TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River Township Councilman Daniel Rodrick today announced he would like to pursue eminent domain proceedings against BASF to acquire and preserve land at the former toxic superfund property that has been identified for future development.
The councilman said the cost to purchase the 250 acre site could be less than the township just paid for a recent seven-acre land preservation purchase and far below the purchase price of the former beachfront Joey Harrison’s Surf Club purchase.
Under a plan brokered by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and BASF, the company at this point, would cede 1,000 acres of the former superfund site responsible for the deaths of scores of Toms River residents to the state, but leave 250 acres available to be developed.
BASF recently contended their entire 1,250-acre former chemical plant site was worthless.
Toms River Township had previously assessed the property at $42 million. A judge ruled in favor of BASF in 2019 as the entire parcel was still identified as a federal Superfund site. Toms River lost its appeal and had to repay BASF $20 million in taxes previously collected.
In the lawsuit, BASF claimed the land was worth a fraction of that, and the entire 1,250-acre plot is now assessed at $8 million according to records on file at Ocean County, making the 250-acre portion assessed at no more than $1.6 million.
“Toms River Township should buy it for what BASF claimed their land was worth during their 2019 tax appeal,” Rodrick said. “We should not be talking about future development but preserving the entire site as a state wildlife management area.”
Recently, the township settled to offer $8,000,000 to preserve a single-acre tract of land in Ortley Beach.
Rodrick said the wounds left on the township by the former Ciba-Geigy chemical plant run too deep and too much damage has occurred over the decades, adding any deal with the company would be seen as ‘blood money’ by the residents who have suffered at the hands of Ciba-Geigy’s negligent and irresponsible handling of chemical waste during the 20th century.
“Many families live with these scars today as they survive without their lost loved-ones,” Rodrick said. “I was told by Mayor Hill years ago when I uncovered this plan that I was a liar, and last night he finally admitted the plan was real.”
Rodrick on Wednesday said he disagrees with newly appointed Toms River Council President Matt Lotano’s comments at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
“We’d like to see all of it, but we’re here to listen,” newly appointed township council president Matt Lotano, a developer by trade, said of the proposal to leave 250 acres open for future development.
“Just who is Council President Lotano listening to?” Rodrick asked. “It definitely isn’t the residents of Toms River, because other than developers like Matt, I haven’t met a single person who wants to see Ciba Geigy developed.”
Hill, who has denied the notion of future development at the site since taking office admitted for the first time, there is a discussion about future development at the site.
“There has never been discussion of a redevelopment area at Ciba,” Hill said of Rodrick at the time, knowing there were discussions and plans were being hashed out behind closed doors.
In 2019, an appeals court ruled that the Ciba-Geigy property must be based on its zoning as an industrial site, not on any future plans to develop the property.
About 30,000 drums of toxic waste dumped at the site between 1977 and 1982 still remain on the property in an area called “Cell 1”, a large lined pit that contains decades of toxic waste.
The assessed value of the 250-acre exclusion is roughly $1 million after being reassessed.