Contaminated fill materials are often encountered on brownfield redevelopment sites throughout New Jersey, either from historic site development or from past site use. The contaminated fill material can restrict site development options and significantly reduce property values.

For National Realty Investment Advisors (NRIA), E&LP significantly increased the value of the property with creative contaminated fill management. Through innovative application of all available and regulatory acceptable practices, E&LP was able to obtain an unrestricted use for the site which allowed the property owners to achieve full property value.

The historic fill material present on this site contained the pesticides dieldrin and chlordane, metals compounds including arsenic, copper, lead and vanadium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds of benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and dibenz(a,h)anthracene, as well as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The fill composition was not homogeneous; therefore, portions of the site were impacted with different compounds, requiring different remedies throughout the site.

To achieve unrestricted site development, E&LP utilized

• Soil blending of the historic pesticide compounds within several portions of the historic fill.
• Compliance averaging to eliminate remediation of the metal and PAH compounds.
• Limited hot spot soil excavation for the remediation of PCBs.

In summary, do not fear the fill; there are economic opportunities to redevelop these distressed properties. No reports are required or permits necessary to implement the site improvements. For more information on the project, please visit the NRIA and Hoboken Heights’ websites.