Woodbridge Township, Viridian Partners, NJDEP, Brownfield Development Committee & Public/Private Partnership Announce Remediation & Clean-Up of Former Contaminated Area at the Keasbey Redevelopment Site
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
June 6, 2012
John R. Hagerty
732-602-6039
Mayor’s Office of Communications
Woodbridge Township – Mayor John E. McCormac, Viridian Partners, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the Brownfields Development Area Steering Committee (BDA), the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency, and a public/private environmental partnership, today announced the completion of remediation and environmental clean-up of more than 13+ acres at the former PMC Specialties site located on part of the Keasbey Redevelopment Zone and Brownfields Development Area (BDA) in Woodbridge Township.
“The completion of this phase of remediation and clean-up at the former PMC Specialties property at the Keasbey Redevelopment site represents another milestone in the efforts to clean-up and restore the Brownfields Development Area along the Raritan River waterfront in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge Township,” said Mayor McCormac. “It is only through the combined commitment and partnership of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency, the BDA Steering Committee, the Edison Wetlands Association, and the corporations and remediation experts located within the BDA, that we are able to announce continued progress in the effort to restore the property to productive use. Ultimately, we anticipate the site will be remediated to NJDEP standards and will house a state-of-the-art energy complex, expanded corporate warehouse space, and more than 100 acres of restored waterfront wetlands with public access – for the first time ever – to the Raritan River in Woodbridge. The Keasbey Redevelopment site will return millions of dollars in tax ratables to the Township and will serve as a springboard for further economic and corporate development along the Industrial Highway in Woodbridge.”
“Viridian Partners is proud to partner with Woodbridge Township, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the BDA, and the public/private partnership on this comprehensive restoration effort that will create corporate and business development and public access to the Raritan River,” said Steve Ganch, Director of Development for Viridian Partners. “This project is a great example of how private developers, responsible environmental parties, municipalities, and regulators can work together to put challenging distressed properties back into productive re-use without the use of public tax dollars.”
In 2007, Viridian Partners, a private company that specializes in the remediation and redevelopment of Brownfield sites, announced interest in the PMC Specialties property which contained challenging environmental, engineering, and planning issues. After extensive due diligence and extensive site plan approvals, Viridian closed on the property in the fall of 2008. For the next 18 months, Viridian worked with the responsible environmental parties, regulatory agencies, and the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency, to further define the plans for the clean-up and resolve land use issues. In the spring of 2010, the site was added to the Woodbridge Township BDA which facilitated the commencement of clean-up activities. During the next two years, site soils were remediated, remaining concrete removed, crushed and recycled for use on site, and approximately 70,000 cubic yards of processed dredge material was imported to raise site elevation and provide a partial environmental cap. The soil remediation project restored the former PMC Specialties site to DEP standards. Today, the site is “pad ready” for sale to a contract purchaser who is expected to close and start final development improvements in the very near future.
In 2009, the DEP designated the Keasbey redevelopment site as a Brownfield Development Area, which allows communities to designate clusters of Brownfield sites for coordinated remediation and redevelopment. Municipalities that have been designated are eligible for grants of up to $5 million each year from the DEP’s Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund for investigation and remediation. A DEP case manager assists the Township in overseeing remediation, obtaining financial assistance, and coordinating revitalization efforts with other state agencies.
In October, 2011, Mayor McCormac and the BDA announced the start of restoration of more than 120 acres of environmental wetlands along the Raritan River and construction of the future Woodbridge Waterfront Park remediation and further cleanup at the Brownfields Development Area in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge Township. The wetlands remediation project on the Raritan River section of the BDA site includes restoration of the natural wetland habitat, the planting of more than two million native plants which will transform the site into a diverse, functioning ecosystem of tidal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, and enhanced upland areas. The future Woodbridge Waterfront Park will allow direct public access to the Raritan River from Woodbridge – something that has not happened since before the turn-of-the-century. When completed, the Woodbridge Waterfront Park will include two miles of new hiking trails, boardwalks along the river and upland areas, bird blinds, scenic overlooks, ecological signage, and passive recreation areas.
