TOGETHER WE CAN STOP THE K. HOVNANIAN CONDO COMPLEX

As I wrote a few weeks ago, K.Hovnanian people would unveil a new development plan on Wednesday, July 28th, to the people of Atlantic Highlands during a regular scheduled Borough Council meeting in hopes of gaining public support. The new development would be a sizeable condo complex on the McConnell property; located at the end of Avenue D. and Bay Avenue and adjacent to the picturesque Sandy Hook Bay. They want to develop one of the last two remaining tracts of open space in Atlantic Highlands located right on the bay.

The evening of July 28th , I arrived at Borough Hall around 7pm (a half-hour before the meeting was to begin) and was troubled when I first saw the Hovnanian presentation team of about 10 people that included a lawyer, an ecologist, economist, and the always popular and good for a couple of laughs – traffic expert. I feared that they would dish out the trickery enough so to win over the support of government officials.

Yet, I was overjoyed when I entered the meeting hall and observed the place already half full with people against the project. By the time 7:30pm rolled around, the place was jammed packed with people that were 95% against the Hovnanian project. The place was standing room only with many people not even allowed to enter Borough Hall due to fire code regulations. It was this jam-packed. Not only were many people in attendance, but they were quite vocal. Even a majority of the politicians spoke out openly against the project.

Later that evening, I was happy to see the Area President of K. Hovnanian, Mr. Barry McCarron, depart Borough Hall with a big frown on his face. The meeting reminded me of an old-style “save our community” type of gathering.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the meeting was Mr. McCarron’s statement on public record that the soil and the groundwater on the McConnell tract is contaminated with diesel fuel, oil, and other petrochemicals. He claimed that these pollutants are being held back from entering Sandy Hook Bay only by a rotten wooded bulkhead.

Not surprisingly, K. Hovnanian people declared that they would save the day and remove all the pollutants on the McConnell tract, free of charge to the people of Atlantic Highlands.

It’s possible that the McConnell tract can be polluted, since it was utilized in the past as an oil storage site. Yet, there is no proof of contamination by either the State of New Jersey or the Monmouth County Health Department.

Nevertheless, if there really is a contamination problem, it is not the responsibility under law for K. Hovnanian to clean up the property; it is the land owner’s obligation. K. Hovnanian ethically and possibly legally has an obligation to report their findings to NJDEP.

Since the people of Atlantic Highlands cannot count on K. Hovnanian to be judicious in this event, given that they have a financial interest in the development of the property, the Atlantic Highlands Environmental Commission is determined to discover the facts.

Below is a letter drafted by Paul Boyd, chairperson of the Atlantic Highlands Environmental Commission, and sent to the Mayor and Borough Council. The letter provides analysis of the K. Hovnanian presentation and recommendations into investigating the potential pollutants in the soil and groundwater on the McConnell tract.

I share the below letter in hopes that a more informed public will be superior to the promising trickery put forth in the near future by K. Hovnanian people. Together we can stop the K.Hovnanian condo complex.
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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION

TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Environmental Commission, Paul Boyd, Chair
SUBJECT: Contamination on McConnell Tract

At its monthly meeting on July 29, the Environmental Commission voted unanimously to express our views and suggestions, as follows, to the Mayor and Council concerning the oil contamination on the McConnell tract, as discussed during the Hovnanian public presentation on July 28.

Immediate risk report
The Monmouth County Board of Health was reportedly inundated by inquiring calls to Mr. Jargowsky from residents of Atlantic Highlands on July 29. Finding that he was on leave, I contacted the Board’s environmental officer, Mr. Bill Simmons and told him what had been said by Hovnanian representatives regarding the contamination (see their testimony below).

Because the Board is responsible for investigating any existing potential threats to public health, the Board’s HazMat inspection team (Mr. Joel Grimm) sent an inspector (Mr. Christopher Otis) to the site the afternoon of July 29. Mr. Otis made a second inspection the morning of July 30 to check for any contamination evidence at low tide.

Mr. Grimm has promised that Mr. Otis’s findings will be conveyed to me by Monday, August 2. As stated to Mr. Grimm and Mr. Simmons, I will immediately share that report with Mayor, Council, Borough Attorney, and the Borough Administrator.

