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North Princeton Developmental Center

Clean-up

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For latest text description of the clean-up of the Skillman Village Property, please go to link above for News.

Overview

The Township of Montgomery in January 2007 purchased a 256 acre parcel of land known as the North Princeton Developmental Center (“NPDC”) from the State of New Jersey, located in Montgomery adjoining Skillman Road and Burnt Hill Road. In addition, the Township has also acquired from the State the adjacent wastewater treatment facility on 7 acres, behind the State-owned Skillman Dairy Farm. The NPDC property, originally established in 1898 as the “New Jersey Village for Epileptics,” operated as a self-contained “town” that consisted of hospitals, housing, maintenance areas, schools, a power plant, a wastewater treatment facility and an on-site landfill. Later, it became the New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute. Most recently, and until 1998, the property was the New Jersey Department of Human Services' psychiatric care facility "North Princeton Developmental Center".

The buildings that remained on property from the NPDC years were generally in substandard, unsafe, unsanitary, dilapidated and/or obsolescent condition, and the property is environmentally contaminated from past uses. The Property’s environmental contamination must be remediated and brought into compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Due to the nature of the risk and potential liability associated with remediation, and to cap the cost to the Township, the Township Committee determined it to be in the Township’s best interest to hire a single contractor to serve as the Township’s “Remediation Consultant”. It also determined that a demolition contractor should be selected to handle the abatement of and removal of buildings that cannot be rehabilitated.

In 2005, the Township issued a Request for Proposal for the site remediation, dam removal/repair, lake restoration and environmental insurance and in December, 2006 signed a contract with Weston Solutions, Inc. (See Scope of Work Summary.) Weston has assumed all environmental liabilities associated with contaminated soils and groundwater at NPDC. Weston identified approximately 17 areas of environmental concern in its proposal. These include: former power house ash landfill, asbestos wrapped steampipe removal, miscellaneous disposal areas, minor ground water contamination and former underground storage tank locations. Weston completed in May 2006, on the Township’s behalf, a due diligence site investigation and the NJDEP has assigned a case manager. Remediation efforts are on-going. Location of Originally Identified Areas Requiring Remediation (1.54 MB)

Brandenburg Industrial Services Company of Bethlehem Pa. was the awarded contractor who abated and demolishing the majority of the derelict buildings (92) on the property between June 23 and September 2, 2007. A handful of buildings remain for potential reuse and are boarded up. The work to remove the asbestos wrapping of steam pipes that traverse the property and were part of the former facility's heating system was completed fall of 2008. Weston Solutions, continues to remediate environmental conditions at the site and is in finishing stages of repairing the dam and restoring Sylvan Lake. J.M. Sorge Inc. is providing an additional independent layer of oversight on the Township's behalf on all aspects of the clean-up project.

The Township is preparing a redevelopment plan and is soliciting redevelopment proposals for Skillman Village. For more information on this, see link above right on Redevelopment Planning.

Public involvement and input into this project is welcomed and encouraged. Questions? Contact Planning Director, Lori Savron, 908-359-8211 ext. 206, lsavron@twp.montgomery.nj.us or Community Information Officer, Tammy Garaffa, 908-359-8211 ext. 207, tgaraffa@twp.montgomery.nj.us.

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Montgomery Township Municipal Offices
2261 Van Horne Road - Route 206 North
Belle Mead, NJ 08502
tel: (908) 359-8211