Hazlet Township To Begin Natco Lake Park Clean-Up
Township Committee votes to spend $16,900 to pick up 940 tons of rubble left behind by contractors during an emergency sewage pipe repair.
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The Hazlet Township Public Works Dept. will begin picking up an estimated 940 tons of debris that was dumped in Natco Lake Park in October 2011, when a contractor laid down a temporary road on swampy ground so that trucks could access a backed-up sewage pipe during a public health emergency.
The half-mile trail of construction debris in a section of the 260-acre Green Acres site off Union Avenue includes chunks of concrete, bits of brick, and tile, said Township Administrator Brian Valentino.
Hazlet expects to pay about $16,900 to a yet-unnamed private disposal company to take it. "Whichever company gives the best price on tonnage," said municipal attorney James Gorman. He explained the contract does not have to be put out to public bid because if falls under the $17,500 threshold.
Some of it will be removed this year, and some next year, said Township Administrator Brian Valentino.
The sewer main runs through a wet section of Natco Lake Park. Valentino explained in an interview in September that in the early 1970s, a dirt berm road was placed next to the pipe as a maintenance road. Over time, a root managed to work its way into the works and grew. The root flourished in the manhole, growing to be 10 feet long, with a 6 foot wide rootball. It eventually served as a stopper, and sewage started backing up in October.
The situation was discovered when the DPW was doing a manhole count during an annual cleaning in the section of pipe near Raritan High School, Valentino said. The workers noticed the pipe was full, and not flowing, so they followed the pipe through the woods until they found the problem. But the road was no longer there, and a temporary one had to be created, quickly, to stop a disaster that would have resulted in sewage backing up into people's homes.
The governing body has been working with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection on how to fix the damage in Natco Lake Park, without incurring more.
Hazlet Environmental Commission Chairwoman Rosemary Mazza and HEC member Bill Shewan have made several public statements at Township Committee meetings stating they have not been consulted by the governing body on its remediation plan.
Natco Lake Park is protected open space that is a renowned haven for birds, fish, crabs and other wildlife. The main entrance is behind Lakeside Manor on Route 36, but the park extends all the way to the Henry Hudson Trail.
mary54
10:53 am on Monday, December 10, 2012
The toxic chemicals in the junk fill carelessly put into the park several months ago have had time to filter down into the soil underneath, and probably will be there forever. Looks like the town will only do a half-way job and not remove all this poisonous stuff from the roads they put in. A little diligence at the beginning of the project would have shown where the old road ran and the extensions from Bart Place and Helen Lane, though virgin woods, would not have been built.
What a mess these people have made of such a great natural resource. The officials who let this happen have not been brought to account. I hope the Patch will dig into this sorry story in more depth so we can get a clearer explanation of who made the critical decisions, and why some nominal cleanup activity will only start at the end of a couple of township officials’ terms in office.
elcid1986
1:26 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
Truth be told, and since I grew up in those woods and hung out there thru high school, the 'old road' ran from Helen Lane to the High School. Today the Helen lane access to the 'old road' is the backyard of atleast 4 houses so going that way was not an option. If you look at the high school the creek and marsh now lay home to the other end of the road so that is not an option either. Not sure how anyone could be held accountable for this, No I am not involved in this in even the remotest of ways. Sounds like you have an axe to grind maybe because the committee didnt ask a group you are with.......It was an EMERGENCY from what I have read so any access would have been thru areas that are in 'virgin' states as the old road was 98% overgrown, you could barely find it if not for the manhole covers. I know I walk it weekly and grew up in it.
maribeth dente
7:57 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
Why doesn't the contractor that put it down have to clean it up,, why does it become our responsiblity,, unless of course our twp administrator knew what they were putting down. Hmm....
Rocco
10:38 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
I agree! I am sure we paid the contractor enough money to do an "emergency" job! They should have to clean up their mess. Which township worker's relative was hired to do this! And whose relative is going to be hired to do the "clean-up"! Doesn't Hazlet employ enough workers that can participate in this clean-up for the money we are already paying them!
Lauren1122
8:52 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
Only there was no emergency.. Considering the "backup" happened in October and the construction of the "path" happened in January. Also, where they made the road at the end of Bart Place there is no sewer line. The location of the clog could have absolutely been accessed from the "old road" in from the high school parking lot.
elcid1986
7:48 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
If there was no emergency then there is a bigger issue , the quickest route to the manholes is definetely thru Bart Place unless you go thru peoples backyards , and the access from the high school is different from where it used to be although it does eventually sync up with the old road
Lauren1122
8:04 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
If you were to follow the Bart Place entrance, you will see that it is about a mile back into the woods before you even come near any manhole. The manhole that had a sewage backup according to Valentino was much closer to access from the high school entrance. And I'm not making the emergency part up - they can't label the sewage backup an emergency when it happened in October and they didn't construct the path until January.
elcid1986
1:56 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Honestly if you come in off of Bart Place 150 yards in there is a manhole cover. For real.
elcid1986
1:56 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
As for the rest I believe you I have no idea about what happened or how it was solved. I do know that I wish they used smaller and from what I read cleaner rocks to make a path the woods are gorgeous.
IloveHazlet
9:39 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Typical move by Gorman to claim the contract is under the public bid threshold, so he and the lame duck Committeemen can award the contract to one of their pay to play cronies - watch for it folks - watch for it - it will probably be T&M or Birdsall - the biggest GOP contributors in Monmouth COunty! Doesn't everybody realize they will bid below the threshold, get the job, and then submit "change orders" for "unforeseen circumstances" that will bounce the total cost ABOVE the "original" assessed cost? This garbage happens all the time with that bunch and we as taxpayers wind up paying that price! Enough is enough! Can't wait for January 4th! Bye Bye Gorman! Bye Bye Valentino!
mary54
2:28 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Most likely T&M will get something out of it. They've consistently given the Republicans campaign contributions and gotten lots of no-bid contracts back in return. As you say, pure play-to-play. Lets hope the new people coming in will not create jobs out of gratitude for their donors as we've been seeing with the curent administration.
And, maybe we'll finally get an accounting of what went on with the gravel road constructon instead of the stonewall that has been set up to stop the flow of any useful information.
mary54
2:28 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Should have been pay-to-play. And, current.
elcid1986
4:56 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Wishful thinking about the new admin not creating jobs for their cronies and contributors. Mary54 it was only a few short years ago that the engineering firm CME held EVERY single one of the engineering jobs in Hazlet. Why? you may ask. Well that was because they were one of the biggest contributors to the Democrats. Its true. Same story just different party and firm.
NOW that being said I hope this also spurs talk on how to have better access and passive utilization of the Natco Lake Park, it is really beautiful.