Compass rose in Ventnor City Hall.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR – The Board of Commissioners, absent Mayor Beth Holtzman, Tuesday, Dec. 21, passed a resolution of non-support for the City of Pleasantville’s effort to establish a construction debris transfer station at the old Press of Atlantic City print shop site on Washington Avenue.
Developer James DiNatale, who owns the property, has proposed establishing the transfer station at no cost to the City of Pleasantville or the county. Construction debris would be brought to the former printing facility, sorted and transferred to the adjacent rail line and brought to Ohio for disposal. All sorting would be done inside the building and would save money on the cost of transportation and disposal fees, he said. The City of Pleasantville stands to gain $400,000 annually, which Mayor Judy Ward said would help taxpayers. However, ACUA President Richard Dovey said the rest of Atlantic County taxpayers would bear the brunt of the loss of revenue from tipping fees paid to the ACUA by those disposing of construction debris at the county landfill on Delilah Road in Egg Harbor Township.
Commissioner Lance Landgraf sponsored the resolution, which states the City of Ventnor does not support the rail transfer station and urges the Atlantic County Board of County Commissioners to also vote no.
The county board approved Pleasantville’s efforts to redevelop the site at their meeting, which was being held at the same time as the Ventnor commissioners’ meeting.
According to Landgraf, the proposed project has not been submitted for the approval of the Atlantic County Solid Waste Advisory Council, which is required to approve the measure.
According to the resolution, there would be significant impact to Pleasantville’s roadway network and environment, which would negatively affect the residents’ quality of life. Also, a complete financial investigation has not been completed and residents were not fully notified of the plan, the resolution states.
“…absent the full and comprehensive SWAC (Solid Waste Advisory Council) and Atlantic County Planning analysis, any expression of support is premature,” the resolution states.
Removal of construction debris from the Atlantic County waste stream will negatively affect tipping fees for Atlantic County communities that use the Atlantic County Utilities Authority to collect and dispose of trash, Landgraf said.
“It’s very early on…but this will negatively affect us as residents of the county,” he said. “They’ve done none of their homework and their application to the Atlantic County Solid Waste Advisory Committee is incomplete. Why would the commissioners support an application for something like this?”
Landgraf said everyone should wait until more information about it is available.
“It’s premature for the county commissioners to act on this,” he said.
“Because it affects our partner, ACUA, it affects us,” Commissioner Tim Kriebel said before joining Landgraf in approving the resolution of non-support.
The issue was discussed during the Atlantic County Board of County Commissioners meeting, which voted to support Pleasantville’s efforts to conduct further research on the proposal. That meeting can be viewed here…http://youtu.be/itamEhsQ8eI
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