Your Turn
John E. McCormac
Guest Column

Mayor discusses contamination at General Dynamics property

As mayor of Woodbridge Township, my first priority is ensuring the public safety of all township residents. Along with the Township Council and the municipal government administrative team, we are determined to ensure that all residents live in neighborhoods that are safe, secure and environmentally sound. Avenel is a community that is getting our full attention.

In 2000, the former General Dynamics plant located at 150 Avenel Street closed, leaving behind an abandoned 27-acre industrial facility in the heart of the Avenel community. The General Dynamics site, which operated as several different manufacturing facilities since the early 1900s, is known to have pollutants and contaminants within its borders. Pursuant to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), General Dynamics has been monitoring and remediating the site under the terms of a remediation plan previously submitted to the DEP.

In 2006, new owners of the site indicated an interest in further cleaning up the property prior to any potential development. With the DEP at the table, along with professional environmental engineers from the former and current owners, we determined that we needed our own environmental experts to advise if recommendations made by others were in fact appropriate for our objective of ensuring the highest level of cleanup of the property. Therefore, to ensure the integrity of the testing and remediation, the township hired Birdsall Engineering, a private, independent environmental consultant, to review the environmental tests previously conducted in and around the former industrial site.

The township owns Fifth District Park, which is adjacent to the site, bordering homes on Avenel Street, Cornell Street and Lehigh Avenue in Avenel. Our first assignment to the township environmental engineers was to evaluate the park to ensure its safety for area residents who use the facility. Birdsall advised that tests performed in 1993 on the park and playground were very limited in terms of the area tested - the south end of the park far from the actual General Dynamics building - and contaminants tested - only four chemicals, not a complete array of all possible contaminants. As part of the extended environmental review, Birdsall Engineering tested perimeter areas along the fence line of Fifth District Park. Nine of the 10 tests along the fence line produced results that were positive, or above the DEP's action level for remediation. As a result, the township of Woodbridge initiated the following actions with regard to the General Dynamics site:

On June 11, the date the first test results were received, we immediately closed Fifth District Park, posted signs and hand delivered a letter to all the residents in the College Town section of Avenel - which extends from the site to the West, Avenel Street to the South, Rahway Avenue to the East, and state property to the North. That same day, Third Ward Councilman Greg Bedard, Councilwoman Patricia Osborne and I walked the neighborhood to personally speak with neighbors first-hand rather than have second-hand information and rumor dominate the conversation;

We called a community meeting on June 27 to personally explain the situation to residents, particularly to those residents most directly affected by the General Dynamics site;

We removed all playground equipment from Fifth District Park so that nobody, particularly children, would have any reason to visit the park;

We authorized and paid for additional testing throughout the park and sought expedited results to obtain information as quickly as possible. The second round of tests confirmed that some levels of contamination extend farther into the park and we shared this information with residents at the June 27th meeting;

We asked the new owners to better secure the site. That process is under way. Only the owners and the Woodbridge Police Department will have access to the site and the police will patrol and enter the site as necessary to enforce security and to protect public safety.

The Township Department of Public Works, under the direction of the Township Department of Health & Human Services, has installed silt fencing and placed hay bales around the exterior of the property to minimize the migration of dust and dirt.

We have established a link on the township Web Page located at: www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us.

The Web page will be updated as public information becomes available, including prior reports and documents, test data and relevant information.

We immediately brought the Department of Environmental Protection to the table and have asked them to re-evaluate the entire site remediation plan. Additionally, we have asked the New Jersey Department of Health to evaluate all test data and reports and to provide a clear review of potential public health issues at a future community meeting of Avenel residents.

We have scheduled a meeting with residents whose property abuts either the park or the playground to determine the potential for on-site testing of private property.

We are designing a third round of environmental tests which will cover the entire park and any other areas of potential concern. We anticipate this testing will be much more comprehensive and will provide definitive information regarding the extent of off-site contamination.

We will continue to be aggressive in testing the site and in demanding a proper course of action that will result in a cleanup to residential standards. Although it is not yet known who the responsible party or parties might be in terms of paying for the additional testing and cleanup, we decided public health and safety demanded that we continue to take swift actions.

Our administration has spoken about quality of life issues, targeted illegal housing, improper property maintenance and many other areas of concern to township residents. However, nothing is as important as ensuring that neighborhoods are free of contaminated facilities on their borders. We will take every step necessary to ensure that the former General Dynamics site is remediated to the maximum "Unrestricted Use" standard.

Councilman Bedard and the entire Woodbridge Township Council have given our efforts their full support and we will continue to make all available information public as soon as practical. We will continue to knock on doors and hold community meetings to make certain that every resident fully understands the situation and the township's actions.

John E. McCormac is the mayor of Woodbridge Township