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Linden continues to revitalize with commercial, residential redevelopment

LINDEN — Like most cities pursuing redevelopment, Linden aims to bring more people, particularly millennials, to its downtown.

But the industrial city, whose Tremley Point is one of the most polluted parts of New Jersey, according to Rutgers University environmentalists, also aims to reduce its carbon footprint with two upcoming redevelopment projects.

Mayor Derek Armstead said the New Hampshire-based RNG Energy Solutions renewable natural gas company recently signed a 30-year lease to redevelop the former Clayton Block building materials site on Tremley Point. In addition, Austin-based, environmentally friendly developer FirstEnergy Power will build a plant for Nashville-based Aries Clean Energy, which turns sludge into charcoal, Armstead said. That plant will be built at the sewerage authority building the city shares with Roselle, the mayor said. Both projects are in the initial planning stages and are about a year from construction start, principals said.

“We have a number of developments going on in Linden right now,” Armstead said. “And we’re reducing the carbon footprint. It’s a good time to be mayor in Linden. We have a lot going on.”

Aries’ charcoal can be used for several different products, Armstead said. And RNG takes food waste and makes into natural gas, he added.

“They bring in food waste from other locations and treat it like a slurry,” he said. “They run it through the process, and it creates a natural gas product. On the back end, it produces a peat moss … and they sell that to Home Depot and people who need it for agricultural uses. It’s a composting mechanism, a high-speed compost.

“We pay to have our sludge removed,” the mayor added, “so we can reduce the cost of that by using Aries.”

RNG has a good track record building plants in Long Island, Colorado and France, said Alex Lospinoso, director of the Linden Economic Development Corp. The company’s food waste will be delivered by barge on the Arthur Kill, rather than via truck, thereby reducing the city’s carbon footprint even more, Lospinoso said.

Interest in Tremley Point has been increasing from the renewable energy and logistics industries, he said. More than 4.2 million-square-foot warehouse soon will be built there by Advance Realty and Greek Development, he said.

To read the full article on MyCentralJersey.com, click here.

Stormwater Management Plan

On January 5, 2004, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) adopted new stormwater regulations which require the City of Linden to comply with the requirements of the NJPDES Tier A Municipal Stormwater Permit. In accordance with this permit, the City of Linden has adopted a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, Stormwater Management Plan and Stormwater Control Ordinance. In addition, Ordinances were either modified or adopted regarding Pet Waste, Litter, Improper Waste Disposal, Wildlife Feeding, Yard Waste, Containerized Yard Waste and Illicit Connections. A summary of these Ordinances are as follows:

  • All pet owners are required to immediately and properly dispose of their pet’s solid waste deposited on any property, public or private, not owned by that person.
  • It shall be unlawful for any person to throw, drop, discard or otherwise place any litter of any nature upon public or private property other than in a litter receptacle.
  • The spilling, dumping, or disposal of materials other than stormwater to the municipal storm sewer system operated by the City of Linden is prohibited. (Exceptions include potable water, uncontaminated ground water, air conditioning condensate, irrigation water, residential car washing and swimming pool discharges, and flows from firefighting activities.)
  • No person shall feed, in any public park or on any other property owned or operated by the City of Linden, any wildlife, excluding confined wildlife.
  • Sweeping, raking, blowing or otherwise placing yard waste that is no containerized at the curb or along the street is only allowed during the 7 days prior to a scheduled and announced collection, and shall not be placed closer than 10 feet from any storm drain.
  • The owner or occupant of any property, or any employee or contractor of the same engaged to provide lawn care or landscaping services, shall not sweep, rake, blow or otherwise place yard waste, unless the yard waste is containerized, in the street.
  • No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged through an illicit connection to the municipal storm sewer system operated by the City of Linden any domestic sewerage, non-contact cooling water, process wastewater, or other industrial waste.

A more visible requirement has been the labeling of storm drains – “Dump No Waste, Drains to Waterways,” and the retrofitting of storm drains during road reconstruction or repaving with inlets that meet the design standards of the permit in order to reduce the amount of solids and floatables in our waterways. For more information, please visit NJDEP Stormwater and read the Solutions to Stormwater Information Guide.