LAKEWOOD TOWNSHIP ADVANCES PLANS FOR NEW 300 TON SOLID WASTE TRANSFER STATION

Township officials have been planning for a number of years to build a Solid Waste Transfer Station, capable of processing 300 tons of municipal waste per day in order to increase the Township's trash pickup capacity. The new station is to be located near the existing Public Works yard.

Currently, as soon as Public Works trash pickup trucks fill up, they need to go directly to the sanitary landfill facility in Manchester Township to unload. As this facility is only open until the early afternoon hours, after hours the Township's trucks need to wait at Public Works until the next morning in order to be able to go to unload at the sanitary landfill facility.

By constructing an in-house Solid Waste Transfer Station, the Township would be able to discharge, compact and then reload into semi trailers 300 tons of municipal solid waste per day. This would then free up the trash trucks to do additional runs without needing to hold them in Public Works until the next morning.

Plans for the big project have advanced as Township officials have just now submitted an application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for key permits for the project.

The Township's planning documents for this project - which is set to cost in the millions - raises a few eyebrows.

The plan proposal documents submitted by the Township stated that a granting of the proposed State Plan Policy Map amendment would be consistent with smart growth principles because it directs development toward existing communities (i.e., locations where there is existing development), which, in turn, maximizes the efficiency of infrastructure investment and service delivery, as well as limits sprawl-type development, and that this project would encourage future residential and non-residential growth by improving service delivery and the ability of the Township to provide an essential service (i.e., solid waste collection and disposal) in support of existing and future development.

The plan proposal documents further state the project would support the implementation and advancement of several land use, utility, and economic development strategies provided in the 2017 Lakewood Township Master Plan including continuing to promote economic prosperity and sound fiscal planning as the improved service delivery and ability of the Township to provide an essential service (i.e., solid waste collection and disposal) that would result from said facility would, in turn, promote economic development of the Township by attracting new non-residential development.

These promises are quite interesting as the Township Department of Public Works currently only picks up trash from residences, nonpublic schools and Downtown businesses, but not any new businesses including industrial uses in the Township, so it's unclear how construction of this Waste Transfer station would promote economic development of the Township by attracting new non-residential development.

As previously reported here on FAA News, back in July 2023, the State Planning Commission halted this project until the Township implements certain infrastructure improvements, including significant traffic congestion improvements and setting aside additional open space areas.

In all this time, Township officials have not made any public statements as to when they anticipate implementing the infrastructure upgrades.

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