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08/13/2018 12:00 AMIn a move that took many members of the community by surprise, the controversial application by Shoreline Rail & Recycling (SRR) was withdrawn prior to the Aug. 6 Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) meeting at which it was to be discussed, possibly ending the saga for good.
Members of the public who arrived at The Morgan School auditorium were greeted with signs on the door informing them of the applications withdrawal. IWC Chair David Radka told the sparsely attended meeting that the commission had been informed earlier that day of the application’s withdrawal and that there was no other information to share.
“It’s inappropriate to speculate on anything, that’s all we know,” Radka said.
The meeting had been moved to The Morgan School auditorium in anticipation of a large crowd, similar to other IWC meetings where the application had been discussed.
The application by SRR proposed called for a 94,500 square foot facility to be built on the site of a former Unilever warehouse on Route 145. According to George Andrews of Louriero Engineering Associates, a company that had represented SRR in front of the IWC, the proposed facility would have been for storing waste composed of “construction and demolition debris.”
Andrews said that none of the proposed activities would occur in the wetlands. At the previous public hearings, many members of the public vehemently disagreed about the proposal’s wetlands impact, among other concerns.
According to the project application, the owner of the site is Old Post Realty LLC. Documents from the site’s 2014 sale list Douglas Dobriner of New Jersey as the company president. Dobriner did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
In late July, the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously voted to adopt a proposed zoning change that would prohibit “Commercial or industrial solid waste, construction or demolition debris disposal, recycling, material transfer, or outdoor storage of materials not associated with a retail or contractor business.”
The commission had been unsure if the regulation would apply to an application, such as the one by SRR, that had been filed prior to the regulation being implemented. An attorney for the applicant present at the commission meeting said it would be possible that SRR could challenge the adoption of that regulation.
As of press time, no lawsuit has against the town by the applicant has been filed.
At the three previous public hearings on the proposal, residents had cited concerns with the impacts to shell fishing, what some argued were inadequate flood management plans, possible contamination to the wetlands, and fire risks.
The application had drawn the attention of two intervenors, Demco, LLC and Herb Clark, who retained Attorney Campbell Hudson to fight the SRR application. The intervenors also presented their own experts to share their opinions of potential impacts to the wetlands and potential health problems to the people.
At all three public hearings, no member of the public spoke in favor of the application. The public hearings were moved from the Town Hall to the auditorium at The Morgan School to accommodate the large crowd that attended the meetings.
SRR had withdrawn its previous application in May, before reapplying in July.
Had the IWC approved the wetlands application, SRR would then have had to present its case to the Planning & Zoning Commission, which would have held further public hearings. If the IWC had denied the application, the applicants could have appealed the decision.
Find previous stories about this proposal at www.zip06.com.