Recommended steps by the Borough
Following the public testimony by Hovnanian representatives, we are left with many information gaps and unanswered questions about the contamination and about clean-up responsibility. The Environmental Commission recommends that the Borough take the following steps, which seem like basic, common-sense needs:

1. Full and prompt investigation into the contamination. Information and analyses are lacking on numerous fundamental, definitional and technical issues, on potential risks that may range from urgent and immediate to medium- and long-term, and on remediation methods, timetables and costs. Some key issues and questions are listed in the comments given below
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2. Request Hovnanian’s test results and analyses. In his testimony, Mr. Barry McCarron said he was “sensitive” to the “neighborhood impact” of plans for the tract and wanted to “hear residents’ concerns” and work on them “in a way to make people happy” (direct quotes). He should be officially asked to keep his word by furnishing the test results that Hovnanian has in hand and, if necessary, making Laura Brinkerhoff available to discuss her conclusions and the basis for them.

3. Establish clean-up responsibility. It seems clear that, at present, the accountability and responsibility rests with the landowner. Hovnanian would only be responsible if the firm received project approval and became the landowner. Steps should be taken to unequivocally establish and designate the official clean-up responsibility under law and DEP CAFRA regulations. DEP should be asked to appoint a formal “case manager” who will deal with the landowner and the Borough.

Public testimony and information gaps

Under each item number below is a record of the main points made in testimony about the contamination, given on behalf of Hovnanian by Barry McCarron of Hovnanian and Laura Brinkerhoff of Brinkerhoff Environmental Services (first column). Beneath that are comments indicating information that has not been provided and should, in our view, be obtained.

1. There are “three areas of concern” or AOCs. This is the technical term for contamination sites used by remediation professionals.)

Comment: We are not told how many tests were made, over what area, and to what depth. With no information on the delineation method used, we cannot know whether the 3 AOCs were encountered at random or by thorough professional analysis based on a sampling design. We do not even know the AOCs’ location and their configuration in relation to topography, permeability, and other factors. And we cannot feel confident that there are only 3 of them.

2. The contaminants are heating oil, diesel fuel, and other petrochemicals.

Comment: What’s in the “other” category?

3. It “appears that the contamination is held in place by the bulkhead” (McCarron) along the bay-front.

Comment: This statement may or may not be true. It is supported by no evidence we have received. Since the AOCs have not been delineated for us, we cannot even know if any AOC is in the vicinity of the bulkhead and in any position to exert pressure on it. It is true that the bulkhead is deteriorating – seriously so.

4. In one area, “several feet of oil” are “floating on the surface of groundwater” (McCarron) or on top of “the water table” (Brinkerhoff).

Comment: Extent, depth, location and delineation not stated.

5. The oil layer “changes elevation when the water table level rises and falls.”

Comment: This suggests that bay tides influence the water table. Drill tests done during days might encounter tidal rainfall effects, but are unlikely to see fluctuations due to rainfall.

6. Nothing was said about the other two areas of concern.
Comment: Where are they, how configured?

7. The oil material on site has “contaminated the aquifer” but Hovnanian would clean it up (Brinkerhoff).

Comment: Drills used in testing the site stood ca. 35 feet high above their truck bed, and were perhaps extendable by 50 per cent or so (to 52-53 feet?). Such drills could never reach the geological layer, 250 feet below the surface, where the water-bearing aquifer is located. Downward movement of oil contamination near/below the surface would undoubtedly be filtered/cleaned, or even blocked by impermeable layers, before reaching that depth. In any event, the Borough’s East Avenue well into the Englishtown formation aquifer is about 1.4 miles southeast of the McConnell tract – highly unlikely to be reached by this contamination.

8. The aquifer is at the “easternmost edge” of the site (Avenue D side), “dips southeastward,” and so the groundwater heads “offshore” (not toward the land where it is tapped for drinking water).

Comment: This statement suggests that the contamination is carried away from us and does not affect our drinking water – contradicting point 7 above. However, if “southeastward” is correct, that movement is in the inland direction, not offshore.

9. The contaminated soil to be removed and burned amounts to about 1,000 cubic yards.

Comment: No information given on how this estimate was made. Sounds like a guess and seems very low.

10. Clean-up cost is estimated at $1 million.

Comment: After public questioning, Hovnanian representatives could not describe the basis for this estimate (for example, would removal be by truck or barge).