TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—A nearly $200,000 soil remediation effort to remove 950 tons of contaminated soil at the former DPW headquarters is scheduled to begin Oct. 4, said Mayor Peter Calamari at the Sept. 20 council meeting.
In a contract approved with Lisko Environmental Services LLC of Belmar on June 21, the project’s estimated timeline is 12 weeks.
The contract notes scheduling depends on site demolition and construction activities as well as subcontractor availability.
The 10-page contract also notes that soil disposal pricing is subject to change as a result of waste classification sampling and final approval from the disposal facility.
Township Administrator Robert Tovo told Pascack Press Sept. 22 that initial work done on the site included soil sampling and capping of four monitoring wells. He said soil samples taken are due back by Oct. 4.
The analysis will detail what contaminants are present in the area and where contaminated soil can be properly disposed, he said.
Tovo said a needs assessment report is due in 4–6 weeks from Arcari Iovino Architects about what space requirements are needed for a new DPW facility. He said there is no future DPW site selected and that much depends on what size facility is needed.
The remediation project, a result of contamination from fuel storage tank leaks and spills in the 1970s and 1980s at the DPW facility (formerly the Department of Facilities Management) had been long delayed and a recent source of friction between residents and council members.
A professional services contract was awarded for $193,541 to Lisko Environmental Services to provide oversight and undertake the work required at the township’s now-demolished DPW, which is at the municipal complex, 350 Hudson Ave.
The remediation was required by the state Department of Environmental Protection. It was originally anticipated to get underway this spring, said officials, but delayed due to Covid-related concerns and the need to find alternate DPW parking locations.
While the township recently received a remediation extension into mid-2022, it was still unclear where a new DPW facility would or could be built in town, except for the former DPW site.
The award to Lisko Environmental did not require competitive bids, town attorney Kenneth Poller said in June. He explained at the time “A lot of thought about going out for a competitive contract” was discussed by the council.
Poller said then the contract was “not an insignificant amount of money” but that it made more sense to go with a professional services contract, as council had previously done for the DPW site, and retain the services of a consulting firm used since the remediation work was initiated.
In 2019, the estimated cost to replace the DPW facility was $1.5 million, said a former councilman, and almost $1 million of the tab was proposed to come from prior proceeds received from the sale of Westwood Middle School.
Recently, Calamari reported a meeting took place between Arcari Iovino Architects of Little Ferry and DPW officials to talk about a conceptual design for a new DPW building.
He said he was not sure if the proposal had been accepted by the DPW and promised to provide more details.
Much public pushback has occurred as township officials sought to find alternate parking locations for DPW’s large, heavy-duty vehicles such as garbage trucks, dump trucks, front-end loaders, and large equipment.
Calamari made a personal appeal to his fellow Pascack Valley mayors early this year at a chamber breakfast. Leads that resulted did not pan out.
In early April, following multiple failed attempts to find alternate DPW parking locations around town and public resistance to parking oversize DPW vehicles and equipment at Sherry Field, and a public lot behind the Dog House Saloon, the council approved a $60,600 contract with Our Lady of Good Counsel Church to lease 35 parking spaces for two years.
Most DPW vehicles are now parked at the OLGC parking lot and behind Valley Bank, which offered free parking for some DPW equipment and vehicles, and in the municipal lot.
Calamari had been saying at least some DPW equipment might be kept at the Washington Township Swim and Recreation Club, but that seems less likely now that the private club’s members have voted not to sell to the township, for $1 million, but rather to a summer camp outfit.