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Welcome to the website of the Highland Park, NJ Environmental Commission.

The Environmental Commission may conduct research into the use of open land areas of the Borough, keep an index of all public or private open areas and may recommend to the Planning Board programs for the development and use of such lands. The commission reviews the potential effects of applications before the Planning and the Zoning Boards, provides environmental information to residents.. The commission consists of eight members, and meetings are generally held the first Wednesday of the month (except when in conflict with religious holidays; see link to Environmental Commission calendar) in the Eugene Young Environmental Education Center. Meetings are open to the public. There is no meeting in August.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic all meetings will be virtual meetings by Zoom. The meeting will occur on the regular calendar dates. The Zoom contact information will be provide on the Borough of Highland Parks website www.hpboro.com on the front page several days before the meeting.

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Recent News and Updates from HP Environmental Commission

Remediation at American Properties, Cleveland Avenue, is Complete

The remediation of American Properties, Cleveland Avenue (Midland-Ross, old Illuminating Experience site) by Honeywell has been completed. The site will

Remediation Continues at Midland=Ross/American Home Properties Highland Park LLC Site

Remediation continues at 100 Cleveland Avenue (the former Midland-Ross Corporation and Illuminating Experience sites). The site is being remediated by

On The Meadows Trail

The leaves on the trees are starting to show their colors and the last of this season’s White Snakeroot is

Remediation Continues at Midland=Ross/American Home Properties Highland Park LLC Site

Remediation continues at 100 Cleveland Avenue (the former Midland-Ross Corporation and Illuminating Experience sites). The site is being remediated by

Air Monitoring Testing During Remediation at Midland Ross/American Properties Highland Park LLC Site

Introduction As many residents are aware, American Properties Highland Park has been approved to build 110 townhouses at 233 Cleveland

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Remediation at American Properties, Cleveland Avenue, is Complete

The remediation of American Properties, Cleveland Avenue (Midland-Ross, old Illuminating Experience site) by Honeywell has been completed. The site will be the future home of Heritage at Highland Park.

The following three reports, which are available for review in the Borough Clerk’s Office, document the cleanup/remediation:

Remedial Investigation Report/Remedial Action Work Plan for Soils –Full Report.
Remedial Investigation Report for Groundwater = Full Report
Preliminary Assessment/Site Investigation Report for Groundwater Area of Concern MR=9 – Full Report

American Properties, LLC is now grading the site prior to initiating construction of the condominium complex.

ANW

Remediation Continues at Midland=Ross/American Home Properties Highland Park LLC Site

Remediation continues at 100 Cleveland Avenue (the former Midland-Ross Corporation and Illuminating Experience sites). The site is being remediated by Honeywell Corporation, which assumed responsibility when Midland-Ross was acquired many years ago. This is the final phase of the cleanup of this industrial site, which was contaminated by past industries. The site is concurrently being redeveloped by American Home Properties Highland Park LLC as a residential condo community.

During the remediation, particle detectors monitor dust levels and air samples are taken to monitor for potential chemical contamination. There are 5 air-monitoring stations on the site, which is diagrammed in the attached reports. There are trigger levels for dust levels (8o μg/cubic meter), which will require investigation and actions levels (109 μg/cubic meter) where work is stopped.Ten reports for the following dates are provided:

Air Monitoring Report 081018

Air Monitoring Report 081718

Air Monitoring Report 082418

Air Monitoring Report 083118

Air Monitoring Report 090718

Air Monitoring Report 092118

Air Monitoring Report 091418

Air Monitoring Report 092818 Rev1

Air Monitoring Report 092118

Air Monitoring Report 100518 Rev1

There were a few anomalies in the dust levels due to wind or activities close to air monitoring stations such as wood chipping or unloading clean fill. One anomaly was the failure of the network collecting data with reading going to zero. These anomalies have duration of last seconds. On occasion, air chemical contamination was detected just above the detection levels but far below levels of concern. These contaminates were the expected compounds from this site,

Questions – contact the Environmental Commission via the Contact Menu.

On The Meadows Trail

New Entrance to Meadows Trail (Fall 2018)

The leaves on the trees are starting to show their colors and the last of this season’s White Snakeroot is still in blossom along the trail, which means our work season for this year will be over fairly soon.

And since it’s been a while since the last update, so we thought this was good time to let everyone know what’s been happening out “On the Meadows Trail”.

The weather played a big part in our regular management of the trail this year. There were too many weekends when it would rain and we weren’t able to do our regular mowing and trimming to make sure it was enjoy able and safe for everyone. We expect to be able to mow the grassy sections of the trail at least once more before winter as we do the annual cutting of non-native invasive plants in the trailside areas.

We have a bit more work to do on the new trail entrance that we built last year and we’re nearly done with construction of the new observation platform. The new entrance will get some non-skid material applied to its surface – a weather dependent task – and the path to the observation platform needs some work. Both these projects were funded throughhe National Recreational Trails grant that was awarded to the Boro in 2016.

