Capping recommended for Ford Avenue soil
Some say plan is not enough to protect future residents
BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer
An environmental engineering firm working for the Ford Avenue Redevelopment Agency says contamination at the controversial Ford Avenue redevelopment site in Milltown should be capped off.

Opponents of the project, however, contend that a cap is only a temporary fix and would not make the site safe enough for future residents.

"That's all hysteria," said Vajira Gunawardana, of Eatontown-based Najarian Associates, which conducted the investigation for the borough's redevelopment agency. "I am a professional engineer. I don't want to sign off on a plan that's not going to work. My license is at stake."

Gunawardana said a 2-foot-deep cap consisting of clean soil would prove sufficient to remediate the contamination, since there are only marginal levels of some metals in the soil there. The site investigation and remediation is being conducted jointly by the local agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in what is known as the triad approach.

In using this approach, Gunawardana said, significantly more locations at the site were tested.

"You want to make sure that you don't miss any contaminated hot spots," Gunawardana said. "This way, we get input from everybody, and no stone is left unturned."

Bob Spiegel, executive director of the Edison Wetlands Association (EWA), said caps only contain the contamination onsite. Often, the technique fails, Spiegel said, noting also that the caps are not typically maintained and checked as is prescribed.

"We've had nothing but problems with sites the DEP has allowed to be capped, especially at sites with residential development," Spiegel said. "They're going to clean up the site to an industrial standard, to a commercial standard, not a residential standard."

The site, once home to the Michelin Tire Co.'s first plant, is still zoned for commercial and light industrial uses, though a zoning overlay for residential was approved by the borough in order for the redevelopment project to be considered. The borough's redevelopment plan calls for 276 housing units, which may be all or partly age-restricted.

Despite protests from Milltowners for a $ensible Ford Avenue Redevelopment, a citizens group long opposed to the current plans, Redevelopment Agency Chairman Anthony Zarillo insisted that capping is a reliable and prudent way of dealing with the contamination.

"The site is referred to as a minimally impacted area," Zarillo said. "The capping of the site is a safe technology to remediate the contamination. As a result, anyone who would occupy the site would not be exposed to any harm, and more importantly, it would ensure that there would be no leaching into the Mill Pond as a result of the capping."

When the redevelopment tract was designated as a brownfields site by the DEP, it allowed the borough and agency to qualify for funding to cover costs of the site investigation and remedial action work plan (RAW), as well as for the cleanup itself, Zarillo said. The DEP approved the plan that calls for capping.

"The people who are opposed to the capping are going against what their own engineer is saying," Zarillo said. "The people who are opposing this are activists. Mr. [Charlie] Jegou and the Milltown group are entitled to their opinion, but the public must know that it's only an opinion."

Zarillo pointed out that Richard Chapin, an engineer who provides technical assistance to the Milltowners' group under the auspices of the EWA, has been working along with the triad group as an active participant.

Chapin told Greater Media Newspapers that he is not on board with plans for capping of the site.

"Capping of a contaminated site is an acceptable measure in the DEP's world," Chapin said. "I believe a residential property should be cleaned up to the residential standards. I think in the long term, it's going to be a problem."

Defending the practice, Gunawardana said residents would not be affected by the contamination. He said testing has revealed that groundwater is not impacted. He also pointed out that below the 2-foot soil cap, plastic orange fencing would be put in to serve as a barrier in case anyone digs there.

"What are the chances of a kid digging 2 feet, and then eating that soil - not likely, right?" Gunawardana said.

Spiegel said that since plastic breaks down over time, the barrier in the ground is not a reliable method of alerting residents to the contamination there.

Gunawardana refuted Spiegel's claim that capped sites are not checked and maintained, saying the DEP requires, by law, that such sites are inspected every two years to ensure that they are safe.

"Once the state allows capping, they rarely, if ever, go back to the site," Spiegel said. "The people who suffer are going to be the families that live there."

According to Spiegel, even when the sites are inspected, it is done by those who have a financial stake in the property. In this case, he said, it would be the redevelopment agency that would be held responsible for conducting inspections there.

Jegou also expressed little to no confidence in capping as a remediation technique, saying it is unsafe.

"They're going by the minimum that has to be done," Jegou said. "Whatever's the cheapest, that's what they're going to do."

According to Jegou, the redevelopment agency can only be made to clean the property to the standard of its zoning specifications, which are still light industrial and commercial.

Both Gunawardana and Zarillo addressed Jegou's statement from a Dec. 19 Star-Ledger article, in which he said residents at the site would not become aware of the contamination until after they had moved into homes there.

"For Mr. Jegou to suggest that the residents of the site will not be informed that the area has been capped is ludicrous," Zarillo said.

Jegou stood by his claim.

"Most of the time, they won't find out until during the closing," Jegou said. "We will let the people know what's there."

According to Gunawardana, other options for remediating the contamination are simply not feasible. One example he mentioned was removing it completely, which he said would require about a dozen landfills in which to place the polluted soil.

"If it was in a landfill, at least it wouldn't be near people," Spiegel said. "At least children wouldn't be playing on it."

Spiegel said thermal treatment of the contamination would be a viable option. Such treatment involves bringing the contaminated soil to high temperatures to remove contaminants.

In any case, Spiegel remained staunchly against the capping method.

"It's like putting a giant pool cover on a giant toxic bathtub," Spiegel said.

This is not the first controversy sparked over the Ford Avenue redevelopment. Since the project's inception, it has been met with resistance from the Milltowners citizens group. More recently, a lawsuit lodged by Lawrence Berger, the owner of the Ford Avenue property, has threatened to thwart the plans of the redevelopment agency because of the town and agency's failure to address affordable housing obligations.