County Concrete Corp. and Rutgers Pond/Sunset Pond in Roxbury and Mine HillPhoto Credit: Google Earth
Rutgers Pond/Sunset LakePhoto Credit: TAPinto Roxbury
Previous
Next
By Fred J. Aun
Published August 3, 2022 at 5:08 PM
Last updated August 3, 2022 at 9:15 PM
ROXBURY, NJ – Rutgers Pond, also known as Sunset Lake, was formed by decades of quarrying.
Now, Roxbury-based County Concrete Corp. wants to return to that hole on the Roxbury/Mine Hill border some material long ago removed.
The company has applied to the state for permission to fill in a section of the pond and to reroute a piece of the Black River through the reclaimed area. In an application describing the plan, County Concrete says the river would be returned to its “natural channel” instead of going through the man-made pond as it does now.
Sign Up for FREE Roxbury Newsletter
Get local news you can trust in your inbox.
The project is outlined in a 597-page application filed with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) which refers to the plan as the “Black River Restoration.” County Concrete is seeking from the DEP a flood hazard individual permit and an open water fill individual permit.
“The Black River … currently routes through man-made Rutgers Pond in Roxbury and Mine Hill Townships,” says the application. “The proposed project will reestablish the natural channel of the river, disconnecting it from Rutgers Pond. This will be accomplished by mainly using fine-grained materials that were separated from aggregates removed from the pond to build up land surface along the southwest edge of the pond.”
The pond is the body of water that includes Mine Hill Beach on the eastern shore across the water from County Concrete’s plant in Kenvil.
A River Runs Through It
County Concrete proposes to build a “naturalized stream channel” through the filled-in area that would “directly connect the Black River to itself” below the pond. That new channel would be shored-up with gravel and vegetation, according to the letter. “Landscaping and shade trees will be implemented along both sides of the new stream channel,” it notes.
The company proposes filling-in about 16 acres of the 56-acre pond, with about nine acres of the filled area rising above the water. If approved, the project would take seven to 10 years to finish, according to the paperwork.
“To date, there have been no attempts to restore or stabilize the Black River channel through the project site,” says the application. “The causes of ecological degradation that led to the Black River connecting to Rutgers Pond were mechanical quarrying operations. Quarrying operations are no longer active in the project area, and this mechanical removal of restored stream channel and banks is not a concern.”
The document asserts that replacing the material into the pond “is the only way to restore the Black River Channel to a typical cross-section,” adding that the river’s channel “has been drastically reconfigured due to the historical quarrying operations.“
The project is the only viable alternative, asserts the application, suggesting County Concrete is running out of room at its Kenvil site to store unwanted material it can't sell. If not allowed to proceed “County Concrete would have to either “haul and properly dispose of the sifted native soils at an offsite location,” continue to store it on site or buy new land to conduct its operations, it says.
“The materials have no market or resale value,” says the document. “Relocating this material would require significant truck transportation of the material, resulting in increased truck traffic and air pollution. Disposing of this fill at regulated facilities would also incur significant costs.”
County Concrete President John Crimi did not return a message.
The application seemed to come as a surprise to Mine Hill Mayor Sam Morris and to Roxbury Township Manager John Shepherd. Both said they had no idea it was coming.
Don’t miss any Roxbury news! Click here to sign-up for our free daily e-newsletter.
Please “like” and “follow” us on Facebook and check out our Twitter feed.
TAPinto Roxbury is free to read, funded entirely by business advertising.
To get your business in front of thousands of readers in Roxbury and beyond, become a TAPinto sponsor! Call 862-259-2448 or click here.
To send press releases, classified ads, items for the event calendar, “Milestones” announcements, etc., look for the “Submit Content” link on the homepage.
Thank you for reading TAPinto Roxbury!