Council opposes R.B. Recycling expansion plan

BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

The Red Bank Borough Council passed a resolution on Monday opposing a plan that would bring an additional 600 tons of waste per day through the borough.

Although the final say on the Red Bank Recycling's proposal to build a waste transfer station on its Central Avenue property is up to the Monmouth County Solid Waste Advisory Council (SWAC), Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. said that the council was unanimous in its opposition to the plan.

Last month, SWAC heard an application by Red Bank Recycling to construct an off-shoot of the Conrail railroad tracks that run behind its Central Avenue facility for the purposes of transporting construction and demolition (C & D) waste to and from its site.

The waste, according to the engineer representing Red Bank Recycling, would be brought to the site by trucks transporting the waste from different construction sites in the area.

"The C & D waste will then be transferred north to a landfill in Ohio," said Richard W. Watson, of Birdsall Engineering, Eatontown.

Although the train cars would leave the site between 8 and 9 p.m., according to Watson, trucks would drive to the site at all times during business hours, which would be from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon.

As part of the borough's opposition, the council also introduced an ordinance on Monday that would prohibit trucks weighing more than 4 tons from traveling on South Pearl Street, which is one block east of Central Avenue and Red Bank Recycling.

The council also had a resolution prepared that would deny a zone change request made by Red Bank Recycling earlier this year, but did not pass it. McKenna said that it had to be made more detailed and that the borough attorney and engineer will prepare a new resolution for the May 22 council meeting.

Michael J. Weisslitz, the attorney representing Red Bank Recycling, said that a request has been made to SWAC to postpone the second hearing on the application, scheduled for May 18, until June.

"This will give us an opportunity to meet with local officials," Weisslitz said Monday, "and to perhaps amend our current application."

Weisslitz said that although his client is open to negotiating with the borough, he understands that SWAC has the final say as far as county authorities go, but that Red Bank Recycling does have other options.

"If SWAC denies us," he said, "or if SWAC approves us, and the plan is denied by the NJDEP [New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection], we can always do a preemption facility, which would cause all local authorities to lose any control over the project. It would be governed under federal law, and federal law preempts all law in this area."

Kevin Kennedy, the borough attorney in this matter, said that although he is not entirely familiar with the process to which Weisslitz was referring, if the federal government were to give permission for the transfer station at Red Bank Recycling, it would negate any control at the local or county levels.

McKenna asked Weisslitz to write a formal letter to Kennedy requesting a meeting to discuss possible amendments to the plan.

Kathleen Costa, South Pearl Street, asked if the council were to negotiate with Red Bank Recycling, could residents be a part of the talks.

"If there is any consideration given to such a request," replied McKenna, "we would seek very heavy public involvement."

Resident Ben Forest, Locust Avenue, said that although he is an advocate of recycling, he can't think of a worse place to put a waste transfer facility.

"I am troubled by the threat to use federal regulations to override local concerns of the county and local governing bodies," he said. "Red Bank has become the hub of many communities, and we have a lot of traffic. This is a west side neighborhood community that has been changing for the better, and I don't think this is consistent with that."

Cathy Casey, South Pearl Street, said that she believes the infrastructure of the roads in the borough is not equipped to handle the additional truck traffic the transfer station would bring.

"Stanley Sickels [the borough administrator] said that infrastructure of the road was not equipped to handle this kind of traffic," she said. "What happened in the last six weeks to change that? I just want to know that you'll fight for us."

McKenna said that the council was fighting for the residents by passing the resolution and introducing the ordinance.

The trains, Watson said at the April 20 SWAC hearing, would travel only north from the facility, meeting up with the NJ Transit rail to go over the bridge into Middletown.

Train cars would be brought from the north and stored on the Red Bank Recycling property, which has enough room to store six train cars at one time, which would amount to 600 tons of C & D waste per day, according to Watson.

The trucks delivering the waste from various construction sites in the area would come onto the site from one of two ways, and about 75 trucks are anticipated daily.

Trucks from the north would drive south on Shrewsbury Avenue, make a left onto Drs. James Parker Boulevard, and a right onto Central Avenue. From the south, trucks would drive north on Shrewsbury Avenue, make a right onto Newman Springs Road, a left onto Henry Street, and a left onto Mohawk Lane to the Red Bank Recycling facility.

No date has been set for the next SWAC on the proposal.