ROXBURY, NJ — The owner of the Netcong Heights apartment complex is seeking to join the lawsuit challenging the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center proposed for an adjacent Roxbury warehouse, contending the project could send more than 15 times the authorized amount of wastewater through its private sewer system.
Netcong Heights LLC has asked U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper to permit it to intervene as a plaintiff in the lawsuit brought by Roxbury and the state of New Jersey against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The company said it is not taking a position on the government’s proposed use of the 470,444-square-foot warehouse at 1879 Route 46 or on the broader policy issues surrounding the proposal. Instead, it wants to protect its property, sewer infrastructure and residents from what it described as a risk of sewage backups and overflows.
Sign Up for FREE Roxbury Newsletter
Get local news you can trust in your inbox.
Netcong Heights consists of 424 apartments housing nearly 700 people on property that abuts the 111-acre warehouse site. Wastewater from the warehouse must travel through a private sewer system on the Netcong Heights property before entering the Netcong municipal sewer system and ultimately reaching the Musconetcong Sewerage Authority treatment plant, according to the court filing.
Flow Could Rise Fifteenfold
A 2021 agreement grants the Roxbury warehouse property a perpetual sewer-line easement across the Netcong Heights property.
A separate sewage transmission agreement between the Borough of Netcong and the warehouse’s former owner limits the warehouse to an average wastewater flow of 11,700 gallons per day, according to Netcong Heights. Exceeding that amount requires the borough’s written consent, the company said.
Netcong Heights contends a detention center holding up to 1,500 detainees could generate about 187,500 gallons of wastewater per day — more than 15 times the authorized amount.
That flow would pass first through Netcong Heights’ infrastructure and could cause raw sewage to emerge from manholes or back up through toilets, sinks, showers and floor drains, the company asserted.
“Adding any such flow increases the risk of a sewage overflow or back up,” Roxbury consulting engineer Paul Ferriero said in an earlier declaration cited by Netcong Heights.
The company also pointed to testimony previously submitted by a state Department of Environmental Protection official who said overloaded gravity sewers can become pressurized, potentially causing sewage to overflow into streets or back up into buildings.
Separate Interests Cited
Netcong Heights argued that neither Roxbury nor the state can fully represent its interests because neither owns the private sewer system nor holds the company’s rights under the easement and transmission agreement.
DHS has agreed to conduct a review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) if it decides to move forward with the project. Even a favorable resolution for Roxbury and the state might not protect the apartment complex, Netcong Heights asserted.
For example, the dispute could be resolved through environmental review or a reduction in the detention center’s size without guaranteeing improvements to the sewer line running through Netcong Heights.
“A revised, smaller-scale DHS proposal — one that satisfies NEPA after an EA [environmental assessment] — could still exceed the 11,700-gpd cap,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
Netcong Heights is asking the court to prohibit any increase in wastewater flow through its system unless engineering studies verify that the infrastructure can safely accommodate it. It also wants the court to assign responsibility to the federal defendants for necessary sewer improvements or damage caused by backups or overflows.
The company’s proposed complaint contains four counts alleging violations of federal environmental and immigration laws, threatened violations of its contractual and property rights and grounds for declaratory relief.
Federal Reversal Prompted Filing
Netcong Heights said it did not initially seek to enter the lawsuit because federal officials told the court June 29 that they no longer intended to convert the warehouse and planned to sell it.
That changed in July, when DHS officials told attorneys for Roxbury and the state that the agency had reconsidered and intended to continue evaluating the warehouse for use as a detention center.
Netcong Heights said it learned of the reversal July 12 and subsequently authorized its attorneys to seek intervention.
The company is represented by Stuart Polkowitz and Kenneth Porro of the Roseland law firm Brach Eichler. Messages left for Polkowitz and Porro were not returned.