Brick MUA Questions Proposed Howell Solid Waste Station

HOWELL, NJ — As residents and officials in Howell push back against a proposal to convert an existing recycling center in Howell Township into a solid waste transfer station, a neighboring town is asking questions now, too — questions about what will be done to protect the local water supply.

The Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority, which provides water for more than 100,000 residents in Brick, Point Pleasant and Point Pleasant Beach, as well as parts of Lakewood and Howell, has sent a letter to the Monmouth County Solid Waste Advisory Council about the proposed facility. In it, the MUA wants to know what steps are being taken to protect the Metedeconk River and Dick's Brook, which is a tributary of the river, from any potential pollution.

The proposed solid waste transfer station would sit on a piece of property off Randolph Road where Resource Engineering currently operates a facility that processes tree stumps, untreated wood and brush. The proposal would expand its business to construction debris, and bulky cleanout debris "for sorting, removing recyclable material from, and transferring to an out of state disposal facility for final disposal."

The materials can contain asbestos, lead-based paint, varnish, creosote and adhesives, "leading to the need for potentially have hazardous waste to dispose of from the site," according to information from the state Department of Environment Protection in a report by Shore News Network.

It is those concerns that prompted the letter from the Brick Township MUA.

"The proposed Solid Waste Transfer Station would be located roughly 1,100 feet from the North Branch Metedeconk River and 700 feet from Dick's Brook, a major North Branch tributary. This area is underlain primarily by sandy, well-drained soils that are in close hydraulic connection with these waterways. Essentially, any release of pollutants to the ground surface has the potential to affect the Metedeconk River and our water supply," said Joseph Maggio, the MUA's director of water quality.

"Brick Utilities would like to herein request information on the measures that will be put in place to ensure the protection of the area's water resources, including but not limited to plans for stormwater management, hazardous waste management, spill containment, emergency response and discharge monitoring," Maggio wrote. "Our evaluation of these materials will help us determine whether additional dialogue with Monmouth County is necessary to ensure the protection of our water supply."

"We recognize the importance of comprehensive solid waste management planning and the difficulties associated with siting new facilities. However, we must ensure that any upstream activities, particularly those involving more intensive land uses, are undertaken with careful consideration of surface and ground water resource protection," Maggio wrote.

The facility already has the approval of the Monmouth County Solid Waste Council, a point that angered the room full of residents who showed up to put their concerns on the record in Howell on Jan. 25. Many asked what the purpose of the meeting was since the council was not considering their comments.

The reason, however, was to provide public input for the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, which still has to make its decision on the proposal, because it involves an adjustment to the county's solid waste management master plan.

Mayor Theresa Berger, who provided written comments read into the record by her son as she was unable to be at the meeting, said she opposes the project, a sentiment also expressed by Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro and Councilman Bob Walsh. Walsh went so far as to say he did not ever remember a council vote on the solid waste transfer station proposal, despite a letter from then-Town Manager Jeff Mayfield that said the council supported the move.

The freeholders are scheduled to vote on the amendment to the solid waste master plan at the Feb. 22 meeting. The Asbury Park Press has reported Resource Engineering is owned by the husband of former Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French. Resource Engineering also has unresolved violations with state DEP, including some that for violations on limits on the types of materials that can be processed and stored, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Residents at the Jan. 25 meeting complained that the site will result in heavy trucks being lined up on local roads waiting to get in and excessive truck traffic as they come out. Representatives of Resource Engineers said the site would have 188 smaller trucks per day bringing material into the site and 62 trucks larger ones per day leaving with material that cannot be processed on site. The site would operate from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no trucks in or out after 5 p.m.

Though the engineering and traffic experts representing Resource Engineering said the trucks would be limited as to what roads they could travel to reach the site, several residents raised concerns that the volume of trucks would create a danger, especially with young drivers using Route 547 on their way to and from Howell High School.

The traffic engineer said a one-day study of Candlewood Road conducted on a weekday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. said a traffic signal the developer is proposing to install along with some road improvements would make the situation safer, a contention that residents and town officials rejected.

Several other residents brought up the issue of contamination of the Metedeconk and Dick's Brook, bringing up the contamination that happened in the Legler area of Jackson Township years ago. The Metedeconk is a Category One watershed, and the MUA noted it is used to feed water directly to the water treatment plant and to fill its 860-million-gallon off-stream pumped raw water storage reservoir.

Comments on the proposal can be submitted through Feb. 21 to the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders or directly to Stuart Newman of the Solid Waste Advisory Council:

Monmouth County Solid Waste Advisory Council
c/o Stuart Newman
6000 Asbury Ave.
Tinton Falls, NJ 07753

reference 683-8686 8961

Or by email to Stuart.newman@co.monmouth.nj.us/

Howell residents jam a Jan. 25 hearing on the proposal to expand the operations at Resource Engineering on Randolph Road. Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff