Environmental

Commission
Township of
Jackson
MUNICIPAL BUILDING
95 WEST VETERANS HIGHWAY
JACKSON, NEW JERSEY 08527
732-928-1200

November 19, 2019

Professional Design Services

245 Airport Rd # 1A,
Lakewood, New Jersey 08701

RE: Block: 23001 / Lots 22-29

Jackson Trails
South Hope Chapel Road

Dear Mr. Borden:

The Environmental Commission has reviewed information provided by the Applicant on

October 22, 2019, and later obtained on the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection’s (NJDEP’s) website for the above referenced site.

The Environmental Commission has the following concerns:

• The Environmental Commission requested one set of full-size plans. Mr. Borden
committed to attend the August 2019 meeting with the Environmental Impact
Statement, and printed full size drawings. However, those plans have not been
produced.

• During testimony at the Jackson Township Planning Board Hearing, The

Applicant for Jackson Trails, Ian Borden and Sal Alfieri both committed to the
Jackson Township Planning Board that they would appear at the October 2019
Environmental Commission meeting to discuss the Environmental concerns on
the application; however, no entity representing Jackson Trails appeared at this
meeting.

• The Walter Earle Corp site, abutting the Jackson Trails property, is a
contaminated property under the NJDEP’s Site Remediation Program (SRP)
(Program Interest No. 004009).

The current regulatory status of the Walter Earle Corp site includes a
Classification Exception Area (CEA) for groundwater established on April 9,
2014, with an estimated self-attenuating duration of 2036. Based on a brief
review of the NJDEP’s website the CEA was established for a chlorinated solvent
known as trichloroethylene (TCE), historically utilized, for example, as a metals
degreaser, and dry-cleaning solvent. A few concerns with the presence of this
TCE:

o No regulatory report(s) was provided that summarize the nature and

extent of the CEA, nor was groundwater analytical data provided to allow
the Environmental Commission to make a proper assessment of the CEA.
These are considered significant data gaps, and would require further
investigation by any commonly accepted industry standard practice.

o Vapor Intrusion to the proposed Residential Housing: The NJDEP’s

website documents a TCE plume with a concentration of 308 milligrams
per kilograms (mg/kg); however, since the NJDEP work in
micrograms per liter (µg/L) when assessing groundwater impacts,
the commission requests clarification, and also assumes that the
concentration of TCE is 308 µg/L. The NJDEP Groundwater Quality
Standard (GWQS) for TCE is 1 µg/L, but even more importantly for the
Jackson Trails Site, is the NJDEP’s Vapor Intrusion (VI) Groundwater
Screening Level of 2 µg/L. The TCE impacts within this plume are very
high, especially in comparison to the VI screening levels. Therefore, there
is a high concern that there is a serious Vapor Intrusion risk to the
proposed Residential Housing.

o Fate and Transport information (required for establishing a CEA) for the
TCE plume was not provided. This would assist in understanding how
reliable the “duration” established for the CEA actually is, as the duration
is generally a statistically derived value based on site-specific data and/or
literature. The CEA can only be terminated when actual groundwater
analytical data that shows that the contamination has attenuated to a
concentration not exceeding the NJDEP’s GWQS, for at least two
consecutive rounds. It is highly improbable that TCE, at a concentration of
308 µg/L, will naturally attenuate by 2036. However, no information was
provided documenting the Remedial Action at the Site (i.e., active or
passive remediation).

o It is unclear what the depth to groundwater at the Site is, if the new
structures are near this CEA will have basements, this would result in
even higher Vapor Intrusion concerns.

o The “Critical Area Map of Groundwater Contamination” plan dated August

19, 2019 prepared by Professional Design Services, LLC (PDS) of
Lakewood, New Jersey depict a dashed area called “Groundwater CEA
Area.” Utilization of a “dashed” line showing the extent of the CEA
boundary is known in the industry to be an “inferred boundary extent”
where a solid line would depict an “actual boundary extent.” An inferred
boundary extent is not a reliable source to draw the “100’ critical area
buffer”, as it indicates the CEA could be much larger than currently drawn.

o The placement of the monitoring wells (MWs) shown on the PDS plan do
not corroborate with the CEA boundary. For the CEA boundary to be
 accurate and reliable, actual groundwater analytical data is required;
however, as you can see MWs are missing along northern and western
boundary extents. If MWs and/or data exists, it was not provided. Further,
with a concentration of 308 µg/L and understanding the nature of TCE, the
footprint of the CEA plume seems very small. Even at low levels, TCE is
known to be able to contaminate a large quantity of groundwater.

