Last week an article appear in the Local section of the Asbury Park Press, about how officials in Sayreville have come forward and stated to residents that arsenic and heavy metal dredging spoils from the bottom of Middletown's Shadow Lake, will not be welcomed in their town.
Middletown has been saying for over a year now that the DEP has approved of a plan to cart the material to Sayreville's abandoned National Lead site. However, that 453 acre site is being redeveloped as a housing, retail, office and entertainment complex called The Point and residents aren't to happy with the idea of bringing contaminated fill dirt to their town.
Here's the story, you can read all about it.
So what is Middletown to do? They have no back up plan and Middletown officials, Tony Fiore and others, have stated that they don't care if the 150,000 tons of dredged material sits in Stevenson Park forever, as long as they spend the $3.7M to dredge the third of the lake that falls within the township's jurisdiction.
This is a boondoggle waiting to happen and shouldn't proceed until residents know exactly how much this dredging will cost the town if the dredged spoils have to sit on the grounds of Stevenson Park for years and carted off later (or never).
All of Middletown's residents are paying for this dredging with their tax dollars, while this project only affects and benefits a few people that live by and around the lake. It's time to step back and demand a back-up plan before proceeding.
23 comments:
Typical of the incompetence that has become commonplace in government in Middletown.
Isn't there anyone capable in well over seventy some thousand residents that can serve here. Shameful !!!
The only reason for the push to dredge Shadow Lake is the ploy to get votes from the residents of that section of this town. They have been lied to for years. Especially during "election season".
Frankly do it right or don't do it at all. It'll only cost more money in the end. Par for the course here !!
Al residents of this community are tired of the incompetence when it comes to financial management or lack thereof from the buffoons that serve in the administration of government here !!
You just can't help yourself, can you MM? Trying to stir up some stuff!
If you read the article, it's clear that they DO intend to put the soil there in Sayreville: "Bella said that if the material is approved to come to the borough, it will be analyzed closely to safeguard the public. He also said that bringing in “clean fill,” as opposed to the Middletown material, would drive up the cost of the soil."
I have never heard anybody say that if the soil was contaminated that it would go there, and that's what the current rummor mongering is all about. The DEP has strict rules and regulations about this and they will be followed.
Why make stuff up?
Fiore is smart. Clearly the cost of the project will be quite less than $3.7m if the dirt doesn't have to be carted off site. If Middletown has the DEP permit to dredge, they can leave the material there and it is the DEP's responsibility to find a site that meets the standards. I am sure if the DEP backed off of Sayreville, Middletown would not move the dirt if the cost would be more. Probably cheaper to pay the DEP penalty than truck it further.
If Sayreville residents are so concerned about natural arsenic, maybe they should find out what has already been dumped on that toxic waste site also known as "national lead".
Legion,
What makes you so sure? the article also states:
..."“Contrary to the [daily newspaper’s] article on July 4, SERA did not approve the deposit of dredged material from the Shadow Lake site in Middletown to the National Lead redevelopment site,” O’Brien said. “The Middletown dredge is not coming to Sayreville at this time. The paper was factually incorrect.”...
..." “O’Neill Properties [the National Lead redeveloper] and CME Engineering test the soil, and it has to fall under strict regulations,” Bella said. “Maybe it does meet those regulations down the road, with very low levels of arsenic, but at this point, there haven’t been any approvals from SERA to allow the soil to come up here.”...
If residents complain loud enough and the Sayreville Town Council folds under the pressure like Middletown's has the habit of doing, the dredged material will not be going there regardless of the cost of "clean fill"
Would you rather that the dredged material sit on the grounds of Stevenson Park for years and years to come with no other place to go?
I say don't dredge the lake until you have a specific plan in place that considers all the options and outlines the costs of each option.
Why should the whole town have to pay for this dredging when Shadow Lake itself has so has little impact on the overall community? What about flooding in the Bayshore? $3.7M would go a long way to alleviate that problem.
Perhaps Legion should re-read the article.
Bella said "IF". He also said "O'Neill Properties and CME Engineering test the soils, and it has to fall under strict regulations". "Maybe it does meet thosr regulations DOWN THE ROAD, etc. "but at this point there haven't been any approvals from SERA to allow the soil etc.
To me it appears that you're putting the cart before the horse. Dot your i's and cross your t's before you expend taxpayer dollars on these capital improvement projects to avoid unnecessary delays and project overruns! Accountability and responsibility.
