Environmental assessment planned for hospital tract

BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer

MARLBORO - Municipal officials are moving one step closer in their negotiations with the state to purchase the Route 520 property that formerly housed the Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital.

Officials have been in negotiations with representatives of the state Treasury Department to acquire the 411-acre property since the hospital was closed by the state in 1998 after more than 60 years of operation.

Last week Marlboro received a $127,000 state grant to fund an environmental study of the hospital property. The study will determine the best way to proceed for the future of the property, according to state Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth and Mercer).

"The hospital has been closed for nearly a decade, but before we take the next step with the property we need to document the environmental hazards that lay within," Karcher said in a press release. "Without a thorough study of the environmental problems at Marlboro Psychiatric, we cannot in good conscience open up that property for use by the public."

The $127,000 grant was obtained from the Hazardous Site Remediation Fund, a partnership between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Economic Development Authority (EDA).

One of several roadblocks between state and municipal officials regarding the sale of the hospital property over the years has been a concern over the cost of an environmental cleanup that may be required prior to the redevelopment of the site.

"It's still a sticking point," Karcher said. "Preliminary reports suggest substantial environmental damage on the hospital property."

Marlboro Councilman Steve Rosenthal has previously stated that the cost to purchase the hospital property could be between $5 million and $10 million and the cleanup costs could range from $10 million to $30 million.

"The remediation [cost] is the indicator for what we would want to do" with the property, Rosenthal said last week.

The implementation of the environmental study is now in Marlboro's hands. According to Rosenthal, the township will most likely hire Birdsall Engineering to conduct the study, which Rosenthal said will hopefully begin within the next six weeks.

In addition to figuring out what the remediation costs are going to be for the hospital property, Rosenthal said the key to acquiring the land is also receiving interest from businesses to build on the parcel. Interested parties include members of the medical community and the recreation and wellness community, he added.

Karcher noted that Marlboro officials have not yet submitted a plan to the state for the development of the property.

Rosenthal said an advisory committee which was formed in the fall to help put a plan together for future negotiations concerning the hospital property has been working diligently to do just that. He said the township will submit a plan to the state at the end of the summer.

With only 25 to 50 developable acres of a 411-acre property - because of buffer restrictions around Big Brook, which runs through the property - Rosenthal said some of the plans Marlboro officials had hoped to accomplish would not be possible. One option the councilman said the committee has been looking into includes a swimming pool, basketball courts and a gym, as well as several medical buildings.

As for other parties who may be interested in purchasing the hospital land from the state, Rosenthal and Karcher agreed that Monmouth County has expressed an interest in purchasing a piece of the land. Karcher added that nothing solid has materialized with other potential buyers.