The West Windsor Parking Authority has contracted with ACT Engineering to conduct the third phase of remediation study on the former compost site on Alexander Road, where both the township and the parking authority hope to create more train station parking.
According to West Windsor Business Administrator Robert Hary, the Parking Authority is paying the costs for the study, in compliance with an agreement the township and Parking Authority approved in January.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Parking Authority was to provide the up-front costs of around $200,000 to move along with the process, which is expected to ultimately provide up to 500 parking spaces for West Windsor residents on the Alexander Road site, which borders the Princeton Junction train station.
The township would reimburse the Parking Authority through money it receives from the state. “We’re hopeful we will get up to 100 percent of that money back to the Parking Authority,” Hary reported to the Township Council at the June 13 meeting. Hary said the Parking Authority is also studying costs associated with operating a parking lot at the site. He said the township would consider proposing a joint venture with the Parking Authority for operation of the lot.
In addition to providing more parking, Hary said the venture could provide a revenue source for the township.
The township had previously been awarded two brownfield grants under the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund (HDSRF) from the DEP to fund the first two phases of investigation into the remediation of the township compost site.
The money for the third phase would cover more detailed testing of the site to develop a remedial action work plan. When the agreement was approved in January, Hary said that if the third phase went well, the council would be asked to formalize the shared service agreement to have the Parking Authority lease and manage the facility.
West Windsor officials began remediation investigations in 2008, when Windsor Compost, which had operated the facility until December, 2008, moved operations to Cranbury and Hamilton.
Site remediation comes in four phases — preliminary assessment, site investigation, remediation investigation, and remediation action, the last of which involves the actual cleanup of the contamination. State funding covers 100 percent of the first three phases.
