to find developer
and pay county back
Sayreville has a year
to find developer
and pay county back
BY JOLENE HART
Staff Writer
SAYREVILLE — Middlesex County officials are hoping to kick-start a redevelopment of the National Lead site, thanks to $20 million in new bonds.
The county Board of Chosen Freeholders approved the bonds Monday to add the funds to the $19 million it allocated for the same project in December 2000. The intent of the funding is to finance the condemnation of the site.
Until 1982, National Lead (NL) Industries operated a paint pigment plant on the 427-acre parcel, a use that led to the site’s contamination. The site is now widely considered one of the state’s most important brownfields — land on which possible re-use is complicated by the presence of contamination or hazardous material.
The NL site, located between Route 35 and the Garden State Parkway, is still owned by the company. Earlier negotiations to purchase the property from NL were unsuccessful, prompting the borough to look into the seizure of the land by condemnation.
The parcel was appraised at $32 million, though an assessment of the area by engineering and environmental consultants determined that $28 million is necessary for clean-up efforts alone.
According to a 2003 state Superior Court ruling, the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) must deposit the entire appraised value in court before it can condemn the property. With the additional $20 million in bonds, that deposit will be possible.
SERA hopes to keep the cost of the site’s environmental cleanup in escrow to ensure that the NL firm goes through with the work. No substantial cleanup has yet been accomplished by NL, county officials said.
"This loan will help us take a giant step to the goal of reclaiming an extremely valuable site for beneficial use," Mayor Kennedy O’Brien said in a statement.
"The taxpayers of Sayreville and of the entire county will benefit in all future years," he said, calling the NL site the "key to the future."
But the loan does not come without strings attached.
To ensure that progress on the project does not reach another extended lull, the freeholders are requiring that the borough and SERA adhere to certain deadlines.
SERA will have one year from the time it takes control of the NL property to pay back the county loan and name a developer for the land.
The loan repayment should be paid by the chosen developer, according to Freeholder Director David Crabiel, who said the Middlesex County Improvement Authority (MCIA) would assist SERA in its selection of a developer and advise it on other legal aspects of the project.
If SERA does not adequately fulfill its responsibilities in the year, the county has the authority to take control of the land.
"The county reserves the right to take the property and, with the MCIA, assume the redevelopment process if SERA does not expeditiously complete the redevelopment process," Crabiel said. "This will ensure the timely redevelopment of the site."
Sayreville Councilman Thomas Marcinczyk expressed concern over the deadlines, though he said he "doesn’t blame the freeholders" for the track record that the borough has had with action on the NL project.
"I don’t foresee a project of this caliber resolving itself in the courts anytime soon. And there is no doubt in my mind that the county will take control," he said.
Marcinczyk questioned why the agreement was never discussed before the Borough Council and added his belief that, rather than moving forward, the agreement would "tie this up even more."
"I think the mayor sold the town out," he said. "The taxpayers lost."