommendation. The soil was removed from 287 acres of the site deemed to have higher than normal readings.
However, the DEP does not believe such efforts are enough, wanting the owner, Hovson Corp., to further reduce radioactivity levels at other spots across the 287 acres in question. The crux is the state's radioactivity standard of 15 millirems per year, tougher than the 40 millirems allowable under federal standards. In order to have the site comply with tougher state standards, the DEP is seeking the removal or treatment of about 800,000 more cubic yards of soil on the site before the planned development of a 2,200-unit housing development project can begin.
Speaking at the township council's September 11 meeting, Township Attorney Steven Secare said that while the town does not have any quarrels with the current leadership of the DEP or the town's dealings with the state agency, they took issue with what they perceive as a lack of communication between the agency and Manchester officials as it pertains to the site under the DEP's previous commissioner.
"I'm very surprised that the DEP did not inform us of this," said Secare, who insists that the DEP lack of notification in the past regarding their concerns has caused significant delays with the developer and the town.
Manchester officials have been consistently kept abreast of the NRC's latest developments and concerns regarding the site, they said, however Fressola and township officials were not as convinced by the DEP's claims that they have actively communicated their involvement with the town.
"The (prior) DEP knew apparently, but never told us, and they knew we were involved in negotiations," he said of the town's 13-year negotiations and ongoing litigation with the developer. The town believes it was all but kept in the dark on the approximate 1,000 acres of land on the site under the control of the DEP's Bureau of Environmental Radiation.
"The mayor was quite disturbed," said Secare, explaining that Fressola only learned of the DEP's decision at the last minute.
"It was kind of dishonest on the part of the DEP," he said. "I kind of feel like we got duped."
Secare also took into question the DEP allowing for the treatment of the contaminated soil by the developer instead of insisting it be removed entirely.
"They want to spread it around and dilute it," he said. "But we do not want them doing that... who wants to buy land with radiation on it? They better start trucking that stuff out of there."
It's not the first time the mayor has had harsh words for the DEP.
Long History Of Conflict Over Site
In 2003, when then commissioner Bradley Campbell was on the verge of approval a settlement which would allow thousands of homes on the property, Fressola slammed Campbell and former Governor James McGreevey for an "apparent lack of interest" in protecting the Heritage Minerals tract from development.
Ultimately, that settlement was reached, and unless the issue takes a sharp turn, homes will be constructed off Route 70.
The issue is old hat to longtime township residents and officials.
ASARCO Inc., then Heritage Minerals Inc., operated a mining and processing facility off the east side of Route 70 starting in 1973. When that facility shut down, plans to bring residential development to the property began to move forward. Sitting in the undeveloped area between Manchester's eastern portion and Whiting's Crestwood Village, the property was at one time slated to have thousands of homes built on it stretching between the high school and Leisure Village West to the Crestwood section of town. A series of zoning changes, permit and application rejections, and legal actions have kept the property's fate in limbo for over a decade.
H. Hovnanian bought the property in 1986, when it was zoned for manufacturing. That zoning was changed the following year to allow lowand moderate-income housing. It was once again rezoned to allow retirement communities, at the time making thousands of homes - some said up to 16,000 - a possibility.
The uses permitted under the then zoning were withdrawn in 1992, however, a move Hovsons claims was pushed by the DEP and Pinelands Commission. In 1993 and 1995, changes to the township's Master Plan further cut the number of homes permitted. Two sections of the tract of land were left to be developed, but those plans were halted when the DEP denied Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permits, claiming Hovsons' plans were not consistent with the rules regulating the nearby Pinelands.
Hovsons' fought the permit rejections, but a judge and the DEP denied appeals to both, knocking down plans for an 838home development and a 1,616-home development.
By 2003, that had changed. New leadership at the state level was more willing to negotiate a settlement, one which ultimately will allow about 2,200 on the property. It's a use, Campbell said in 2002, that is suitable for the area. At the time, he told the Ocean County Observer Editorial Board that the portion of the site previously used for mining is "perfectly appropriate" for building and that that section of the Heritage Minerals site would be an unlikely candidate for preservation purchases because of the impact the mining has had.
| 
