HOWELL – Members of the Township Council have restated their opposition to a company’s proposal to establish a solid waste transfer station at 34 Randolph Road, Howell, and to have that facility included in Monmouth County’s Solid Waste Management Plan.
During the Jan. 22 meeting of the council, Mayor Theresa Berger, Deputy Mayor Evelyn O’Donnell, Councilman Thomas Russo, Councilman John Bonevich and Councilwoman Pamela Richmond passed a resolution stating their objections.
Resource Engineering, LLC, has proposed establishing a solid waste transfer station at 34 Randolph Road, Howell, near Route 547, a county road. The company is seeking to have the proposed facility included in the county’s Solid Waste Management Plan.
As previously described by the company, the transfer station would receive thousands of tons of cleanup debris and construction debris by truck each day. The debris would be sorted and then leave the transfer station for final disposal at other facilities.
The council’s resolution states that “Resource Engineering is seeking inclusion into the Monmouth County Solid Waste Management Plan as a proposed solid waste transfer station (on Randolph Road) … and Resource Engineering has indicated it will receive (various types) of waste at the proposed solid waste transfer station. Transfer stations are specifically prohibited in all zones in Howell … ”
The resolution goes on to state that “the New Jersey State Solid Waste Management Act requires that the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Monmouth County consider the absence of sufficient existing or available sites for solid waste facilities and develop and implement a solid waste management plan which meets the needs of every municipality within the county.”
There are already transfer station facilities in Monmouth County which are included in the February 2009 amendment to the county plan and which accept type 13 and 13C waste, including the Monmouth County Reclamation Center, Tinton Falls, according to the resolution.
In addition to transfer facilities in Monmouth County, the county plan indicates that there remains adequate and excess capacity to transfer bulky wastes generated within Monmouth County to out-of-county disposal sites, according to the resolution.
The resolution references a letter sent by Howell officials to the county freeholders in February 2018 objecting to the proposed transfer station because of the availability
of solid waste management services, and because approval of Resource Engineering’s
application may violate a state law which prohibits solid waste facilities from competing with facilities operated by a public authority.
In September 2018, additional correspondence was sent to the freeholders indicating that a traffic study commissioned by the county should account for anticipated development in the area, including two projects on Randolph Road — a 110,000-square-foot warehouse with office space and a 1,250,000-square-foot warehouse/flex space — near the site of the proposed solid waste transfer station.
Based on those factors, Howell’s elected officials said they wanted to indicate their continued opposition to Resource Engineering’s application for the transfer station’s inclusion in the county plan.
