Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JOSEPH PICARD
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Vo-tech and county officials were stunned by the news that the Toms River riverside site intended for the school's new marine sciences building may have to be abandoned because of ground pollution.
"Preliminary tests indicate that there may be a problem with contamination at the site," said William P. Hoey, superintendent of the Ocean County Vocational Technical Schools. He was referring to the 15 acres on the Toms River behind the Dover Municipal Utilities Authority building at the south end of Highland Parkway -- land the DMUA donated to the vo-tech last March.
"We are conducting further tests," Hoey said. "The full test results will be presented to the Board of Education at the Feb. 19 meeting."
Ocean County Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari said: "Geographically, it's a beautiful site for the marine academy, with access to the river. But, if the site is contaminated, the school will not be built there."
"I'd hate to jump the gun and say we have to look elsewhere because it is so desirable a site, but I'll admit that it worries me," said Joseph J. Harding, vice president of the vo-tech Board of Education and the county purchasing director. "We'll just have to wait for the final test results."
Officials said the vo-tech has several possible alternative sites for its Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Sciences, or MATES, building, and that the school district will begin looking for another location as soon as it knows for certain that the Toms River site is unsuitable.
Hoey said that even if the site could be remediated, it's probable the vo-tech would have to look elsewhere because site remediation would likely delay school construction later than the district would like.
Hoey said he still has hopes to get the MATES building up by the end of this year or early in 2005.
Last year, after the donation of the land, the county freeholders pledged about $3.74 million to help in construction of the facility. The planned 50,000-square-foot structure, which will start off accommodating about 250 students, is estimated to cost $8 million.
Of the funding pledged by the county, the vo-tech district will put up $1.5 million, with the remaining $2.76 million coming from a state grant.
"The funding is secure," Vicari said. "The school will be built, and as soon as possible, wherever the property is found."
The MATES program is currently taught at the vo-tech's Dover Township campus. The program consists of an advanced curriculum of science and mathematics.
Vicari said the contamination detected in preliminary tests may have come from one or more of several sources.
"My understanding is that there was a coal gasification plant on or near that site in the past," Vicari said. "There was also some sort of sewage plant there."
A coal gasification plant, owned first by New Jersey Natural Gas Co. and, later, by Jersey Central Power & Light Co., operated on or near the site from 1928 to 1950. Coal was burned to create gas. The byproduct, coal tar, entered the soil and the ground water. Both companies have paid for some remediation.
In 1996, a consultant for New Jersey Natural Gas Co. said the ground water and soil at the coal gasification site were polluted with low levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are suspected cancer-causers. The consultant said the plume was moving toward the river.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/29/04
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