FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – An entity known as Lone Pine RE Urban Renewal, LLC, has been designated by the Township Committee as the redevelopment agency for the former Lone Pine Landfill on Burke Road in Freehold Township.
During a meeting on Oct. 25, committee members passed a resolution naming Lone Pine RE Urban Renewal, LLC, a subsidiary of AC Power, LLC, as the redeveloper of a site municipal officials have designated as the Lone Pine Landfill redevelopment area. The property is a former contaminated landfill.
Burke Road is off Elton-Adelphia Road (Route 524).
According to the resolution, Lone Pine RE Urban Renewal has proposed to develop the area with a solar energy facility, while allowing the existing landfill and associated remediation activities to continue unimpeded. The landfill has been closed for 43 years.
Freehold Township officials anticipate that condemnation of the designated area will be necessary for its redevelopment and that Lone Pine RE Urban Renewal will indemnify the municipality for any environmental liability that may be assessed against it as a result of the condemnation and transfer of the redevelopment area, according to the resolution.
Lone Pine Landfill began operation in 1959 and was operated by the now-defunct Lone Pine Corporation until it was closed in 1979 by an administrative order from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
In January, Township Committee members passed a resolution which declared the former landfill to be a condemnation redevelopment area and authorized the Planning Board to undertake a preliminary investigation to determine if the property was an area in need of redevelopment.
Planning Board consultant T. Andrew Thomas was authorized to inspect the property, prepare and submit a map, and report on his findings.
After receiving the map and Thomas’ report, the Planning Board held a public hearing to determine if the property was a redevelopment area under state statute. The board members determined the property was an area in need of redevelopment.
The board members also determined the designation should authorize Freehold Township to employ all powers provided by the state for use in a redevelopment area, including eminent domain (condemnation), according to a resolution.
The Township Committee members reviewed the board’s findings and agreed with the determination and recommendation of the Planning Board to designate the former landfill property as an area in need of redevelopment. The committee members authorized the use of eminent domain, if necessary, to acquire the property.
In June, the committee members adopted an ordinance implementing the Lone Pine Landfill redevelopment plan. The ordinance rezoned the property from rural environmental to the Lone Pine redevelopment area.