Hillsborough hopes to get state money to help clean up the General Services Administration’s Belle Mead Depot on Mountainview Road and the Sunnymeade Road landfill.
By: Audrey Levine
Hoping to gain state money to pay for cleaning up the General Services Administration’s Belle Mead Depot on Mountainview Road and the Sunnymeade Road landfill, the Planning Board unanimously voted Thursday to designate both as areas in need of redevelopment.
The board will now draft two resolutions, one for each property, for approvals from the board and the Township Committee in July.
The next steps in the process after the resolution approvals will be to apply for a Brownfields grant from the state and draw up the plans for cleaning and redeveloping the sites.
According to Bob Zelley, director of environmental services for Maser Consulting, both sites meet the state’s criteria for designating them in need of development.
As per the criteria, the GSA Depot, which constitutes 438 acres, is property that is not being utilized and is considered stagnant land that could potentially be useful. The property which served as a spot for military operations from 1942 to 1958 and a warehouse for supplies such as mercury and pesticides until it closed in 1992 is being looked at for the creation of 48 acres of Research and Development Zones, with the remaining 380 acres being developed for parks and recreation.
Mr. Zelley said the site contains about 160,000 yards of reinforced concrete, 150,000 yards of ballast and other construction materials, all of which are spread in low concentrations throughout the property.
"It doesn’t appear to have spread far," he said. "It should be a manageable cleanup."
The Sunnymeade Landfill is a tract of 10 acres that received municipal solid waste until 1982, thus conforming to the state criterion that the property must have been unused for at least 10 years in order to qualify for development. In addition, in accordance with the criteria, the property has been owned by the township for more than 10 years and is not going to be developed for private capital.
"Like the GSA property, we feel the landfill is not as contaminated as one might think," said Mayor Anthony Ferrera.
The next step in cleaning the properties is applying for grant money through the state and federal governments to cover the costs.
According to Kevin Davis, township administrator, purchasing the GSA Depot will cost about $17.5 million, half of which will come from the township’s Open Space Trust Fund, the other half of which will be paid by Somerset County.
The federal government will then place an amount of the money, which has not yet been determined, from the purchase in an escrow fund to be used to clean up the property.
The cleanup for the GSA depot has been estimated to cost about $20 million to $22 million by JM Sorge, Somerset County’s environmental consultant.
The township is also planning to apply for state Brownfields funding, which could potentially reimburse it for about 75 percent of the cost of the cleanup. The grant is designed to provide money to townships looking to clean certain tracts to be used for parks and recreation land.
The Brownfields grant would make up the difference between the money in escrow and the total cost of the cleanup at the depot.
Mr. Davis said they are anticipating a 100 percent reimbursement for the GSA depot if the township receives the grant.
According to Mayor Ferrera, the township will look into beginning to build on the GSA property little by little as the cleanup continues.
"It is important we look at the whole site and strategically place what should be there," he said. "We can start building in the areas that have the least contamination."
As for the landfill, Mr. Davis said the cleanup cost will total about $1.7 million for final capping and closure, as well as long-term monitoring of it. He said the township will also be applying for the Brownfields grant for this land, but they are unsure exactly what they will be doing with the property.
The township is planning to draw up a cost development plan to see if the land would be most profitable as parks and recreation space, or commercial business.
"We are trying to do a study of how best to use the sites," Mr. Zelley said.

