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Bellmawr Council passed Resolution #03:94-17 at its March 23, 2017 meeting that authorizes the Borough of Bellmawr to submit an application to the New Jersey Local Finance Board for permission to create the “Bellmawr Redevelopment Agency.”
This Resolution pertains to the landfill a/k/a “Bellmawr Waterfront Development.”
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“It is just the application with the State,” Mayor Frank Filipek said during Council’s monthly meeting last week. Ten years ago, there was an open landfill. It looks like a mountain now.”
The Mayor also spoke of a recent meeting that had taken place regarding the roads. “We met again on the roads and I have all of the legislators working on our behalf in the County,” he said.
As for the Resolution, in order for the governing body of a municipality to create a municipal redevelopment agency, the municipality must first submit an application to the State of New Jersey’s Local Finance Board.
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The actual creation of the Bellmawr Redevelopment Agency would require the Borough to consider and adopt a future Ordinance authorizing the creation, the Resolution indicates.
Pursuant to the New Jersey Local Housing and Redevelopment Law: “The Borough of Bellmawr is authorized to create a municipal redevelopment agency, a separate body corporate and politic, but still an instrumentality of Bellmawr Borough, which would be known as the ‘Bellmawr Redevelopment Agency,’” the Resolution reads.
Dewey Blanton Landfill & Fazio Bellmawr Landfill
Existing within the Borough of Bellmawr, are “contiguous parcels of land, which were formerly utilized as landfills” – the “Dewey Blanton Landfill” and the “Fazio Bellmawr Landfill.”
According to the Resolution, the Dewey Blanton Landfill parcel is currently owned in fee by the Borough of Bellmawr and the Fazio Bellmawr Landfill parcel is currently owned in fee by Bellmawr Waterfront Development, LLC. (BWD)
Fazio Deptford Landfill/Deptford Parcel
There is a third former landfill parcel that exists within Deptford’s borders – the “Fazio Deptford Landfill” or the “Deptford Parcel.”
This parcel is contiguous to both of the Bellmawr Landfill parcels, but is not contiguous to any lands within Deptford Township as it is completely bordered by Big Timber Creek and by properties within Bellmawr Borough, primarily the Bellmawr parcels.
The Deptford Parcel is also currently owned in fee by Bellmawr Waterfront Development.
Ongoing Remediation Continues
“Remediation activities have been ongoing for over nine (9) years and continue to be conducted on the Bellmawr Parcels and the Deptford Parcel for known or suspected hazardous substances,” the Resolution states. “The three parcels have been classified together by the New Jersey Environmental Protection (DEP) as a single Area of Concern and the three Parcels are all the subject of a single DEP approved Remedial Action Work Plan.”
The Resolution also indicates: “The Borough of Bellmawr has adopted a redevelopment plan… for the redevelopment of the Borough Parcels, which the Borough desires to have implemented following the remediation of the Borough Parcels. BWD has been designated by the Borough of Bellmawr as the redeveloper.” (Emphasis supplied by SJO.)
Both the Borough of Bellmawr and Deptford Township have both previously obtained several public grants to fund the remediation of their parcels through the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund, which is administered by the DEP and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, according to the Resolution.
SJO will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.