Once our work for this year completed we’ll be looking ahead to getting underway again in the Spring. Next year will be another busy one. There’ll be a major effort to manage the non-native invasive plant populations in the Meadows; we’ll be putting in an order for some new trees and other native plants for planting in April; and a new section of trail will be built leading from the main trail to the upper part of the Bike Path. We wanted to work on this new trail section during 2018 but have had to wait until PSE&G stakes out the outline of the solar farm that will be built on the upper portion of the Meadows. We’ll have more to report on this as the project progresses.

We hope everyone who’s used the trail has enjoyed the experience. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, or would like to become a member of the Meadows Trail Crew, let us know. We’re out working on the trail every Sunday morning (weather permitting), or you can get in touch with us through the Environmental Commission web site.

Steve Barnes

Environmental Commission

Remediation Continues at Midland=Ross/American Home Properties Highland Park LLC Site

Remediation continues at 100 Cleveland Avenue (the former Midland-Ross Corporation and Illuminating Experience sites). The site is being remediated by Honeywell Corporation, which assumed responsibility when Midland-Ross was acquired many years ago. This is the final phase of the cleanup of this industrial site , which was contaminated by past industries. The site is concurrently being redeveloped by American Home Properties Highland Park LLC as a residential condo community.

During the remediation, particle detectors monitor dust levels and air samples are taken to monitor for potential chemical contamination. There are 5 air-monitoring stations on the site, which is diagrammed in the attached reports. There are trigger levels for dust levels (8o μg/cubic meter) which will require investigation and actions levels )109 μg/cubic meter) where work is stopped.

Five reports for the following dates are provided:

Air Monitoring Report 060818

Air Monitoring Report 061518

Air Monitoring Report 062218

Air Monitoring Report 062918

Air Monitoring Report 070618

There were a few anomalies in the dust levels due to wind or activities close to air monitoring stations such as wood chipping or unloading clean fill. On occasion, air chemical contamination was detected just above the detection levels but far below level of concern. These contaminates were the expected compounds from this site.

Questions contact the Environmental Commission via the Contact Menu.

Air Monitoring Testing During Remediation at Midland Ross/American Properties Highland Park LLC Site

Introduction

As many residents are aware, American Properties Highland Park has been approved to build 110 townhouses at 233 Cleveland Avenue. This site was the location of industries (including Midland Ross and Illuminating Experience) going back to the early 1900’s. The site has been previously contaminated. Honeywell has the responsibility for remediating the site, has been actively remediating it, and has begun the final phase of the remediation.

There is a large cement foundation still on the site (see Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring- Part 1, Page 3) . There are joints between slabs of concrete, which contain asbestos in the joints. The sections of concrete with asbestos will be cut out and removed from the site and disposed of at an approved site. The rest of concrete will be broken up, and stock piled for later use in grading the site. Underneath one section of the concrete foundation, there is a contaminated area, which will be remediated by Honeywell prior to construction of the townhouses.

Testing for Dust and Contaminates

To assure the public health, Honeywell has positioned five (5) air monitoring stations on the site such that whatever the wind direction, the monitors will detect any excess level of dust. Honeywell has performed baseline testing for dust levels, asbestos, and a number of potential chemical contaminates on 5 days in November and December 2016. Future test results, when remediation is occurring, will be compared against this baseline data.

For dust levels, there is a trigger level of 80-µg/cubic meter of air, which will trigger an investigation of the cause; at a level of 109-µg/cubic meter of air (the action limit), work will be stopped, and an investigation will occur. Typically, the corrective action is to wet the work area down with water.

Air samples are evaluated for asbestos fibers by phase microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using EPA approved procedures at licensed analytical laboratories.

Air samples were also evaluated for metals and a variety of organic chemicals.

Results

Dust Levels – The levels of dust samples (n=25) were all well below the trigger level (80 µg/cubic meter of air) except one (Air Monitoring Station 5, 11/21/16) which exceeded the action level. It was determined that the dust level excursion was due to a vehicle’s exhaust near the Air Monitoring Station. Results dropped well below the trigger level when the vehicle was moved.

Asbestos – No asbestos was detected in 25 samples.

Chemical Contaminates – No contaminates exceeding NJDEP requirements were detected. For contaminates without NJDEP requirements, several were detected at just above or at the detection level of the analytical methods, which are far below levels of public health concern.

The complete testing report provided by the Honeywell’s contractor “Amec Wheeler Foster” is provided. Due to size restriction of this website on attachments, it is in three parts.Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring Report-Part 1 ,Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring Report-Part 2 , Baseline Perimeter Air Monitoring Report-Part 3 .

Next Steps

Future data summaries and test results will be posted on this website as the remediation of the American Property Highland Park LLC site proceeds.