Source: http://www.northjersey.com, May 23, 2016
By: Richard Cowen
Congregation Emek Yehoshua’s plan to build a synagogue, school and banquet hall on the site of a long-shuttered factory on Brook Avenue has hit a major snag.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has declared the site to be contaminated and in need of a cleanup, effectively nullifying the May 2015 sale of the property to the congregation. The environmental agency has ordered the seller, the Passaic Engraving Company, to hire an environmental consultant to conduct the cleanup.
An official with the agency, Joshua P. Gradwohl, wrote in a May 4 letter to Passaic Engraving that the company is liable for the cleanup. A copy of that letter was sent to the Passaic city clerk’s office and obtained by The Record.
“The Department is aware that Passaic Engraving Company, Inc., was a manufacturer of embossing rollers.related to electroplating,” Gradwohl wrote. “Both of these categories are subject to New Jersey’s Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA).”
The letter is addressed to Elizabeth Schaffran of Burlington, who is presumed by the state environmental agency to be the head of the company, although it has been closed for many years. Schaffran could not be reached for comment on Monday.
In his letter, Gradwohl noted that because the sale of the property occurred a year ago, Passaic Engraving already is out of compliance with DEP regulations and must act quickly.
“It is imperative that Passaic Engraving Company, Inc., act quickly to comply with the requirement to remediate the site pursuant to ISRA to avoid an enforcement action,” Gradwohl wrote.
Under the industrial recovery act, the state sets the timeframe for the cleanup.
Gradwohl wrote that the law prohibits transfer of ownership until the property has been cleaned up. It also requires that a “licensed remediation professional” submit a cleanup plan that must be certified by the state environmental agency. The buyer of the property “may assume responsibility for the remediation of the site,” Gradwohl wrote.
Congregation Emek Yehoshua is currently before the Passaic Board of Adjustment seeking several variances to develop the Passaic Engraving property. The congregation hopes to build a synagogue, school with dormitories, community center and banquet hall on the one-acre site at 41 Brook Ave.
The lot is in a residential zone next door to a garden apartment complex. Parking is an issue in the neighborhood, and one variance that the congregation is seeking would reduce the number of required car spaces from 65 to 36.
The Passaic Board of Adjustment was scheduled to hear the case on May 3, but that hearing was abruptly cancelled when Congregation Emek Yehoshua requested more time to review “new communications,” board chairman Menachem Bazian said. The letter from Gradwohl is dated the following day. The hearing was tentatively rescheduled for June 21.
The head of the congregation, Rabbi Yeshia Buxbaum, could not be reached for comment on Monday.