‘Two different things’

A firm seeking approval for a paint recycling facility on Pond Avenue may have to refile its application with Middlesex County due to inaccuracies in its initial paperwork.

“What they are saying they want to do – and that application – are two different things,” said Mayor Jack Mikolajczyk during the Borough Council’s Tuesday, Oct. 8 meeting.

Officials discussed the paint recycling proposal publicly roughly one week after a two-part public hearing conducted by the Middlesex County on Oct. 2. 

The first part of the Oct. 2 hearing was held in-person at the Ronald S. Dobies municipal building. The second was held virtually. Roughly 35 people attended the first session and about a dozen participated in the second.

GDB International proposed the paint reprocessing facility. Residents living on Runyon Avenue and other nearby streets raised various concerns during the hearing, including traffic, the possibility of industrial odors and whether local first-responders would be equipped to handle a large-scale fire if it erupted there.

In the days after the hearing, borough officials submitted two separate letters to the Middlesex County Solid Waste Advisory Council mentioning the residents’ worries and commenting on aspects of the GDB plan.

Mikolajczyk’s Oct. 5 letter noted a meeting the prior day between borough officials and GDB representatives. The initial application was “not reflective” of the firm’s intended operations, the mayor wrote.

That being the case, Mikolajczyk wrote that he expected GDB would amend its application for the facility. The proposal would need approval from county’s Board of Commissioners and the state Department of Environmental Protection to become reality.

Mikolajczyk wrote that the recycling center is not a permitted use in the Pond Avenue industrial zone and would need approval from the borough’s Joint Land Use Board.

It would be for latex paint processing only. Oil paints would not be included as was mentioned on GDB’s initial application. 

“Our residents’ traffic concerns are a borough issue and are not created by the subject company,” the mayor added. MIkolajczyk wrote that GDB would hold an open house to familiarize neighboring residents with its operations.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Len Vidal submitted a second letter outlining concerns voiced by residents at the hearing.

Questions mentioned by Vidal included who would monitor GDB’s operations, and who would be responsible if the facility needed a post-flood cleanup.

Mikolajczyk noted the initial application – that was prepared by a consultant – included “misinformation.”  He also opined that the paint reprocessing might amount to a light industrial use rather than recycling.

The mayor addressed a statement made by a county official at the hearing, who claimed the borough did not respond to a June email about the proposed facility.

“No one seems to remember getting this email,” MIkolajczyk said. The mayor said it may have been “innocuous.”

“They can say we got it, we say we didn’t,” Mikolajczyk added. “We didn’t miss anything. We are not behind the eight-ball.”

Later, Mikołajczyk fielded a few questions about the GDB proposal during public comments.

Main Street resident Tim Stewart said the proposed use “is really a chemical processing facility.”

Stewart questioned whether it should be equipped with a fire suppressant system. He referred to the label on a specific brand of paint as containing cancer-causing materials.

“We have to go back to the state and tell them this is unacceptable,” Stewart said.

Fairview Avenue resident Kevin Redzinski questioned why borough officials did not let residents know of the Oct. 2 hearing sooner. At one point, he suggested local officials learned of it from social media.

Redzinski also urged officials to be more diligent in dealing with the paint recycler than the municipality has been with prior hazmat handling.

In the past, Redzinski claimed, sites such as a Lincoln Boulevard construction area, have not taken precautions to prevent the spread of hazmat substances.

“This (paint recycler) might not even touch the dial as far as hazmat,” Mikolajczyk replied. 

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