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The Clean Land Fund, a nonprofit that remediates and redevelops brownfields, is the new owner of wetlands property in Edison Township, N.J., along a pristine section of the Raritan River located next to the Kin-Buc Landfill.
The property, which had been zoned as an industrial site, will become open space. The Fund will restore the wetlands and make the property available to the community for passive recreational use.
The Fund brought together the owners of the property, Kin-Buc, Inc. and Filcrest Realty, Inc.; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection; and the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund to resolve legal struggles going back many years. These groups eventually agreed on a course of action that will ultimately benefit the area surrounding the landfill.
The Fund’s president, Bill Penn, said it was the flexibility of all the
groups involved and their willingness to focus on what was best for the entire
community that made it possible to acquire the property through a consent decree,
signed on December 30, 2004, in order to move forward with a positive solution.
The Fund will seek input from the community of Edison Township and the larger
state conservation community.