Tract's potential future use remains undecided
Federal official suggests taking closer look at sites with railroad tracks
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - The immediate possibility of a solid waste transfer station being built on Route 33 has been lifted.

So what's next?

Municipal officials may examine ways to protect properties that have active or non-active railroad tracks on them.

Should residents be concerned that a similar proposal might resurface in the future?

According to Charles "Chip" Nottingham, chairman of the federal Surface Transportation Board, "Having railroad tracks can be both a blessing and a curse for towns."

Nottingham spoke with the News Transcript in the days after he announced that the federal Surface Transportation Board would not grant an exemption to Ashland Railroad to establish a solid waste transfer station on a Route 33 property about a quarter-mile west of the Kozloski Road overpass in Freehold Township.

Nottingham said municipal officials in any community might want to take a closer look at the railroad tracks in their towns and examine the land use issues that could arise from their presence.

He said Ashland Railroad has the right to appeal the board's decision or to re-file the application. In its decision the board said Ashland Railroad was not forthcoming with pertinent information that the board had requested about the Freehold Township solid waste transfer station proposal.

The issue of the proposed solid waste transfer station caused strong opposition and brought many levels of government and a citizens group to the forefront. The primary objection was that local, county and state agencies would have no say in how such a facility would be operated.

Congressman Christopher Smith (RNJ) and other elected officials worked with a citizens group called the Sludge Busters to bring their environmental concerns to the attention of the federal Surface Transportation Board.

Thomas Antus, who is Freehold Township's administrator, recognizes the fragile situation and said the property in question on Route 33 in front of the Iron Mountain record storage building is zoned for manufacturing, as are many properties in that area.

"It has been suggested to us that we change the zoning to something that would not permit the railroad to be built," Antus said, "but that would be spot zoning. The real solution is the Clean Railroad Act of 2007."

Antus explained that this act, co-sponsored by Congressman Frank Pallone (DNJ), would give local municipalities some degree of control over what is built along a railroad line.

Antus said the problem is not the railroad line itself, but what can be built along the railroad line without state, county or local supervision. The Clean Railroad Act would add jurisdiction to state and local officials and ensure that solid waste facilities next to a rail line would fall under the same regulations as every other waste facility, which would allow the state to regulate its operation.

"If the Surface Transportation Board had granted that exemption, they (Ashland Railroad) could have built anything they wanted," Antus said, adding that action was an unintended result of a loophole in existing federal law regarding rail lines.

"The Clean Railroads Act of 2007 will close this loophole," he added.

In an interview with the News Transcript, Smith praised Nottingham for his attention to the Ashland Railroad application.

Smith said he was glad to work with Nottingham who, he said, is "a strong person with a propensity for being investigative and leaving no stone unturned."

"We want independence to be the order of the day," he said.

Smith said having the chairman of any decision-making body come to a municipality to announce a decision - as Nottingham did on Aug. 16 in Freehold Township - is "unprecedented."

The congressman said he believes everyone who was involved in this matter from the beginning helped to bring about the positive outcome and were very persuasive in presenting their case to the federal Surface Transportation Board attorneys during a meeting in Washington, D.C.

Smith said it was never the intent of any law "to carry out a sweetheart deal for waste haulers who want to make a fast buck. We have environmental rules to help protect people. We would never cast aside our duty to get to a place where that takes precedence.

"I want the Department of Environmental Protection pouring over information. I want the Environmental Protection Agency and local environmental professionals to protect our citizens. We have to be a part of the process. I depend on local agencies," he said, noting the work done by Larry Zaayenga, of the Monmouth County Planning Board, Solid Waste Recycling Planning Section, who was an integral part of presenting local objection to the solid waste transfer station.

"We need all local input. We will not allow our rules to be set aside," Smith said, then added emphatically, "not on my watch."