By JF Grodeska
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – The Atlantic Highlands Council began its recent meeting with a tribute, renaming Center Avenue Park to Helen Marchetti Park after the longtime resident and former mayor who died last month. The park is two blocks from Marchetti’s lifelong home in the borough. It is also adjacent to the Brant Point development project, an agenda item once again for the council.
Borough engineer Douglas Rohmeyer of CME Associates provided an update on the Denholtz Custom Homes development, which received an NJDEP Notice of Violation for stormwater runoff in August.
Rohmeyer reported that he and borough administrator Robert Ferragina met with the developer, the contractor and the project’s licensed site remediation professional (LSRP) at the construction area Sept. 26. They walked the site, discussing the fallen silt fencing – installed to prevent potentially contaminated soil from eroding into Sandy Hook Bay – as well as canyon-like channels in the soil that could provide ways for runoff from the site to flow onto the beach and into the bay during storms.
“The developer indicated ways that they were going to additionally fortify the perimeter fencing with the screening on it, by way of anchoring and some concrete block,” Rohmeyer explained. “We have directed the contractor to reinstall the silt fencing, reset it, and maintain it going forward until the site is fully stabilized.”
According to the developer’s site plan, a steel retaining wall will be built as a kind of bulkhead to stop erosion.
Wriston Phillips, the LSRP, conducted soil and air quality testing and told the borough that the test results would be available this week. These results will determine if the soil is contaminated; if so, it will be carted away and replaced.
Throughout the storm Sept. 29 and 30, the silt fence failed to stop soil erosion caused by high winds and violent surf; heavy rains flowed through the channels in the soil allowing sediment to run into the bay. By Oct. 3 the new fence was in place.
The borough council, planning board and environmental committee have no jurisdiction over the Denholtz property; it falls under the purview of the state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) which does not perform site testing. Under New Jersey regulations, Phillips, the licensed site remediation professional, is responsible for overseeing any environmental investigations and cleanups. According to the New Jersey Site Remediation Reform Act, the LSRP’s highest priority is the protection of public health and safety and the environment.
The property owner, not the state, pays for the LSRP’s services.
Residents had requested soil, air and water sample test results from the NJDEP as well as the LSRP prior to the borough’s site walkthrough. In response they were told to file an OPRA (Open Public Records Acts) request with the NJDEP.
OPRA requests for soil and water test results from the site for the period of April through September 2023 resulted in a notice of no such documentation was found.
In an email response to questions about the OPRA results, Matthew J. Coefer, chief records custodian for the NJDEP, said the only remedial reports for that site are dated from 2015 to 2017.
He did note that two new LSRP cases were opened Sept. 5, one related to a heating oil tank, and the other related to a caller advising of “a release during construction at a site.” Coefer said “petroleum-stained soils” were found and clean-up is pending.
Coefer also said one existing case relates to numerous complaints received between July and August of this year. “However, at this time, I see no submission of any remedial reports. It’s plausible that the LSRP has performed sampling and received results but has not submitted the information to the NJDEP,” he said.
In response, Phillips, the LSRP, said the cases are “currently being evaluated and documentation will be provided in accordance with the NJDEP’s timelines.”
The article originally appeared in the October 12 – 18, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
