Politics & Government

Planning Board to Consider Plan to 'Reclaim' Millington Quarry Land

Planning Board to officially take first look at turning quarrying operation into property that can be redeveloped.

A plan that outlines the future of the 190 or so acres in the middle of Basking Ridge that for many decades have been used for a quarrying operation is set to go before the township Planning Board at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Millington Quarry Inc. already has filed a "reclamation plan" for how it would turn the quarrying site into a property that could be redeveloped for other purposes. Spokespersons for MQI previously have said the long-term goal is to develop the property for residential use.

The quarry's updated reclamation plan already has been submitted and was expected to come before the township late in November, Anthony Marchetta, an attorney representing Millington Quarry, Inc. (MQI), said in October.

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The agenda for Tuesday night's meeting is online at the the township website. The agenda said the township board is scheduled to consider whether the plan, as submitted, is complete, before beginning a public hearing on the issue.

Paperwork filed online says implementing the property improvements in the reclamation plan will cost the quarry owners about $8 million.

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Tilcon New York, the former operator at the quarry, had halted its larger quarrying business in spring 2010, but MQI's mining of stone had never totally ceased, attorneys for Millington Quarry said in October.

That mining will continue while the quarry owner waits for the township to consider the quarry's long-term reclamation plan to prepare the quarry's 190 acres off Stone House Road for future residential development, the MQI attorneys said.

Although the mining of red shale and gray basalt has been continuing, Anthony Marchetta, attorney for MQI, said that no soil is being trucked into the quarry facility from other locations, a major point of contention with township officials.

Meanwhile, a legal dispute that MQI has had with the township since 2008 has been legally stayed until next February, Marchetta said last month.

"Hopefully, by then we can agree on a new reclamation plan, and maybe there won't be a need for litigation," Marchetta said.

Earlier in October, Bernards Township officially announced that Tilcon New York, which had for years been running the quarry operation at the 190-acre property, had dropped its litigation with Bernards Township. That lawsuit also had been ongoing since 2008.

The mining operation in which MQI takes materials as needed from the quarry, is a smaller operation than under Tilcon, Marchetta said.

Before a court ruling prior even to Tilcon's leaving the operation, trucks bearing soil also had been arriving at the quarry. The legal disputes from 2008 included concerns by the township and some residents that contaminants were included in soil being trucked in by the quarry to fill in steep areas that already had been quarried. The quarry operator, Tilcon, and the owner contended otherwise, and also said the soil was being brought in with accordance with the township's steep slope ordinance.

Since then, the state Department of Environmental Protection has been overseeing environmental testing of the quarry property, as well as reviewing plans for any cleanup.

Whatever its use now, Marchetta noted that the property in the midst of Bernards Township is valuable to MQI. That property can't be prepared for residential development until MQI receives an approved reclamation plan from the township, he added.

"If we can't get the approved reclamation plan, obviously we are going to continue to quarry because we are not going to let the property be value-less," Marchetta said.

Malay said last night that Tilcon's dropping of the lawsuit was another step toward resolving the issue. "There is a lot more to be done, but I thank our staff and professionals for their efforts in this matter to date. Above all else, the township continues to be committed to the health and safety of its residents," he said at that time.


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