The clean-up up the 3,000 acre site that saw 14,000 tons of trash dumped on it daily, creating 200 foot high mounds and a total of two billion tons of trash is scheduled to run through July 4. Landfill sites need to be environmentally monitored for 30 years after closing before any real estate development can take place at the site. So, what exactly can one do with a 50-year-old landfill?
The city will host a competition in conjunction with the Department of Sanitation, Parks and Recreation and Cultural Affairs and the Municipal Art Society, a private, non-profit organization concerned with urban planning and preservation to help get the ideas flowing. Art Grisi of EAI Environment Management Services Inc. contends the eventual possibilities for the enormous site are many.
"The Jersey Gardens Mall site [next to IKEA] in Elizabeth used to be a landfill," says Grisi. "Of course, this project would be much larger in scope." The site where the Jersey Gardens Mall now sits is only 166 acres.
"There are protocols in place to govern this sort of thing," he explains. "The soil would be tested and depending on how contaminated it is, it could be used as fill for certain projects, from golf courses to paving fill. And because the size of the project is so large, we're talking about millions of tons of soil to move, depending on what the Commission's vision for Fresh Kills is."
If the soil is too contaminated, it will have to be shipped to designated hazardous material sites. Grisi stresses that anything is possible for Fresh Kills, provided the sources are available. "A lot of preliminary work would have to be done--environmental engineering, scientific studies, structural planning, methane venting and treatment. It would be about 3-5 years of site work, but there doesn't have to be a lengthy waiting period."
The garbage on the site now is headed for dumps in Pennsylvania and Virginia via waste-transfer stations in New Jersey. The communities of Newark and Elizabeth, NJ, both struggling to revitalize, will see much of this city's garbage as it makes its way to the dumps.
Conflicts between the Township of Woodbridge, NJ and Linden, NJ, as well as protests from many Linden residents and residents of neighboring communities have arisen from a plan for a waste-transfer station on waterfront property there. The plans, approved by Linden's municipal government, calls for a daily load of trash from the city now that deposits won't be made to Staten Island. The state attorney general's office is examining the deal.
Many residents and environmentalists hope the city opts for plans looking to restore the site to its former life as wetlands. It is reported that the city is leaning toward creating parklands there, but only time will tell.
Northeast bureau chief Amy Vaughn contributed to this story.
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