Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- When most Ocean County residents think of the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. property, it's likely that visions of chemical contamination and polluted ground water come quickly to mind.
But there is another side to the sprawling Ciba land, which has been included on the federal Superfund list of hazardous waste sites since 1982. The majority of the property -- about 1,050 acres of the 1,350-acre site -- is heavily wooded land, home to herds of deer and other wildlife, including foxes and beavers.
It is also the largest undeveloped property in densely populated Dover Township, home to nearly 90,000 people and a Township Committee that has made a commitment to preserve a large portion of the less than 3,000 acres of open space that remain here.
Perhaps that explains why a recent recommendation by Dover's Open Space Committee that the township become involved in discussions about the future of the Ciba property has generated such heated debate.
"We've got to look 20 to 50 years down the road and see what we want there," said Peter C. Hibbard, president of Ocean County Citizens for Clean Water, an environmental group that has closely monitored the cleanup of the Ciba site for more than a decade. "We've got a lot of options out there that are low impact on the environment."
Hibbard said he would like to see Ciba sell the property to The Natural Lands Trust for preservation in return for a tax savings on the contaminated land the company must retain.
"We should cut them a tax break in exchange for getting the rest of it as open space," Hibbard said. He said studies of the Ciba property conducted by a consultant retained by his group indicate the land is clean.
Dover Committeeman J. Mark Mutter said he believes the township must take bold steps to make sure the property is preserved and not used for residential or industrial development.
"There is good acreage there," Mutter said. "I've never altered from the view that there should be passive and active recreation for our sports organizations in the open areas, while the areas along the river should be a conservation area, for passive recreation, like picnicking."
Some of Ciba's neighbors agree that future development of the site should be limited.
"I would like to see something that would be a minimal impact on the land and a minimal impact on our taxes," said Frank Ragucci, who lives at at 13 Oak Ridge Parkway, not far from an entrance to Ciba's property.
Ragucci, who has lived there for 15 years, said he would like to see nature trails or maybe some type of nature preserve on the property.
"I can't see any more housing there," he said. "Aside from housing, the last thing I would want to see would be another unoccupied strip mall."
Maria Potter, who lives at 2003 First Ave. in Manchester's Pine Lake Park section, next to Ciba's northern boundary, said she also does not want to see more housing or industry on the property.
"There is already enough housing," Potter said. "Maybe something for the kids would be nice, like a park or a playground."
Other residents are not so sure.
Camelot Drive resident Carol Benson, whose 8-year-old grandson, Justin, died from a brain tumor last year, said she does not think children should ever be allowed to play on any part of the Ciba land.
"I still have a problem with the statement that it's clean property," Benson said.
On June 13, Township Committee members agreed to send a letter to Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., which owns the land, asking that the company consider donating the property to Dover for $1.
"There is nothing wrong with us, as an initial position, saying that, indeed, they have the responsibility of giving back for the wrongs they committed in the past," Mutter said. "Our initial position should be to ask them to donate it to us for a buck."
All this discussion of future plans for the property strikes some Ciba officials as a bit premature.
"Right now our foremost consideration is the ongoing remediation," said Donna M. Jakubowski, director of external affairs for Ciba's Corporate Remediation Services. "Redevelopment will not be allowed to interfere with the re-mediation process."
The company is negotiating with the federal Environmental Pro-tection Agency to develop a con-sent decree for the cleanup of more than 20 sites on the Ciba property that are considered sources for a plume of groundwa-ter contamination that has mi-grated off the property.
EPA last year chose bio-remedia-tion as the cleanup remedy for the Ciba site, which involves us-ing microbes that already exist on the property to eat pollutants in the soil. The microbes are stimu-lated by adding nutrients, straw and oxygen to speed up the de-composition of contaminants.
Once the consent decree is reached, Ciba will begin designing a system to complete the cleanup, with EPA oversight and public hearings to give residents input. The cleanup will begin after the EPA signs off on the remediation design, which could be done by sometime next year.
The actual cleanup of the source areas could be finished by the year 2010, at an estimated cost to Ciba of $92 million.
Cleaning up the groundwater will take much longer. Under a treat-ment system that has been in place for the past four years, Ciba extracts 2.7 million gallons of pol-luted groundwater each day, treats it to remove contaminants, then recharges the water back onto the property.
"We do hope to re-establish the property for productive use in the community at some point, so we are prepared to discuss the ideas now," Ciba spokeswoman Jaku-bowski said, "but it's going to be some time before any decision is reached."
Ciba's land is easily the largest industrially zoned property in Dover, and may well be one of the largest tracts zoned for industrial development left in Ocean County, Jakubowski said.
"So, of course, there is a lot of interest in the property," she said.
In the past, Ciba officials have been approached by developers who have wanted to build every-thing from light industry to residential housing to a golf course on sections of the land.
Dover officials are most afraid of possible residential development of the property, even though such development would require a zon-ing change that might be difficult to obtain.
During last year's campaign for two Township Committee seats, former Committeeman George E. Wittmann Jr. and his running mate, Committeewoman Marilyn L. Brett, lobbied for the acquisition of Ciba's land, warning up to 6,000 units of housing could be built on the property if the zoning were changed.
Republicans Wittmann and Brett were defeated by Democrats John F. Russo Jr. and John M. Furey, both of whom had questioned the wisdom of the township purchasing the Ciba property.
Russo said last week that he continues to believe that acquiring Ciba's land should not be a priority for Dover.
"The Ciba-Geigy land is not in any imminent danger of development," Russo said. "It is not zoned for residential use. What we should be looking at are the residential properties that have the potential to yield schoolage children."
EPA spokeswoman Nina Habib-Spencer said the federal agency will likely place long-term deed restrictions on the contaminated portion of the property, which will prevent development there. But she said the vast majority of the land is unpolluted and will be available for development.
Russo has cautioned that even if the township were able to buy the vast Ciba tract through a funding partnership with county, state, federal and private groups, the purchase could use up all the funds that are potentially available for purchase of other, more vulnerable land here.
Ciba's land is assessed at about $26 million, or about $21,000 an acre, according to Dover Tax As-sessor Glenn Seelhorst.
Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, a Cranmoor Drive resident, said state officials, representatives of the nonprofit environmental group, The Trust for Public Lands, and Ciba representatives already have begun discussing the possibility of the state acquiring the land.
"The only thing I ask is that you indicate to the state of New Jersey that you are interesting in them beginning discussions," Gilmore urged the Township Committee at a meeting last week. He said the property could possibly be purchased using state Green Acres funds, or through a special Green Acres bond issue.
Natalie Loney, EPA's community involvement coordinator for the Ciba site, said she doubts Ciba officials will move to develop or sell the property in the near future.
"I honestly believe the town is trying to be as proactive as possible, but I don't think that Ciba is ready to sell the property, or interested in selling it, anytime soon," Loney said.
Published on July 1, 2001
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