Township, county to share cost, ownership.
By: Charlie Olsen
The Township Committee unanimously voted to purchase the 438-acre General Services Administration Belle Mead supply depot for $17.5 million, splitting the cost and the ownership evenly with the county.
Associated costs such as administrative costs, surveys and appraisals are not to exceed 5 percent of the purchase price, said Freeholder Rick Fontana. The option to purchase will be on the agenda for the freeholders’ meeting Tuesday, and he anticipates a positive response.
The purchase will be paid for with money from the Open Space Trust Fund, which was replenished using expected Open Space tax revenue to obtain fresh bonded funds in 2000, while waiting for Green Acres reimbursements, Committeeman Paul Drake said.
"This is something we’ve been looking forward to," Mr. Fontana said. "We’ve found a great partner in Hillsborough, and look forward to working with the township in the future."
According to township attorney Albert Cruz, the resolutions passed at both meetings will enter the township and the county into an agreement where they are "equally responsible, contingent upon the federal government, the county and the township agreeing on the cost of the remediation."
However, there are a few caveats.
"It specifically stipulates that the federal government is liable for injury caused by any pre-existing environmental contamination," Mr. Cruz said. And, if the three parties can’t agree on the cost of the remediation, "the offer may be withdrawn."
The depot, which lies in the township’s proposed Research and Development (RD) zone, was determined by the GSA to be surplus property, said GSA Property Disposal Division Chief William Costa.
"I think we’ve reached a point where we’re generally in agreement about where it’s going and where we would like to go from here," Mr. Costa said.
Mr. Costa said the property was first screened for homes, but was determined unsuitable for that use because of low-level contamination.
According to Mr. Costa, there are 17 or 18 sites the GSA has identified, most of the areas included contamination from petrochemicals, but others included piles of iron ore, scrap metals and other materials stockpiled by the Defense Logistics Agency during World War II.
"It comes from different sources, nothing particularly hazardous, of low-level contamination; mostly metal and petroleum contamination," Mr. Costa said.
The GSA has spent more than $4 million in cleanup efforts since 1989, and issued a report in 2004 detailing 18 "areas of concern" needing more work.
Bill Potter, vice president of the Hillsborough Board of Health, said that he had over 20 years of experience dealing with hazardous waste and knows what to do for the site.
"What I do is clean up hazardous waste it may not be good at cocktail parties, but it puts the kids through school," Mr. Potter said. "Give me a bulldozer and a couple guys and I can have that site 90 percent clean in a couple days we’d cover over it, make a pile."
Mr. Potter said he believed the nature of the contamination on the site to be minimal, and that any "surprises" could be dealt with onsite.
"It’s a matter of preservation versus development," said Committeeman Bob Wagner. "It’s in the best interests of the township to pursue this."
Suggested uses after the cleanup include dividing the property for open space, baseball fields, a community center, and low-impact research and development zone.
"It’s literally a blank slate for the township and the county to develop a parks and recreation complex," Mr. Drake said. "I think we all know the Sourlands are a jewel, and this will border that."
Sally Treonze, of Mountainview Road, and former Township Clerk Catherine Santonastaso, of Cumberland Road, both said they were in favor of the purchase, although Ms. Santonastaso questioned Mr. Costa about ongoing truck traffic at the depot.
"If the contamination is low-level then what are the trucks constantly carrying out?" Ms. Santonastaso said.
Mr. Costa replied that the trucks were merely removing ore that had been sold onsite from the strategic stockpile.
"It’s moved out on a regular basis," Mr. Costa said. "It will not be gone until a year and a half from now."
Mr. Drake joked that if the GSA had any gold left in the stockpiles, he would be OK with them leaving it behind.
Unfortunately, heaps of gold weren’t among the GSA concerns for the land.