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Research Organic Inorganic Chemical Corporation Property Sold, State Receives $495,000By: Tom O’Neill, Bureau of Construction
The Research Organic Inorganic Chemical Corporation (Research Organic) property located on Main Street, adjacent to Route 21, in Belleville Township, Essex County was recently sold as part of a cost recovery effort. The proceeds, $495,000, were recently received by the State. This is the first publicly funded site to be remediated and returned to productive use by way of public sale. Research Organic has been a publicly funded site remediation project since 1983. Cooperative efforts between the buyer, the Department of Treasury and the Site Remediation Program resulted in the sale that will help reimburse the Spill Fund for costs incurred in the clean up of the site. Research Organic was a specialty chemical manufacturing plant and warehouse operation located in a mixed residential, commercial, industrial section of Belleville. Repeated odor complaints from the neighbors, fires in drum storage areas and dumpsters, and allegations of illegal waste disposal via the sewer system led the Township and County to shut down the facility in 1983. The DEP assisted the local officials in securing the site and stabilizing the very hazardous conditions. Initially some 1,000 drums of hazardous material were removed from the site. During 1984 the DEP took over full control of the clean up. The Bureau of Construction engaged the emergency response contractor to stabilize and dispose of the balance of the containerized material at the site. Approximately, 12,000 containers ranging in size from laboratory vials up to 55 gallon drums were staged, evaluated, and disposed of during this effort. Numerous compressed gas cylinders were a particular challenge during this clean up effort. Liquids contained in the on site process equipment, lines, and underground storage tanks were also processed for disposal. As a result of this clean up the US Army Technical Escort Group conducted the removal of a small quantity of mustard gas from the site. The cost to the DEP for the emergency activities was $1.45 million.
The site then entered the Remedial Investigation / Feasibility Study phase using public funding in 1986. The Bureau of Site Management oversaw the resulting remedial investigation and generated a decision document that called for the decontamination of the building, the decommissioning of the underground storage tanks and contaminated soil removal. Work to accomplish the objectives of the decision document was completed by the Bureau of Construction in 1992 using a publicly bid contract at a cost of $1.45 million. Approximately $1 million of the costs expended at the site came from the Spill Fund, the balance coming from bond fund accounts. In 1995, Commissioner Shinn signed the decision document, developed by the Bureau of Site Management, to address the ground water con-tamination. The decision was to establish a Classification Exception Area (CEA), due to levels of volatile, semi-volatiles, and metals that exceeded the Class II-A Ground Water Quality Criteria. The contamination plume was found to be small and confined primarily to the site. A quarterly monitoring program was established and implemented by the Operations and Maintenance Section of the Bureau of Construction. Evaluation of the data caused the DEP to conduct additional soil borings to further define the extent and travel direction of the plume, which was done in 1999 and 2000. Based on the findings a narrow plume was confirmed that has traveled off site under Main Street in the direction of the nearby Passaic River. A sentinel well will be installed to monitor the plume. In addition, a deed notice was placed on the property due to the unknown nature of the contamination under the building. Since the building was left in place and not demolished the soils investiga-tion was limited. The deed notice requires that anyone seeking to disturb the soil underneath the footprint of the buildings must notify the DEP. Cost recovery efforts resulted in court action that culminated in a judgement in favor of the State in 1992. The New Jersey Superior Court awarded the judgement in the amount of $2.7 million based on the costs incurred up to April 1992. These expenses included contractors, administrative, and legal costs. In 1999 and then again in 2000 the Essex County Sheriff attempted to sell the property for back taxes. No party stepped forward to take the property and as a result the title was given to the DEP as holder of the judgement against the property. Upon receipt of the title by the Attorney General’s Office, DEP decided to sell the property to recoup a portion of the clean-up costs. Sale of the property was referred to the Department of Treasury, Bureau of Real Property Disposals and Acquisitions. Treasury and DEP held an open house on May 3, 2000 and public auction was conducted on May 11, 2000 with a minimum bid requirement of $325,000. Competitive bidding drove the price up to the final sale price of $495,000. The Town of Belleville received $80,685 based on the terms of the 1992 Superior Court decision to cover portions of their costs related to the site remediation.
Extensive negotiations in development of an agreement for sale were conducted in the intervening months. The Attorney General’s Office represented both Treasury and DEP, technical support from the Bureau of Construction, administrative support from the Division of Responsible Party Site Remediation and the Assistant Commissioner’s Office were all needed to conclude the negotiations. Closing was held in late October. The DEP will remain involved with the property. A condition of sale committed the DEP to conduct the monitoring required by the CEA. A two year monitoring program is underway with the installation of the off site sentinel well to be completed this Spring. Also, the deed notice regarding the soils under the existing buildings remains in place that will require Department notification of building activity. At the time of this writing the new owners are actively renovating the
buildings and have ordered equipment for their new enterprise: a specialty
bakery and ice creamery for the restaurant and institutional trade. A
factory outlet retail operation is also slated for inclusion at the site.
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