LAWRENCE: Dyson cleanup could cost $5.5M

Township to seek grant from state DEP

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The cleanup of a portion of the township-owned Dyson Tract on Princeton Pike is inching closer to reality, as Township Council agreed to apply for a grant and a loan from state authorities Tuesday.
    Township Council is applying for a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund and for a combination loan and grant from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust.
    Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said the cleanup of part of the 184-acre tract, on the east side of Princeton Pike opposite Fackler Road, could cost as much as $5.5 million. The plan is to remove the contaminated soil so the property can be used for recreational and conservation purposes.
    The DEP grant would cover 75 percent of the project’s cost and the Environmental Infrastructure Trust Fund would cover the remaining 25 percent. Half of the money from the infrastructure trust fund would be a grant and the other half would be a loan made at market rates.
    Councilman Bob Bostock said he was “very pleased” to see that the township is moving forward to clean up the Dyson Tract. He thanked the rest of Township Council for its support in his quest to clean up the property.
    About a 10-acre portion of the Dyson Tract is contaminated. The contaminated land contains dredge spoils from the Colonial Lake dredging project. The township dredged the lake — opposite the Lawrence Shopping Center in southern Lawrence — in 1999 and again in 2004.
    Lawrence Township officials have been aware of the contamination since the township commissioned Environ Corp. to study the land in 2006, Mr. Krawczun said. There is no danger if the soil is not disturbed.
    The 2006 study found the Colonial Lake dredge spoils contained volatile organic compounds (VOC), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and pesticides. The spoils also contain excessive levels of a number of other contaminants, known as polynuclear hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic.
    The amount of those contaminants found in the soil did not exceed state standards for historic fill material — material that was already contaminated before it was placed on the site, according to DEP regulations adopted in 2005.
    The Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corp. hopes to construct part of the 20-mile bicycle loop trail on a portion of the Dyson Tract. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. awarded a $200,000 grant to the LHT Corp. and Lawrence Township to extend the trail through the property in 2007.