City park site was once a railroad repair yard
Contaminated areas at Cherry Street Park to be cleaned
BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH - The city is working on plans to remediate contaminated sections of a local park after learning that the site was once used as a railroad locomotive repair yard.

A site investigation of the 1.5-acre Cherry Street Park turned up evidence of elevated contamination levels at certain areas, according to Richard E. Brown, the senior associate of Birdsall Engineering Inc., the city's engineering firm.

A remediation plan is expected to be submitted to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for review, according to Brown.

The cost to carry out the remediation plans is estimated between $50,000- $60,000, Brown said.

"We are preparing a remediation plan for submission to the DEP," Brown said. "We are proposing limited excavation in the area where the [contamination] was found and bringing in clean fill.

"Post-excavation sampling will be done for confirmation that the area adjacent to the excavation has no compounds that exceed the DEP residential contact [soil remediation] standards," he said.

After a preliminary assessment was done on the area, the city learned that a railroad repair yard once operated at the park site on Cherry Street, according to Brown.

As a result of the findings, Brown requested that the city conduct a site investigation to determine if any contaminants from the repair yard still polluted the site.

The park is used by the community and contains a basketball court, baseball field and a tot lot, according to Brown.

"The site investigation included ground penetrating radar, test pits and soil borings," Brown said.

"Samples were collected from the test pits and borings and sent to the laboratory for analysis," he said. "The samples were tested for compounds in accordance with the DEP residential contact standards.

"Elevated levels of lead, arsenic, antimony and PCBs were found that exceed the DEP standards," he added.

The contamination was found in three "rather remote" locations at the park, Brown said.

He explained that his firm and city officials are in the process of preparing the remediation plans and the plan review will be ready this month.

The entire remediation is expected to be completed this summer, Brown said.