Sewer capacity shortfall jeopardizes future growth
State puts moratorium on sewer connections in south Tinton Falls
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

It has become apparent that there is not enough sewerage capacity for all of the projects waiting to begin in the southern end of Tinton Falls.

As a result, the state Council on Affordable Housing has issued a moratorium on sewer connection permits for that part of town.

For the past few months, borough officials have been claiming that there is enough sewerage capacity at the Township of Neptune Sewerage Authority (TNSA). But, the TNSA was claiming that Tinton Falls was at, or very near, its limit.

The uncertainty led COAH to impose a two-month ban on the approval of new sewer connection permits for the southern end of town, which is where the TNSA provides sewerage capacity in its processing plant.

Last week, when COAH met to consider the issue, the ban was extended indefinitely because it now seems clear to everyone that there is not enough capacity left for all of the projects in the pipeline, including the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets center proposed for Route 66 by Chelsea Property Group of Roseland.

In addition, the TNSA, has told the borough that it must get about 30 residents and businesses to hook up to the sewerage treatment facility. According to Councilman Michael Scudera, notices have been mailed out telling them that they must hook up within 90 days.

In June, believing that there was more than enough capacity, borough officials approved a resolution that authorized execution of the TWA-1 (sewer treatment works application) of Chelsea Property Group for the outlet stores project.

The application allowed the borough to apply for sewage treatment at the TNSA.

At the June 13 meeting, three lawyers representing three developments in the area where the proposed outlet stores are to be built on Route 66, attended the council meeting.

Two said they were opposed to the resolution because it might affect sewer capacity for their clients. The attorney for Avalon Bay Communities, a proposed housing development to be built on Route 33, with an affordable housing component, had apparently filed a "scarce resources restraint" motion asking COAH to stop the borough from following through on the sewerage request because there was a concern about capacity.

The motion eventually led to COAH's ban, which will be considered again in October at which time the borough will have to convince COAH that its affordable housing plan is still doable.

As if all of these problems aren't enough, if COAH decides that there is not enough capacity, it could affect the borough's state certification of its affordable housing plan and leave the town open to the builder's remedy law, which would allow high-density housing to be built.

Mayor Peter Maclearie expressed his frustration over the sewer capacity issue on Friday.

"I called the director of the sewer authority a while ago and asked for a meeting but they wouldn't meet with us," he said, adding, "I asked what will it take for us to figure out the real capacity?"

"We are trying to sort out the problem, Maclearie added. "We didn't do anything wrong."

He explained that the issue comes down to these figures.

"The Neptune Sewer Authority has a capacity of 8.5 million gallons, ours is 750,000 gallons. In addition, there were some memos stating that they would give us an additional 30,000 gallons.

"They're saying that we've used up our capacity. We know we're very close to our capacity," Maclearie said.

"Our plan was well intentioned when we put the plan together. There was no concern for sewer capacity at the time. There was an assumption that sewerage was not a problem. Everybody believed that there was capacity. We had hours of meetings with professionals and they were saying there was capacity."

He added: "We're trying to sit down with Neptune. We won't assume that there is the capacity. We'll move forward with the assumption that there is not the capacity. We'll work the numbers we have and see what we can do to rectify it."

In the meantime, Skudera said one way or the other the borough is going to have to find additional sewerage capacity and will have to prove to COAH that it is looking for ways to provide sewerage.

"If we lose our certification, we have to find sewerage anyway," he said. "There is not enough capacity to fill all of the promises that were made and it looks like this could open us up to the builder's remedy laws. That means the taxpayers will have to fund additional sewer capacity."

He said the sewerage authority is going to work with the borough.

"They said they wanted to get the customer reports updated and finalized and they want to get the 30 properties hooked up. If we can all work together, the taxpayers will benefit."

Skudera explained last week that because Tinton Falls is only a part of the Neptune Sewer Authority, the borough won't get the entire increase if they have to go to a higher capacity.

But, he said, it may be worth looking at other options for increasing capacity like asking nearby towns for their excess capacity, something that the borough is already doing.

Scudera said that expanding the TNSA sewage plant could cost in the millions and would be passed on to taxpayers, but re-rating the sewage plant, which may be the least expensive option, assumes that the TNSA can continue to provide a secondary level of treatment in accordance with the Clean Water Act.

"Neighboring municipalities that use the TNSA should be on board and the impact to the environment needs to be studied," he said. "Re-rating a sewage plant does not increase its overall capacity, it technically maxes it out and the plant must already be able to accommodate the increase of sewage."

Another option, he noted, would be an Infiltration and Inflow Study (I/I). Infiltration and Inflow is the occurrence of ground water entering the town's sewer system through a number of ways such as faulty manhole lids, sump pump connections and cracked pipes. Once the water enters the system it is added to the daily volume of waste water that the sewage plant must treat and counts toward the total capacity allocated to Tinton Falls.

The purpose of the study would be to achieve a reduction of storm water in the sewer system. One of the methods used in the I/I study is a closed circuit television inspection of the sewer lines that can reveal the condition of the piping, illegal connections, or broken mains.

Brian Dempsey, the borough's administrative director, said in early June that if it turns out that there is not enough capacity, the borough will look for additional capacity at one of the other facilities, like the Two Rivers Water Reclamation Authority in Monmouth Beach were sewerage from the northern end of the borough is treated.

James E. Berube, the borough's law director, told the council at the early June meeting, that there are other issues tied up with the sewer questions. He did not elaborate, but one of the issues holding up the project is a proposed overpass.

The planned outlet center proposal includes a high-end, 130-store, outdoor outlet mall featuring tree-lined streets, benches, restaurants and surrounding major infrastructure improvements, which include an overpass.

To make the development feasible, the construction of an overpass is necessary because it would streamline access to and from the site. It would connect Essex Road with Route 66; neither is a local road. The overpass is in Tinton Falls but the access roads would be in Neptune Township.

Chelsea Property Group agreed to pay for half of the cost of the $7 million overpass. It was hoped that the other half of the funding would come from the state Department of Transportation, but the agency reneged on the deal because the overpass would not connect to local roads.

The Asbury Park Press, which is opposed to the outlet stores project, filed two suits, one of which was dismissed, last week.

In addition, the Neptune Township Committee has been debating whether it can stop construction of an overpass on the Neptune border that would provide access to the outlet center. The approval for the overpass was given by a prior administration, but the current administration is concerned about additional traffic.

Richard Cuttrell, the Neptune Township municipal clerk said that the committee voted on Monday to appeal the approval. The committee will ask a judge to halt the construction of the overpass, he said.