Spring 2005 Edition

Problem On Plaza Road Kathy and Steve Moore bought a home on Plaza Road in the Radburn section of Fair Lawn in March of 2001. In the beginning of February of this year they were one of eleven homes that received a letter from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection stating that toxic chemicals from Topps dry cleaners may be in the groundwater adjacent to and under their homes. They are awaiting a call from Anderson Mulholland & Associates to come into their home and perform sub-slab samples of the groundwater below their basement.     Zdena Nemeckova asked Kathy Moore about her family’s experience. Q: Did anyone, such as a realtor, the town of Fair Lawn or the Radburn Association, inform you of the contamination before you bought your home? A: No. Q: Did you speak to any one at the Radburn Association before you bought your house? A: Yes. I spoke to Louise Orlando, the manager for the Radburn Association, in the Grange office. Q: What did you talk to her about? A: I asked about the empty property behind my house (specifically Archery Plaza and the Hayward Property) and if there were any plans to build on it. Q: And what was her answer? A: That there were no plans “at that time” to build on it. Q: Was there any mention of the pollution from Topps cleaners on Archery Plaza mentioned to you at that time? A: No. Q: How long do you think the Radburn Association knew about the TCE’s & PCE’s (dry cleaning chemicals) on Archery Plaza. A: I have DEP documents from 1992 that shows they were aware of potential problems. Also in the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 the budget shows several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees were spent in regards to this situation. There might have even been a monetary settlement in regards to Topp’s pollution. They aren’t telling the homeowners anything about this so we remain in the dark. Q: You seem very upset that your “homeowner’s association” would know about toxins near your home and not inform you. What are your feelings? A: We are absolutely baffled by their lack of disclosure about this. It’s downright unconscionable that the people in charge of protecting the citizens of Radburn in fact did the exact opposite. Q: Can you be more specific? A: In Radburn all dues paying homeowners receive bi-weekly newsletters which report to us everything from sick trees in the parks to snow plowing schedules. In my four years of living here I have not had one correspondence about contamination from Topps cleaners from the Radburn Association. Furthermore after speaking to the DEP case manager it was made clear to me that no one from the Radburn Association has been pushing the DEP for a cleanup of the site or even asked them if any of us were in any imminent danger. The DEP case manager also informed me that Topps has been on the NJ contaminated sites list since 1993 and our particular situation is now considered an immediate environmental concern! Q: Have you complained to the Radburn Association and its board about the lack of communication to homeowners in regards to this? A: The board of trustees does not meet with the citizens in an open forum where we can register complaints and talk openly. In order to ask them a question we need to go through the president of the citizen’s association who relays our thoughts and questions to them in a closed-door meeting. Q: Was your situation mentioned to them, if so how did they respond? A: June Meyerson, the president of the Citizen’s Association read a letter to the board of Trustees in regards to how absolutely negligent I feel the handling of this situation is. June told me that basically there was no response from the board. I haven’t received a phone call or note from any of them. It seems to me that they just don’t care. Q: Do you feel the board or the Radburn Association should have had to let all homeowners in Radburn know about the Topps contamination? A: Absolutely, they had a moral and ethical responsibility to tell everyone about the contamination, but of course it should have been the most important business to inform the residents in closest proximity to the pollution about it first. Q: What remedies do you want to see taken to insure that this kind of behavior does not continue within Radburn. A: I think the manager of the Association, Louise Orlando, should be replaced by a responsible person effective immediately. The Board of Trustees must open their doors and meet with all citizens as well as hold open elections. One cannot run for a seat on the board without approval of the board, which has seemingly evolved into a heartless posse. They are not serving the homeowners best interests. Q: Do you have any last comments you would like to add? A: Most importantly there needs to be an immediate and thorough cleanup of all contaminated property on and near Archery Plaza. I would like to see our Association and the borough work together to make that happen. It seems an awful lot of time went by between 1993 to 2005 before the ball got rolling to cleanup the Topps site. The DEP and the borough of Fair Lawn should be held responsible as well as the Radburn Association for the lack of action in regards to this situation. Hopefully everyone will learn a lesson from this and come together to make sure that other homeowners don’t have to experience what we Plaza Road citizens are going through right now. Note From the Editor:  Fair Lawn News asked the Radburn Association to respond to this interview.   