Hopewell planners get update on Somerset water treatment plant

Part of effort to clean up air, soil and groundwater contamination in area extending from Somerset Street south to Lafayette Street and from Hamilton Avenue east to The King’s Path developme

By Aleen Crispino, Special Writer
   Hopewell Borough Planning Board heard updated plans by environmental engineering firm Arcadis BBL of Cranbury, formerly known as BBL Environmental Services, to build a groundwater treatment facility at 21 Somerset St.
   Jennifer Elder Brady, Arcadis BBL project manager, and John Persico, an associate at the firm, appeared before the board Dec. 12 at the request of Borough Administrator/Clerk and Planning Board member Michele Hovan to report on the status of the project.
   Arcadis BBL was hired by Rockwell Automation of Milwaukee, Wis. — which, as Rockwell Manufacturing Co., operated a plant at 57 Hamilton Ave. from the early 1900s to 1975 — to assist it in complying with a state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) order to clean up air, soil and groundwater contamination by “volatile organic compounds,” primarily trichloroethene (TCE), in an area extending from Somerset Street south to Lafayette Street and from Hamilton Avenue east to The King’s Path development in Hopewell Township.
   Ms. Brady and Mr. Persico last appeared before the board on June 6, when Ms. Brady described a three-phase plan to build a treatment facility at 19 and 21 Somerset to pump out the groundwater, remove the compounds and discharge the purified water to a stream from which it will flow into Bedens Brook.
   The first phase of the plan outlined by Ms. Brady in June was to demolish two vacant homes at 19 and 21 Somerset St., which had been purchased by Rockwell to make way for the treatment facility. This phase was completed in November, said Ms. Brady.
   In addition, Rockwell has purchased or is in the process of purchasing five homes east of 21 Somerset St., said Mr. Persico on Dec. 20. The borough already has received copies of deeds for 29 and 37 Somerset St., said Deputy Municipal Clerk Regina Toth on Dec. 20, indicating that those sales had been completed.
   At an information meeting held by Arcadis BBL at Hopewell Elementary School in September 2006, Brenda Goeke, then owner of 29 Somerset St., said she had been unable to sell her home, which she had purchased in 1971, once she disclosed to potential buyers the presence of a vapor mitigation system in her basement. She and the former owner of 37 Somerset St., Harry Agin, reported having asked Rockwell to purchase their properties.
   The second phase of the plan, the excavation of contaminated soil from the site of the proposed facility, has not yet begun, said Mr. Persico on Dec. 20. The delay is caused by the need for additional soil sampling, which was done in November, he said, adding that soil removal would be completed in 2008.
   The third phase, the construction of a recovery well and treatment facility, also has been delayed. Arcadis BBL will need to have a site plan and a historical certificate of appropriateness approved by the Planning Board, but has not yet applied as it has had to move the proposed building “50-to-75-feet to the east,” said Ms. Brady. The plan now calls for it to be built primarily at 21 Somerset St. with a small portion overlapping onto 29 Somerset, not at 19 and 21 Somerset as originally planned, said Ms. Brady.
   ”Because of the state’s flood plain rules it can’t be too close to the creek,” said Mr. Persico.
   TEN CONCERNED BOROUGH RESIDENTS, many from Elm Street, which is just south of Somerset, gathered around Ms. Brady and Mr. Persico, who showed them plans for the treatment facility. It will look from the outside like “a residential house, a Cape Cod,” said Ms. Brady, adding that the dimensions will be approximately 60 by 40 feet.
   The building will be insulated against noise, said Mr. Persico. It will vent into the atmosphere through a “6-to-12-inch diameter pipe” encased in a chimney, said Ms. Brady.
   ”In the front there’s going to be a garage door because in the beginning there will be people there every day, probably,” said Ms. Brady, adding that “after it’s up and running” the visits would be reduced to once a week.
   As of now, there are no plans to demolish either 29 and 37 Somerset St. or the three additional properties being purchased by Rockwell, said Ms. Brady. “We haven’t done anything about the other homes at all,” she said. “There are still some residents there and the closings are still going on.”
   The board invited public comment and Richard Friedman of 31 Elm St., president of the Hopewell Woods Homeowner’s Association, spoke for those present, expressing concern that Somerset Street be kept residential or park-like and not be rezoned for industrial or commercial use.
   He presented the board with a letter citing homeowners’ fears that rezoning would “adversely affect the quality of life on our street and in surrounding neighborhoods,” as well as that “this action would have a negative impact on property values,” which have “already suffered due to Rockwell’s pollution of the groundwater and soil in the Somerset Street area.”
   Due to Rockwell’s purchase of four residential properties on Somerset Street and its expected acquisition of three more, the Planning Board has been charged by Hopewell Borough Council to discuss “what is really the borough’s vision for Somerset Street, specifically for the south side of Somerset Street,” said Ms. Hovan.
   To rezone Somerset Street for industrial or commercial use “was never the intent of the discussion,” said Planning Board member Mark Samse. “The stuff that’s happened on that street triggers us to think what is going on there,” said Mr. Samse.
   PLANNING BOARD VICE CHAIRMAN PAUL BUDA noted that the state’s plan to locate a station of the reactivated West Trenton Line near Somerset Street made this an opportune time to plan for the future. The 2007 Master Plan also recommends a review of the future of Somerset Street, said Ms. Hovan.
   Planning Board member Brad Lyon, who recently attended a state hearing on an environmental assessment of the proposed West Trenton Line, said that a 100-car commuter parking lot was planned for the north side of Somerset Street. A total of 14 trains would pass through the borough each weekday, said Ms. Lyon.
   The West Trenton Line, which would be run by New Jersey Transit, would begin at the West Trenton Station in Ewing and stop at Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township, Montgomery and Hillsborough before connecting with the Raritan Valley Line in Bridgewater, where it would continue to Newark Penn Station.
   A resolution by Hopewell Borough Council either for or against the environmental assessment plan must be passed by Jan. 15, said Ms. Lyon. The next council meeting is Jan. 7, said Mr. Samse, who is also on the council, so the board should convey any comments to council members by that date.
    A fact sheet on possible health effects of trichloroethene, also known as trichloroethylene or TCE, may by obtained on the CDC Web site at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts19.html.