West Windsor has been awarded two brownfield grants under the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund (HDSRF) from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that will fund the first phases of investigation into the remediation of two redevelopment area properties — the township compost site and the township bus depot.
As a formality, the Township Council also voted on March 16 to endorse the township’s submittal of the two applications to the state Department of Environmental Protection to receive the funding.
The grants will be used to fund preliminary assessments for hazardous materials on the two township-owned properties in the redevelopment area. The compost property on Alexander Road and the school bus depot property on Wallace Road were funded at a cost of $5,”537 and $3,”704.53, respectively.
The Township received additional money to perform a site investigation for the compost property in the amount of $53,”945. Windsor Compost, which had operated the facility until December 31, 2008, has moved its operations to Cranbury and Hamilton.
The preliminary assessment is scheduled to begin in April.
Officials from the state Office of Smart Growth Brownfields Program came to the township over the summer to explain the process for site remediation, which comes in four phases — preliminary assessment, site investigation, remediation investigation, and remediation action, the last of which involves the actual cleanup of the contamination and is usually the most costly.
One of the options state officials said were available to the township was the HDSRF, which covers 100 percent of the funding of the first three phases of the process, and some portion of the cleanup depending on the end use of the site. For the actual remediation phase, the state could provide up to 75 percent of the funding only if the site to be remediated would be preserved, conserved, or used for recreation. If the municipality wishes to use the site for affordable housing, the municipality could see the state pay for about 50 percent of the cleanup costs, officials said then. And if the township uses “innovative technology” on site, it may be able to recoup 25 percent of the costs of remediation. The state usually does not fund the actual remediation of the site, however, if it will be used for any other purpose. Each municipality is capped at receiving up to $3 million per year under the HDSRF.
In order to apply for 100 percent of the costs for the investigation and assessment phases under the HDSRF program, the township needed to first have its environmental consultants determine a cost estimate of the cleanup of the site and what would be involved in that cleanup, and prove that it either has ownership of the brownfield site or prove that it falls within a redevelopment area (in the form of redevelopment resolution or plan).
West Windsor’s redevelopment area contains at least four brownfield sites together, combining for more than about five acres of land.
The first resolution passed by council on March 16 authorized the township to submit a grant application under the HDSRF program, along with a $500 grant application for the .82-acre bus depot on township-owned land in the redevelopment area. The resolution points out that under the township’s redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area, the land is proposed for vehicular parking, public park, pedestrian and landscape improvements, and a municipal garage.
The resolution also states that the DEP has determined that the proposal by West Windsor to conduct a preliminary assessment is eligible for funding under the program, and that it has approved $3,”074.53 in funds to be disbursed to the township under the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund.
State officials told township officials over the summer that regardless of whether the contaminated sites are considered part of a redevelopment plan or not, as long as officials prove that the township intends to remediate the site within three years of receiving the funding for the investigation work, it can still be eligible for 100 percent of those costs.
The resolution states the township’s intent to develop the municipal garage site within three years after completion of the site remediation.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said that immediate plans would be to place surface parking on the bus depot site, until township officials work further with state officials, and that comes once a redevelopment plan is adopted.
But surface parking or parking garages would not be uses the township would be able to receive grants for in terms of the actual remediation action, state officials said, although it may be able to get 25 percent if it does use innovative technology that fits within Smart Growth principles. But, they said, there could be opportunities for West Windsor to obtain additional funding from other state agencies based on the fact that the surface parking would fit in with transit-oriented goals. The township also might have about $700,”000 in the coffers for remediation in that area for constructing surface parking for its residents.
And remediation requirements are not as stringent for surface parking as they would be if the site were to be used for housing or commercial development, because the surface parking lot would act as a cap or barrier, after hazardous substances are first removed from the contaminated soil.
The second resolution approved by council on March 16 is for the 7.42-acre compost facility, also in the redevelopment area. This grant application also comes with a $500 application fee. Similarly, this resolution also stated the township’s intent to use the site for parking, public park, and pedestrian and landscape improvements and that it supports redevelopment of the site within three years of the cleanup.
But in this case, the resolution also states that the DEP has recommended that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority obligate funds in the amount of $59,”483.60 to conduct a Preliminary assessment and site investigation. The DEP has approved $5,”537 in funds to be disbursed to the township under the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said the compost site, which had been used as the township landfill site for about 70 years and closed at the end of 2008, needs to be assessed before the design of remedial strategy and action can be undertaken. The bus depot, he said, may or may not have environmental issues which the preliminary assessment will determine.
Hsueh also said he expects that the township will get 100 percent of the funding for the first two phases, especially if the redevelopment plan is adopted on Monday, March 23. “Then if we finish phase two, there will still be the possibility that we will get 100 percent funding” for the third phase, he said.