What's the back up plan if the material doesn't meet the approvals and cannot be sent to Sayreville?
If the material sits at Stevenson Park and it's contaminated won't the contaminants be leaching into the surrounding soil there?
This isn't going to end up with Stevenson Park being
another township contamintaed site for which the EPA is going to require site mediation of, is it? At taxpayer's expense I might ad.
Anon 9:00
Are you nuts,why dredge the lake without a clear plan to dispose of the material?
Why would you or anyone else want this material sitting out in the open, in a public park, indefinitely when so few of Middletown's residents will benefit from dredging the lake in the first place?
Saying that it's the DEP's problem is bullshit. Yes, the DEP will find another site for the material if need but it may be hundreds of miles further away which may make it cost prohibitive to move the dredged material.
It's a boondoggle that was clearly designed to gain votes from those that live around Shadow Lake, not benefit the 60K+ or more other residents that live in Middletown.
It would appear that although dredging the lake is long overdue, that the town is premature in pushing it through when all of the details required in planning etc. haven't been attended to.
Do it once and do it right the first time because the town doesn't have the funds to do it over. Isn't that why we employ highly educated experienced professionals?
The job is out to bid right now. Bids will be opened this month and will include carting the material from Stevenson Park. This might turn out like the snow removal contractors that left town to work for other towns that would pay them more.
Sayerville returned the dump application to Middletown because it was not complete, meaning approval was not granted. Middletown needs to complete the application with test results of what is to be dumped there.
If the application was returned to Middletown as incomplete why the hell did the project go out to bid before all of the details were ironed out? Seems to me that the town isn't following their own planning and developement regulations. Are these capital improvement projects exempt?
Are the prospective (contractors)bidders aware that the final plans, which may not be the actual final plans, that they'll be bidding on are subject to change possibly leaving them on the hook for any additional charges? I doubt it.
Legion,
The material is contaminated with arsenic and heavy metals; this has been documented and known for at least five years. Over time the lake will fill-in and will need to be dredged again.
Very few -- several home owners, a few that fish and a lone swimmer -- from the larger Middletown community benefit from the dredging of the lake. In addition to dredging costs the bridge will need to be repaired to accomidate the weight of the trucks and other equipment, which means more COST$ on top of $3.1 million budgeted, so far, just for dredging. There may also be an issue with Green Acres state funding -- any used to dredge the lake and any already used to purchase Stevenson Park where the material may sit indefinately.
$3.1 million could go a long way to help mitigate flooding in the Bayshore. This kind of money would have a MUCH GREATER IMPACT on the health and saftey and home insurance costs and overall quality of life for residents of the Bayshore. Could it be the Shadow Lake votes are more important than votes from the 'wet side of town'?
Does the all Republican Township Committee once again have its priorites based on getting votes from the Shadow Lake community; is this all politics versus serving the greater good and the greater Middletown community?
Over $ 3 million dollars slated to go towards limited recreational activity for a few and increased property value for even fewer. Scharfenberger and the rest of the committee rejected using about the same amount of money for turf playing fields couple of years ago because of the very difficult local, regional and state economic climate. The economic climate is about the same, so how can he and Fiore and Massell justify spending this kind of money, unless the justification is partisan politics?
This is the same committee that didn't want to spend one cent on producing and broadcasting township committee meetings, which would be a public service and an opportunity to focus more sunshine on the murky workings of the all Republican Middletown Township Committee.
Time for legal action to stop the planned spending of tax dollars that could be better used elsewhere, like the library?
Finally Mr. Morris I don't think you should be asking for a back-up plan. I think you should be asking for a well thought out -- from beginning to end -- initial plan.
Doesn't Linda Baum live in River Plaza right near shadow lake???
What does Linda Baum's place of residence have to do with dredging Shadow Lake.
She does not live in Shadow Lake but Pam Brightbill does and so does Massell !!!!
BS ,Anonymous12:15 a.m...you are way out of line. This is the same kind of crap the people in this town face every year at election time as the" do nothing for the people" buffoons they elect have no basis to get re-elected, e.g. the silent,no comment Massell this year. Only has something to say when the lawyer,Nelson, whispers "sweet" somethings ? in his ears.What a waste !!
