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Shamrock Creek, LLC is the owner of 35 acres in the Borough of Paramus.  It has no street address but is located on the south side of Soldier Hill Road, between Forest Ave. and Pascack Rd. Shamrock Creek is applying jointly with JDME Acquisitions for permits and approvals to build on the property. 

The benefits to the Paramus community would be significant. The development would perform the much needed environmental clean-up of toxic metals, concrete, asphalt, broken glass and other debris around the site. It will provide tax revenue. It will not be a burden to the school system, as it will be age restricted as presently proposed. Any design will incorporate attractive architecture, open space and significant landscaping. Presently, plans for a 144 unit condominium project have been submitted to the Borough and the New Jersey DEP for review and approval.  The project as submitted is an age restricted community, for active adults 55 years + old.  There would be a mix of townhouses and condominium units.   A clubhouse for the community is proposed.  There is a significant amount of property reserved for conservation and preservation of wetlands, restored and back to its natural state.

The site’s about 35 acres in size, about 17 acres of the 35 acres is wetlands. The location and the extent of those wetlands have been verified by New Jersey DEP through something called the Letter of Interpretation Process.

The entirety of the uplands and some of the 17 acres of wetlands are comprised of a solid waste landfill. There are about 65,000 cubic yards of solid waste on this property, ranging in depth from zero feet to about six feet in depth. Much of that solid waste is actually located within the wetlands on this property.

The property has contamination which will require environmental clean-up.  The history of the property indicates it was a dump site for construction debris during the building of the Garden State parkway in the 1950s. There are 4-6 foot piles of concrete pieces, asphalt and lead pipe throughout the north rim of the property. Pockets of broken glass are found on the ground within the site. The significant amount of testing, reporting and investigation by environmental engineers indicate that copper, lead, barium, arsenic, mercury, zinc and thallium (Priority Pollutant Metals PPM) are found in the soils, in some spots exceeding the NJDEP Residential Soil Cleanup Criteria (RSCC). Exposure to the PPMs have caused a variety of harmful effects, including brain and kidney damage, gastrointestinal distress, blood disturbances and other adverse health problems. Lead, zinc and arsenic are particularly harmful to the unborn and new born child.

Shamrock Creek and JDME are seeking approvals for the Remedial Action Workplan (RAWP) to clean up the contamination.  That process was in its last phase when NJDEP advised Shamrock Creek to revise the plan due to the initial denial of the DEP Stream Encroachment Permit. That denial is now being appealed

The Stream Encroachment Permit Application had 2 components to it. The implementation of the housing component of the project requires the disturbance of about three-tenths of an acre of wetlands. That’s all. Three-tenths of an acre of wetlands. This would have minimal effect on the wetlands and ecosystem but huge benefits by cleaning up the existing wetlands.

The second component of the project is the stabilization and capping and closure of the landfill. This will involve the renovation, the enhancement or the restoration of approximately seven acres of wetlands. There is seven acres of wetlands that right now have garbage in them. These seven acres we will go into, we’ll either remove this material or stabilize it and restore it to a wetland condition.

Those three-tenths of an acre of wetland disturbance for housing and the seven acres of wetlands disturbance for the landfill restoration are the only wetlands disturbances that will ever take place on this site. Once that is done, the balance of the property will be deed restricted.

The environmental impacts from this project, both in its current condition and in its proposed condition are being addressed.

Water quality sampling, which has conducted, indicates that metals, in their dissolved form, are leaching from the landfill into the brook, which discharges to the Oradell Reservoir.

In addition, the surface of the landfill is exposed in many places and is subject to ongoing erosion. Trees which had fallen over because they don’t have a stable soil system in which to root themselves. They’re rooted in garbage. They fall over. And they expose the garbage underneath. If this project doesn’t move forward in this fashion, that condition will remain and only get worse.

New Jersey DEP has indicated that there are 18,000 contaminated sites in New Jersey that require remediation for which there are no responsible parties, and for which there is very limited public funding. It’s one of the reasons that the State has moved toward a voluntary clean-up program because if sites like this don’t get remediated using private dollars, they’re not going to get remediated. They’re not going to get stabilized.

There are contaminants on the property from previous owners.  The contamination did not occur during Shamrock Creek's ownership or actions.  We are trying to gain approval to clean up the actions of others.  Secondly, there are wetlands within the boundaries of the property which need to be protected.  These issues would be addressed in any development application before the State, County and Borough.  Finally, the issues typically addressed by the Borough Board of Adjustment would be dealt with during the approval process.

Shamrock Creek, LLC wants the public to know the full story, not just one side. We want you to know the whole picture, not just some publicity to save property that should be cleaned and then protected.  Common sense would dictate that we all want environmental contamination cleaned up.  However, the only issue you’ve heard until now is not based in facts, but fantasy. It is disingenuous to allege that these wetlands should be left in its present state.  Why would you want waters potentially contaminated by garbage, asphalt, chemicals and toxic metals finding its way into the drinking water system? 

Once you know all the facts, you will support a well thought out plan, which funds a clean up of the toxins on-site, restores and protects wetlands, and funds all this without the need for taxpayer contribution.