Sayreville Officials State, “No Shadow Lake Dredged Materials Will Becoming To Sayreville”; What Is Middletown’s Plan?

For Immediate Release:

August 1st, 2012

(Middletown, NJ) The Middletown Township Committee announced earlier this month they will move forward with plans to dredge Shadow Lake, even though there does not seem to be agreement on where the arsenic-contaminated soil will go once extracted.

The Department of Environmental Protection supposedly approved of the former National Lead industrial site in Sayreville as the final resting place for the estimated 150,000 cubic yards of Shadow Lake sediment; however, the Sayreville Economic and Redevelopment Agency (SERA) has not agreed to accept the shipment and will not accept contaminated soil. The Sayreville site is scheduled to become the future location of The Point, a redevelopment project that will include housing, retail, office and entertainment uses.

Sayreville residents have expressed concern over the possibility of the dredged material passing standards and remained skeptical about the soil transfer.

The Middletown Township Committee has not proposed a back up plan, or what it might cost in new bonds or (worst case) our own open space land to pay for an alternative dumping site. Yet, they press forward potentially at our later expense.

Fellow citizens, this summer, as you pack up with your children for the quintessential family road trip, do not make the same mistake as our Township Committee. Plan the route from start to finish, check your itinerary, and make reservations for lodging at your final destination. Even if your desired hotel is AAA- approved, don’t start driving unless you know they will have room for you when you arrive. Your family should expect nothing less. As Middletown residents we should expect nothing less, also.

Don Watson, Chairman
Middletown Democratic Executive Committee

Sayreville To Middletown " You Can Keep Your Stinking Dirt! "

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.