Source: http://www.courierpostonline.com, June 23, 2017
By: Carly Q. Romalino
Homes could be evacuated as a neighborhood littered with bits of lead-contaminated car batteries becomes a construction zone for federal cleanup crews.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicated Thursday it will move forward with cleanup of the Tempo Development at Crown Point Road and Hessian Avenue in West Deptford. The neighborhood includes private residences on Woodlane Drive, Birchly Court and Oakmont Court. .
In 2015, sewer work on a Birchly Court property revealed a cache of crushed battery casings. EPA investigators determined the bits of car batteries were the source of high lead levels in soil on the property and many others nearby. Debris was discovered on properties all over the neighborhood.
Later, officials linked the contaminated site to Matteo & Sons, a recycler on Crown Point Road listed as a federal Superfund environmental site since 2006. Matteo & Sons once owned the ground where the Tempo Development was built in the 1990s, officials said.

The EPA will hold a meeting for residents at 7 p.m. July 6 at Riverwinds to reveal its full plan for neighborhood cleanup. The proposed remediation plan comes eight months after the housing development was classified as a Superfund site.
The federal agency proposes removing soil with lead levels that pose a health risk, and replacing it with clean soil.
Some occupants could be relocated temporarily while EPA contractors perform the work, the agency said.

Owners of the Birchly Court property where debris was first discovered were relocated for about a month while 40 dump-truck loads of contaminated soil were excavated from the site. Utilities were disconnected during that time, leaving the houses temporarily uninhabitable.
The EPA noted deeds would be placed on land in public rights-of-way, including roads, to ensure any future construction would not disturb battery casings underneath.
The EPA would review the cleanup every five years to check its effectiveness, the agency proposed.
IF YOU GO 
The EPA will hold a meeting about Tempo Development cleanup at 7 p.m. July 6 at Riverwinds Community Center, 1000 RiverWinds Drive, West Deptford. Public comment on the proposal will be accepted until July 24.