The following is their response.      Response from the Radburn Association   With respect to the substance of the questions posed by Zdena Nemeckova to Kathy Moore, a resident of Plaza Road, the following factual information regarding the subject matter is the response of The Radburn Association: 1) Mrs. Moore did speak with the Manager in 2001. Mrs. Moore’s inquiry was limited to construction of housing on Archery Plaza. There were no plans in 2001 nor are there any plans now to construct housing on Archery Plaza, and Mrs. Moore was so informed.  2) In 2001, the Radburn Association did not know that any groundwater contamination would affect these properties and to this day, we still do not know the extent of the groundwater contamination from Topps. On January 25, 2005 Radburn learned for the first time that the NJDEP was sending a letter to the homeowners on Plaza Road informing them that “At this point the investigation is simply to determine whether or not further testing is needed”, and to “encourage them to call us (NJDEP) or the Topps representative should they need further information”. 3) “DEP documents from 1992” in Ms. Moore’s possession probably relate to Exxon’s position stated to the NJDEP at that time that contamination had emanated from Topps onto the Exxon property, but it was not until late in 1996 that testing by BASF on Archery Plaza directly behind the Topps property and along the railroad swale revealed exceedances of TCE and PCE in the deep aquifer in the northernmost portion of Archery Plaza.  4) In 1998, Radburn instituted suit in Federal District Court against Topps, Exxon, Fisher Scientific Company, Sandvik, Inc, BASF and other defendants.  5) In Bulletin #2815 dated November 6, 1998 and regarding the proposed budget for 1999, all residents and property owners were advised: In order to protect the interests of Radburn and on the advice of Counsel, The Radburn Association instituted suit in Federal District Court related to contamination found in the groundwater beneath Archery Plaza during a BASF well sampling event. Litigation is always a costly matter, and yet, unavoidable when third parties cause damage to Radburn’s property. The legal expenses for this litigation for the year 1998 represent about $85,000. In Bulletin #2844 dated November 17, 1999, the following was reported regarding the proposed budget for 2000: As you are aware, in order to protect the interests of Radburn and on the advice of counsel, The Radburn Association instituted suit in 1998. Litigation is always a costly matter, and yet, unavoidable when third parties cause damage to Radburn’s property. We estimate that $95,000 of the Legal Fees incurred for the year 1999 is for expenses related to this litigation. We are hopeful that this matter will be concluded in 2000, and in consideration, have budgeted $95,000 for Legal Fees for the upcoming year. In 2003, Radburn entered into Remediation Settlement Agreements with Topps and other defendants that resolved the litigation and provided for the payment of $200,000 to Radburn and an agreement by Topps to remediate at its sole expense all volatile organic compounds and all hazardous substances associated with heating oil on or beneath the Topps site, and all volatile organic compounds and all hazardous substances associated with heating oil migrating to Archery Plaza from the Topps site. 6) The groundwater contamination is a matter of public record and was never defined as affecting the residential properties on Plaza Road. Radburn has had no reason to believe that the Plaza Road residential properties are contaminated. The investigative efforts proposed late in January of this year 2005 by the NJDEP are in response to a Site Investigation Report submitted to the NJDEP by the environmental consultants for Topps in June of 2003. At this time, 20 months after submittal of this report to the NJDEP, it is still not known whether any contamination exists on these privately owned residential private properties. Moreover, it is not the role of the Radburn Association, and it would be inappropriate for the Radburn Association, to interpret or volunteer information that affects properties not owned by the Radburn Association or transactions to which it is not a party or over which it has no control. 7) The NJDEP has informed Radburn that the investigations currently underway are not at this time considered an I.E.C. (Immediate Environmental Concern), nor has this area ever been a Superfund site. The only Superfund site in Fair Lawn is the Cadmus well field. 8) No “immediate and thorough cleanup” can be effectuated by The Radburn Association and/or the borough of Fair Lawn. The NJDEP requires that specific procedures be followed, and as evidenced by the 20 month time-lag noted above, testing, validation, submittal and subsequent response from an understaffed governmental agency simply takes a lot of time. Once all investigation has been completed, the environmental consultants for Topps will submit a Remedial Action Work Plan, which will also go through the normal review and response process of the NJDEP. Sometime thereafter, remediation will begin, although it is not possible to know when that may be. 9) The Radburn Association is a non-profit corporation, not a “homeowner’s association” – the residential properties are owned in fee-simple by individual residents, this is not a membership organization, and the residential property owners do not have any ownership interest in the common elements, which are owned solely by the Radburn Association.