MARLBORO — Members of the Township Council took action at their April 12 meeting to set the wheels in motion for environmental cleanups at two contaminated sites in Marlboro.
One resolution that was passed will bring about the remedial investigation of the southern portion of the Dimeo farm off Conover Road, which contains a pond that is polluted with arsenic, Business Administrator Jonathan Capp said. He said the contaminant is common in old farming areas.
“I am glad to see this is finally going to be taken care of,” Councilwoman Randi Marder said of the pond on the Dimeo farm. “It has been on our books for a long, long time.”
Another resolution will jumpstart the investigation of an area at the Marlboro municipal complex of Wyncrest Road that is littered with coal deposits, Capp said.
Staff at the state Department of Environmental Protection notified municipal officials the town had until May to appoint licensed site remediation specialists to take on the projects, Capp said. With the recent resolutions, he added, Marlboro has met the state’s demand.
Birdsall Services Group has been retained to handle the remediation of both sites.
The initial investigation of the contamination on the Dimeo farm is expected to cost $60,000, according to the resolution.
Capp said the exact cost of the cleanup is not yet known, but could approach $1 million .
Although the township will not be reimbursed for the cleanup of the pond, he said, the remediation of the contamination could open the door for farmland preservation funding from the State Agricultural Development Committee. He said Marlboro could receive money by selling the parcel as a protected easement to the farmland preservation program.
“…The closing on that farmland easement will take place and will result in the town collecting from both the state and the county through grant program payments for the preservation of that property as farmland forever,” Capp said.
He said Marlboro will have to satisfy certain state requirements to receive the funds. The deal could one day add about $1.8 million to Marlboro’s reserves, Capp told the News Transcript.
Council members agreed to spend an additional $17,000 for the municipal complex project, according to the resolution. In total, the price of the cleanup should reach $80,750, according to an amended contract with the Birdsall group.
Capp noted that the township will be eligible to apply for state Green Acres program grants for the athletic fields at the complex when the restoration is complete.