In response to West Windsor Council’s urging that all of the contamination at the future WWM Properties shopping center, it appears that Edgewood Properties has agreed to do so.##M:[more]##
Last month, council members had expressed their dissatisfaction with a proposal to cap the contaminated fill — as opposed to excavating it — at the site of the proposed 12-acre shopping center on the corner of Princeton-Hightstown and Southfield Roads, and drafted a resolution urging the Department of Environmental Protection and Edgewood Properties to remove it all.
That was in response to a presentation by the DEP last month that said Edgewood’s proposed capping of the fill and removing only one hot spot near the proposed day care center on site, was an acceptable course of action for remediating the site.
However, Councilman Charlie Morgan reported to council November 13 that township attorney Mike Herbert sent a letter to the council stating that the mayor received a response from John Verlaque, the attorney for Edgewood. In that letter, “Edgewood had committed itself to removing the contaminants from the site and the immediate surrounding area and disposing of that material off site,” Herbert wrote.
Council President Will Anklowitz asked whether the letter simply referred to the cement surrounding the day care center only, or whether it referred to the whole site. Morgan said that the way he read the letter indicated Edgewood was referring to the whole site. The council is seeking clarification from Herbert on the matter.
Construction at the shopping center, where a day care center, bank, pharmacy and several small retail establishments are proposed, was halted after the DEP found that Ford Motor Co. and its contractor, Edgewood Properties Inc., had shipped recycled concrete from the demolition of Ford’s former Edison Assembly Plant on Route 1 to various construction sites around the state, including West Windsor. Tests later found the cement to contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
