Site is located adjacent to Sourland Mountain Preserve
By: Greg Forester
MONTGOMERY The recent announcement of the planned closing of 3M’s Belle Mead plant has generated interest from land preservation groups and Somerset County officials, who would like to see the Sourlands property preserved as open space.
The cost of the property and environmental concerns, including water pollution created by byproducts from the plant would have to be addressed first, however, according to county officials.
"We have had cooperative dealings with 3M in the past, and we do have much interest in this property," said Somerset County Administrator Dick Williams. "This process could move forward once environmental and other issues are worked out."
The plant which currently produces roofing shingles through a quarrying and rock-blasting process is nestled in some of the finest undisturbed forest in the area. Acquisition of the site has already been the topic of discussion with 3M.
The plant and quarry also happen to be located adjacent to the Sourland Mountain Preserve, 2,870 acres of undisturbed parkland maintained by the Somerset County Park Commission.
Preservationist groups are already calling for the 3M-plant site to be preserved as an addition to the county park.
"We would like to see the area around the Belle Mead plant preserved, and we have already been in early discussions with 3M about it," said Barbara Brummer, director of the Nature Conservancy. "It is what we call a matrix forest, which is a fairly contiguous forest in an area that has mostly been developed."
Officials from D&R Greenway Land Trust said they also have had discussions with 3M about the property since the announcement.
"We have had some half-discussions with 3M and the Nature Conservancy," said Executive Director Linda Mead. "We are very interested in seeing this critical resource for the community preserved, we will be pursuing it." But parts of the 3M site are far from pristine.
A byproduct of 3M’s operation are material fines, rock dust that tends to stay suspended once it enters area waterways.
These fines have caused problems in Montgomery due to their tendency to color several area streams and waterways a milky white after being carried off the site during wet weather.
3M has completed the first phase of a process meant to help relieve the problems, which included the construction of several retention basins and the capping and planting of vegetation over most of a 60-acre pile of the fines.
The next phase of the plan includes the construction of more retention basins and the possibility of chemical treatment of the fines to remove some of the suspended solids in the runoff before they enter the waterways.
Plant Manager Keith Jacobs said the plant’s closing and the cessation of roof-granule production could mean revisions to the second phase of the stormwater management plan, although those haven’t been worked out yet.
"One of the issues with the colored water going offsite is the nature of the work, in which we crush the rock to a very small size," said Mr. Jacobs. "If another company purchases the property they won’t be doing the same kind of work here."
Montgomery officials said revisions to the stormwater management plan were all right by them as long as the process addressed the pollution problems.
"If 3M is going to tell me they don’t need the water treatment plant anymore, I’m going to ask them what that is based upon," said Planning Board Chairman Steven Sacks-Wilner. "They won’t be making new fines but there’s still a 60-acre pile of them up there."
3M will be putting together an information package about the plant to solicit offers from companies interested in its purchase. One of those packages will be provided to Somerset County, which has already expressed interest in the site for preservation, Mr. Jacobs said.
"We’ll be sending packages about the site to anyone who is interested, including the county," said Mr. Jacobs.
3M has worked with the county in preserving pieces of property for decades, even donating around 700 acres of property in the early 1970s.
While 3M officials will try to solicit offers from companies interested in the site, Montgomery Township officials said the zoning on the Montgomery portion of the property would limit future operations.
"Our zoning pretty much permits what they have been doing, with no mining and no manufacturing allowed," said Mr. Sacks-Wilner.
He said much of the Montgomery portion of the site is of limited use because of the presence of stream corridors, wetlands and steep slopes, which restrict development.

