WILDWOOD — The sale of the city’s former back-bay landfill was supposed to provide a lifeline, not to mention $2.85 million in this year’s budget and $5 million in revenue over the next three years.
However, those funds are in question after the new buyer learned that the site is more contaminated than they thought.
After an executive session on Nov. 26 regarding the sale, Wildwood Commissioners voted to sell as much as $3.3 million in tax anticipation notes to cover the shortfall.
In a press release, Louis Ferrara, the city’s director of redevelopment, said that Wildwood and would be developer, SLRD Company-Mullica Hill LLC entered into a preliminary con-tract in September of this year. Under the terms of the agreement, the new buyer would pay Wildwood $5 million over a period of three years and incur the costs of capping the contaminated area, which was estimated at approximately $8.5 million.
According to the city, the 24-acre site along the back-bay between Susquehanna Avenue from Baker to Garfield avenues included 8.5 acres of land deemed free of contamination and ready for development.
That finding was based on studies completed by the previous developer, K. Hovnanian. K. Hovnanian had eyed the site as the future home of a residential community and spent about $2 million researching the environmental condition of the site.
However, designing for a former landfill wasn’t easy and K. Hovnanian, blaming economic troubles, announced last November that it would be abandoning the plans to build on the property.
The new buyer, SLRD Company-Mullica Hill LLC, headed by Brian Horne, initially relied on those reports, but Horne determined that additional testing was necessary.
“Unfortunately the additional extensive testing revealed the existence of volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds, which are in excess of the amount permitted for residential development, on the area which was thought to be clear,” states Ferrara.
As a result, the 8.5 acres can’t be developed for several years until the contamination on site is capped, a cost that has grown from $8 million to an estimated $10.5 million.
With the new costs and delay in construction, a new deal must be reached.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com
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