Homeowners still waiting for cleanup of contaminated soil.
By: Leon Tovey
MONROE Seven new homeowners are still in limbo this week, awaiting the cleanup of contaminated soil in the Sterling Acres development.
Joe Montanti, chairman of the Township Environmental Commission, said Monday that Kara Homes, the developer of Sterling Acres, is awaiting approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to begin remediating soil contaminated by DDT and chlordane.
Soil tests conducted in October at the 23-house development, located at the intersection of Bergen Mills and Jurgelsky roads, found levels of DDT and chlordane in excess of state limits at five of the lots, Mr. Montanti said.
But he was quick to add that while the levels found were in excess of state guidelines, they were within federal guidelines and did not pose a significant health threat to residents.
"This is not a toxic waste dump," Mr. Montanti said. "We know that it’s exasperating to homeowners and home buyers, but the situation at this point is out of Kara’s hands."
Charles Applebaum, general counsel to Kara Homes, said Tuesday that the developer has a contractor standing by to begin the remediation a process of deep tilling the soil to remove the chemicals from the surface.
He said he hoped DEP approval would be forthcoming and that the developer could have the cleanup completed and confirmed by the DEP in the next 30 days.
Mr. Montanti said that was not an unreasonable goal, given the relatively low levels of chemicals involved.
"Theoretically, this could be solved a week from now," he said. "The remediation should only take a couple of days, the lab work a few more days but this is a state agency, they are extremely busy, and things like this take time."
Fred Mumford, a spokesman for the DEP, said Wednesday that Kara’s remediation plan was under review and that a decision would be forthcoming in the next few weeks. Mr. Mumford said remediation had been an acceptable method of cleanup on land like the Sterling Acres site, which was used for farming potatoes.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency limits the presence of DDT to four parts per million and chlordane to .54 parts per million, Mr. Montanti said. In both cases, that’s twice the amount allowed by New Jersey law.
Mr. Montanti said soil tests conducted in late 2003, before construction began, did not find the chemicals because the lab that analyzed the samples had used the less-restrictive federal guidelines to determine that soil contamination on the lots was within safe limits.
The problem was discovered in October, when DEP officials required another round of testing to determine whether fill used during construction of the houses was safe, Mr. Montanti said.
The fill turned out to be free of contaminants, however the soil at the five lots was found to contain amounts of DDT and chlordane in excess of state limits.
Both DDT and chlordane are pesticides that were commonly used in farming, chlordane was also used to control termites. The EPA banned the use of DDT in 1972 and chlordane in 1988.
Both chemicals are considered bioaccumulative, which means they become more concentrated as they move up the food chain, and carcinogenic.