Election time in Middletown is when the" crazies" of the Republican Party in this town slander everyone and anyone in order to gain the election of the buffoons that are Republican candidates to the circus called the Middletown TC. The whole lot of them are Carton-Nelson marionettes and do just as they are told to do. Not one serving is a representatives of all of the people in this community.
Those people on the wet side of town are only treated to any kind of recognition when their votes are needed. Remember when Scharfenberger campaigned the Bayshore two years ago for the first time ever. Haven't seem him since either,have you ??
Make no mistake about it , the dredging of the Shadow Lake is purely political and nothing more . After election time there will be another reason for postponing what should have been done many years and never was ! Now the costs to do it right are prohibitive.
Over 3 million dollars should be spent in the Bayshore before Shadow Lake is even a consideration. These TC clowns don't seem to know any better. Their judgement stinks and has for the last ten or more years. Representation in this community comes from the bottom of the barrel of republican mud.
These Republicans do not know the difference between common decency or right from wrong.
Cliff Raisch lives right on the lake. Former mayor Brightbill and current Committeeman Settembrino live much closer than Ms. Baum. The point is?
Legion,
Your comment about Sayreville's Republican Bella's comment regarding the "cost of clean fill", with emphasis on clean just about says it all, which is: Middletown's Shadow Lake material isn't clean and Sayreville can offer less because it isn't clean.
So, Sayreville taxpayers represented by Bella and others will have a choice to pay more for "clean" uncontaminated safer fill to replace the contaminated soil that they spent a lot of money to remove; or, they can replace contaminated soil with contaminated soil. The people of Middletown get to spend money to dredge a lake that very few actually use and the people of Sayreville get to work and play and invite others to spend recreational time on contaminated land. I can see the hotel marketing campaign: 'come stay with us; enjoy the aged locally brewed poison we have to offer.
Anon 12:15 AM,
If by implication you are trying to say that Linda Baum is one of the few Middletown residents that might benefit from the dredging of Shadown Lake because she may live close to it, then would are wrong. She is not one of the few who would benefit because their property abuts the lake. Does Pam Brightbill live in River Plaza?
Representation in this town seems to be concentrated in River Plaza. Time to reconstruct government to a ward system with an elected mayor and help everyone one of the seventy plus thousand residents who reside here.Make it more difficult to concentrate the influence of this self serving bunch of characters.
The mayor's secretary is the spouse of Cliff Raisch also for whatever that's worth. Probably not the extent of intrigue when this is all researched........
Isn't Cliff Raisch a long term member of the Township of Middletown Sewerage Authority, which makes him grandfathered when it comes to Middletown taxpayer paid health care now AND WHEN HE RETIRES? Is Cliff also entitled to a pension?
Aren't former Mayors Joan Smith and Pat Parkinson along with Tom Stokes and Jim Hinkley also long term Sewerage Authority members who are entitled to taxpayer supported health care when they retire from the Authority?
Anon 10:08 AM - I so agree with you in this. My previous town, in Morris County, had a ward/council/mayor system and it worked pretty well. How do we get this done?
Anonymous 1:25 p.m.,
Believe it would take a petition of a percentage of registered voters to get the change of government proposal on the ballot for voter approval.
That would be quite a task but the end result would be better government.
Government in this town reeks of lousy politics and worse politicians. The republican domination of the TC in the last thirty plus years, makes desperate for a fairer shake, the rest of the population of this town.
This town is ripe for change....someone just has to organize it.
Don't see how the people can ignore the raids on our library and our school system anymore. Time to test the waters for government change.
Anonymous 1:16 pm,
The answer is yes they all are long term TOMSA members but don't know if their part time capers entitle them to "lifetime" health and pension benefits. It's ludicrous if it does and this is exactly the kind of rotten politics that take place and rapes the taxpayer. These people apparently think they are above the law. 'Grandfathered" my a$$ !
Anon 2:23 - You are right, it looks like we would need a petition. It is also possible for an existing government to initiate a change, but that seems unlikely here.
I found a link to a Rutgers information sheet about the procedures:
http://cgs.rutgers.edu/sites/ce-drupal01.rutgers.edu.cgs/files/cgs/docs/rc_munichart_change_2011.pdf
How would we go about getting this rolling?
Anon 4:32
Former Democratic Township Committeeman Sean Byrnes did some research into this idea a couple of years back. He may be able to answer your questions.
His law office is located in Red Bank if you were interested in contacting him.
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