If they build, will anyone buy?

From NorthJersey.com:

$500M development could still be tainted after cleanup

A developer is weeks from breaking ground on more than 700 homes at the former Curtiss-Wright engine plant, six years after the site was sold with a deed restriction that made it clear: People cannot live here.

The work on the $500 million Wesmont Station neighborhood in Wood-Ridge will begin amid a continuing cleanup that so far has cost at least $27.5 million. The state Department of Environmental Protection has given the developer approval to build in phases, using a clean-as-you-go approach, and some areas are in fact considered up to residential standards.

But DEP and other public records obtained by The Record indicate there are questions about the cancer-causing contaminants left in a former landfill and in other yet-to-be-approved areas where housing is planned. The pollutants also are in nearby groundwater.

If the project doesn’t go as planned, New Jersey taxpayers could bear the cost of the cleanup.
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The DEP at the time approved a plan to remove the contaminants and monitor the air quality.

Today, the property owner, Wood-Ridge Development, says it is committed to continuing the environmental cleanup. Sewer placement and road-building are set to begin July 1.

“I would not develop any property that I wouldn’t live in myself, or allow my family to live in,” Zucker said.

But some critics say the site never should be developed. They cite documents which show that Curtiss-Wright, Wood-Ridge Development and the borough all have so-called “hold-harmless” agreements — meaning that ultimately, state taxpayers could be on the hook if, say, part of the site is built, and part is discovered to be too contaminated for residential use.

“They’re putting it into a use it wasn’t meant for,” said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club. “The truth is we still don’t know the extent of what’s there. People are talking about how this neighborhood is a great design, with a train station and pretty houses. What difference is great design if 20 years from now some kid gets sick?”
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The name Wesmont Station was chosen to evoke both the site’s location on the borough’s western slope and a planned NJ Transit train station custom-made for this project. Sketches show tidy single-family homes, town houses and apartments; downtown shops; pedestrian and bike paths; a museum honoring Rosie the Riveter; and a village square.

Supporters call it a gem of New Urbanism, an architectural movement that discourages the use of cars and fosters a small-town vibe, much like Radburn in Fair Lawn.

“It’s really our legacy project,” said John Knifton, project manager for the developer. “It’s going to define a lot of boundaries for us.”

And then there is profit from selling houses — even more so if the state designates the project a Transit Village; the developer and borough would be eligible for streamlined approvals and more grant money.