Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Dover Township Committee members have voted unanimously to ask state officials to study the feasibility of acquiring the untainted portions of the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. site.
State officials and the nonprofit Trust for Public Lands have already been informally discussing the acquisition of the unpolluted portions of Ciba's 1,350-acre site, which is owned by Ciba Specialty Chemical Corp., the successor to Ciba-Geigy Corp.
The former Ciba-Geigy dye manufacturing operation has been on the federal Superfund list of hazardous waste sites for almost 20 years. But only 200 to 300 acres of the property were ever developed. The majority of Ciba's land is wooded, undeveloped property -- the largest undeveloped industrially zoned tract in Dover.
Township officials have expressed concern about how the vacant, clean land will be developed, and have said they hope it can be preserved for recreational use.
In late June, Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore, a Cranmoor Drive resident, had urged the Township Committee to indicate to state officials Dover's interest in the land by beginning discussions about acquiring the property.
"The resolution asks the state to begin the discussions, and to include the township in any discussions," Committeeman J. Mark Mutter said yesterday. "It's one small step for the Township Committee, one giant leap for Dover Township."
Mutter said the resolution was crafted by the Open Space Committee and approved unanimously by the group.
Democratic Committeemen John F. Russo Jr. and John M. Furey supported the resolution Friday even though in the past, they have raised concerns about the state possibly acquiring Ciba's land.
Russo said that he and Furey agreed to support the resolution only to start discussions about the Ciba property.
"All we're doing is investigating what the possibilities are," he said yesterday. "We're going to explore it."
In June, Russo cautioned that, should the township agree to acquire the Ciba site through some type of funding partnership with state, county, federal and private groups, the purchase could use up all the funds that are potentially available for purchase of other, more vulnerable tracts of land.
Russo and Furey have said that since the Ciba land is not in imminent danger of development, more vulnerable properties should be purchased first, using available funds.
Ciba Specialty Chemicals and its parent corporation, Novartis, recently reached a legal agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice to clean up pollution source areas on the company's property, located off Route 37 and Oak Ridge Parkway.
Ciba has agreed to pay about $92 million to clean up its site. A public meeting on Ciba's cleanup agreement is scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Quality Inn, Route 37.
Published on October 2, 2001
|
