Middle Stalls Dredge Soils Vote

COURT HOUSE — In July, Cape Mining and Recycling went before the Middle Township Committee seeking a ruling on the company’s application to transport dredge soils within the township and to “receive, deposit, store and process dredge soils” at its site on Goshen Road in Court House.
A hearing was held and no decision was reached then.
On Dec. 17, at the governing body’s last meeting of 2018, township officials reopened that hearing with the expectation that a vote on the application would finally be taken.
There was no vote. A motion to approve the application died for lack of a second. 
Background
Coastal dredging is an activity critical to navigation of back bay channels and waterways. Dredging programs are important to the island communities where the biggest obstacle is finding a preapproved site for the dredge soils.
Cape Mining presented testimony in July that its site in Court House would be an ideal location for such material. 
Company officials argued that it would create no safety or environmental problems for the neighboring community.
The company’s attorney Rocco Tedesco, emphasized the comprehensive oversight of the process by the state Department of Environmental Protection. “What better location for the dredge material than an extraction site?” he said at that first hearing.
Neighbors of the site saw the proposal very differently. Allowing Cape Mining to transport and accept a maximum of 260 cubic yards of dewatered dredge soils would create risks of water and soil contamination, they argued.
The public hearing presented objections to 35-foot high mountains of dredge material, while noting the smells that emanate from the extraction site. 
Property owners talked of the visual impact of the dredge material practically in their backyard. All pleaded that the health and safety risks were uncertain and should not be ignored by the township.
In the end, residents spoke passionately about the effect this would have on their property values.
When the hearing was reopened, the arguments from the public were the same. There was also a renewed emphasis on the safety issues associated with transporting the materials, a process the mining company said will involve 75 truckloads a day for about three months.
Noise from the site, parades of trucks bringing still wet sludge, noxious smells, a mountain of dredge soils and the risk of contamination, the picture painted by those opposed to the project was compelling, but one the company argued was inconsistent with reality.
Tedesco’s voice rose as he reminded the governing body that the process is subject to strict DEP testing. The materials Cape Mining wants to accept, Tedesco said, meet DEP’s full contact residential standard.
He spoke of the company’s willingness to establish an appropriate buffering plan to eliminate the visual impact of the stored materials. He argued that the company had met all the requirements of the township’s ordinance concerning dredge materials, and had a right to operate the business it was licensed for in a location zoned for the operation.
Deputy Mayor Jeffrey DeVico, at his last meeting before leaving Township Committee, indicated that he would support the application.
DeVico said he had seen “Not one ounce of professional testimony” that would offer proof that the materials presented a health and safety risk to neighboring homes.
“This is a business that has crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s,” DeVico said.  
Solicitor Frank Corrado, also at his last meeting as the township’s lawyer, presented committee with a list of 13 potential conditions that could be attached to any approval of the application. These would allow for establishment of an escrow account, placing a time limit on the approval, setting up inspections by the township engineer, establishing test wells and similar constraints on how the permits could be used if approved.
Committee member Timothy Donohue then argued against the permits. “Middle Township has a long history of being the dumping ground for the island communities, and we should learn from that history,” he said.
Donohue pointed to Cape Mining’s site in Lower Township and the violations that had occurred there.
“The site was actually closed down for a period by the DEP,” he reminded the audience. Speaking of the conditions outlined by Corrado, Donohue said the company does not have a track record of abiding by such conditions.
To applause, Donohue said he would vote no.
Mayor Michael Clark said that the public would know his vote when he voted, but he wanted them to know that he is always first and foremost “concerned about what is best to the welfare of township residents.”
The stage was set for a vote everyone already knew would be split and then there was no vote.
The resolution died for lack of a second, which meant the application did not get an affirmative approval, but it also did not get a formal no vote. 
Officially the township did not act on the application leaving it unclear if the matter is closed or still open.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.