o Historically, TCE was known to be very unstable within the metal

containers that it was stored in (would corrode through), therefore,
chemical stabilizers were required to be added to the TCE, such as 1,4-
Dioxane and Methyl Ethyl Keytone (MEK). On January 16, 2018, the
NJDEP adopted amendments to the Ground Water Quality Standards
(N.J.A.C. 7:9C), which included revisions and replacements to the
NJDEP’s GWQS. Specifically, for 1,4-dioxane the amendments included
the replacement of the interim specific groundwater quality standard (0.4
micrograms per liter [µg/L]) with a specific Class IIA Groundwater Quality
Criteria, establishing a NJDEP GWQS for 1,4-dioxane at 0.4 µg/L.
Therefore, due to the date of the Remedial Action Permit (2014) vs. the
adoption of the 1,4-Dioxane GWQS (2018), and the fact that in order to
“see” 1,4-dioxane as low as 0.4 µg/L a modified (and more expensive)
analytical methodology is required (which was not commonly performed in
2014); therefore, it is unlikely that the presence of 1,4-Dioxane at the
Walter Earle Corp site was assessed. Along with TCE, the EPA considers
1,4-Dioxane and MEK volatile organic compounds (VOC).

o It is unknown if passive sub-slab mitigation systems and/or vapor barriers

are being proposed at the balance of the residential structures. A very
specific vapor barrier material would be required, as typical moisture
barriers do not prevent the migration of chlorinates solvents into the
building. The material and thickness of a vapor barrier must be specific to
the contamination under the building, otherwise, an undue exposure risk
may be present to the occupants. Further, any buildings within 100’ of the
actual TCE boundary would require post construction VI testing and
monitoring, which would be very disruptive to residential use, and in the
case access is denied for sampling, would leave an unassessed VI
concern.

o According to the Walter Earle Corp site, there is currently no Licensed Site
Remediation Professional (LSRP) assigned, which is highly concerning,
as any Responsible Party is required to retain an LSRP for any site in the
NJDEP’s SRP. Therefore, this contamination is currently unsupervised.

• The Environmental Impact Statement is deficient per Township Ordinance #244-

189. Further, the EIS is based on a 2005 study, based on information from
NJDEP Landscape Habitat Ranking Map the site is mapped with State
Threatened Northern Pine Snake, which was observed as recent at 2007.
Therefore, the EIS is in need of updating, logs should be provided, a request
from the NJDEP Natural Heritage Program database should be updated, and
based on the identification of a State Threatened species on the site, a
Threatened and Endangered (T&E) Species Survey at the Site should be
completed.
 • The Environmental Commission has previously requested dates of the surveys
and all field observation notes, logs, photographs for supporting work in
developing the EIS submitted. To date, we have been denied this supporting
information.

• The Environmental Commission understands that there has been ongoing tree
clearing and asbestos abatement/removal on the site.

• The Commission would like to be provided with the permits and dates for both
the tree removal and the asbestos removal. Further, there were numerous solid
waste dumpsters for which Origin and Disposal Forms as well as disposal
manifests shall be provided. Please also furnish disposal documents for all
walking floor trailers utilized on site to date.

• During a site visit on 11/17/19, there was evidence of deforestation on Block

23001 Lot 26. Tree stumps, disturbed earth, bull dozer tracks, etc. were
observed. There have also been photographic accounts indicating construction
equipment and dumpsters in the September 2019 timeframe.

o New Jersey Pinelands Commission was contacted about approved

permits. The site only has valid forestry permits for lots 22 / 24. There are
no permits approved for lot 26. Please explain why work was performed
on lots 22 and 24, and furnish permits, if they exist.

o There is also a construction permit application for the removal of 2

buildings 50 years or older, a 372 lot subdivision, the new construction of
457 dwelling units and a 24,500 square foot institutional building on the
parcel and the installation of 9,300 linear feet of public sanitary sewer
main and 10,600 linear feet of public water main within the Ridgeway
Road and South Hope Chapel Road rights-of-way. This permit is not valid
yet and per Pinelands Commission letters that have been sent: “NO
DEVELOPMENT MAY BE CARRIED OUT ON THE ABOVE-
REFERENCED PARCEL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE PINELANDS
COMMISSION HAS ACTED ON THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT.”

• The commission requests information on all demolition and construction work

that has been conducted on site thus far which shall include the reasoning for
construction equipment on site prior to Planning Board approval, specifically what
work was performed and exact dates for the work, all applicable approved
permits for said work, and Origination and Disposal manifests, as well as end
point disposal records for the dumpsters.

It is the Environmental Commission’s opinion that T&E species have not been fully
assessed, any exposure to the abutting TCE plume is detrimental, and there has been
non-permitted deforestation work performed on site. There are far too many data gaps
and unknowns to make any further comment on the Jackson Trails site at this time.
Therefore, no homes should be constructed until the T&E concerns are addressed, the
TCE contamination extent is confirmed (with actual data) and said contamination is fully
remediated to the NJDEP GWQS, and all construction work performed on site is
detailed and backed up with valid permits.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Kimberly Skibo
2019-11-21
08:14-05:00

Kimberly Skibo
Vice Chairwoman

Commission Vote: K.Skibo, J. Myer, L. Cromwell, S. DeMarzo – Ayes

cc: Jackson Township Planning Board