Manchester Council Approves Water Main For Former Heritage Minerals Site

(Sign that marked the former Heritage Minerals site. Hovsons Inc., the owner, is trying to move forward with plans to develop the site. Courtesy NJ Small and Abandoned Buildings website)

By Chris Lundy

The Manchester Township Council approved a water main to run to the Heritage Minerals site, but questions remain about how much development will be done there.

The site, consisting of about 7,000 acres, has had numerous legal and environmental issues over the last 20 years. For most of that time, the developer Hovsons has been working toward building a large housing development there.

One major hurdle has been water allocation. The state only allows a certain amount of water pumped out to areas. Hovsons’ development -- even though it wouldn’t be built for years -- had tied up a great deal of water rights in the town, preventing development elsewhere in town.

In reaction to that, the township acquired a private water company and received a modification on its water allocation permit.

The council’s decision Monday night backed a number of other permits allowing the water to be pumped to the site, including approvals from the Pinelands Commission, New Jersey Department of Transportation, and Ocean County Soil Conservation District.

What is unclear is how large the pipe is and how much it will serve.

Theresa Lettman, a member of local environmental groups and a former councilwoman, questioned the size of the pipe being constructed. She wanted to know if it was made to support the 2,450 homes that are part of a settlement, or if it is wider, to support a larger development she fears is on the table.

“I believe the pipe is 24 inches, which is big enough for expansion,” she said. “I think they’ve already reached an agreement without coming to the public.”

The size of the pipe was not available as of Wednesday.

The future of the Heritage Minerals site has come up at council meetings several times since the summer, with council members saying any development is still years away, because of the various permits needed.

However, Hovsons, the owner of the site, has started remediating some of the radioactive materials there, Councilman Sam Fusaro said.

According to a plan agreed upon by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there is 695 cubic yards of monazite-rich sands, from when the company mined small amounts of thorium and uranium decades ago.

Unable to sell the sand, the owner proposed to mix it back into about 102,500 cubic yards of sand that it came from. That proposal has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection, and Hovsons last week began mixing the sand, Fusaro said. It will be some time before it will be tested to determine if it’s safe, Fusaro said.