The issue of whether dredged sediment from a Middletown lake will be transported to the former National Lead site still remains.
At a Nov. 14 public hearing in Middletown, a new official with the Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said that Sayreville officials accepted the Shadow Lake material. Suzanne Dietrick, chief of the Office of Dredging and Sediment Technology at the DEP, stated that preliminary materials were submitted to the redevelopment authority involved with the property, and that they did not resist the analytical package.
But representatives for the redeveloper of the National Lead site, O’Neill Properties Group, and the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) stated that no decision has been made.
Middletown obtained the DEP approval to dredge part of Shadow Lake in June. Soon, the reports said the corresponding sediment would be transported to the former National Lead site. The site alongside the Raritan River is determined to become the future location of The Point.
Brian O’Neill Jr., of O’Neill Properties declared that the DEP provided his company with an official request to accept the material, including a review of the sediments. The company’s engineers at Roux Associates are planning to conduct their own testing of the material and submit a recommendation in the upcoming few weeks.
After that, SERA officials will carry out an individual review in order to make another recommendation available, according to SERA Executive Director Joseph Ambrosio. He further added that the material would be accepted only if it meets state standards.
Mayor Kennedy O’Brien stressed once again his statement made in June that Sayreville is not a dumping ground. His intention is to write a letter to Dietrick, asking her who in Sayreville told her that the material would be accepted.
O’Neill was clear that the sediment could be used as fill material in the redevelopment process, and that the company would not be paid to take the material.
The dredging in Middletown is scheduled to commence in the spring of next year. Approximately 150,000 cubic feet of sediment is planned to be removed from the western portion of Shadow Lake and its tributaries. The undertaking will continue until April 2014, and the sediment will be stored at an 18-acre confined disposal field constructed on the site. A one-year drying period will follow until April 2015, at which point it will take a year to remove the dry sediment and transport it to its final destination in Sayreville.
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Dredging Today Staff, December 8, 2011;