‘Long-term plan’

Anyone familiar with the history of Victor Crowell Park’s Creighton Lake would expect contamination to be present in a water analysis.

Exactly what type and how much contamination exists, and what would be required to deal with it, could affect the cost of the envisioned VCP upgrade by as much as $30 miilion, according to an engineering consultant. 

Even if sizable disposal and remediation costs were tacked onto the project, borough officials say grants would fund the park upgrade – not local taxpayers – and the work would be spread over a period of years.

Those were among the points made on Tuesday, May 6 when the borough’s Parks Improvement Committee convened the second in a series of meetings to get input and discuss a VCP master plan. The most recent session was held at the Victor Crowell Park annex, which formerly housed the Foreign Express auto repair business. The municipality purchased the building several years ago, which sits at the park’s entrance off Route 28.

Reps from Suburban Consulting Engineers (SCE) – the Flanders-based firm compiling the master plan – discussed two potential concept plans for the park. Although the second is a bit more elaborate, the price tags are not widely different.

Each were roughly $11 million to $12 million on the low end, with the prospect that the amount of lake contamination could heap tens of millions more onto the total, regardless of which option was pursued. The high-end total on each option was a bit over $45 million in 2025 dollars.

“I see this as a very long-term plan to implement,” Borough Administrator Michael LaPlace said after the meeting, when asked by Inside – Middlesex about the price tag.

Each year, the municipality would pursue grants and attempt to do pieces of the master plan, LaPlace added.

But the wild card is the quality of the lake water and dredged up material. Officials said reccently that the municipality was engaged in mediation over a 2021 incident in which a water main break in Piscataway washed sewage into the lake as well as surfactant from Spray-Tek. Thousands of fish were killed in the incident.

The executive session for the Borough Council’s most recent meeting on April 22 included an item – “Potential Litigation – American Water.”

“There’s almost always some form of contamination,” Joseph Perello, an SCE vice president, said during the VCP meeting. He noted that waterways without Creighton Lake’s history of environmental abuse typically endure some level of pollution due to runoff from nearby areas.

Perello said the composition of the material dredged from the lake during the project would dictate the effect on the bottom line. The cost would escalate if the dredged material is contaminated versus clean. If contaminated, another cost factor would be whether hazardous material is present or not.

Both concept plans emphasize priorities that respondents to a VCP survey considered important, said Perello. Those included improved lake water quality, discouraging the presence of geese in shore areas, and maintaining the park as a place for passive recreation.

Features of Concept A include: annex building improvements, stream bank stabilization, creating an overlook area on Oak Drive, a wildlife meadow and pollinator gardens, an additional sidewalk along Ashland Road and a boathouse upgrade.

Concept B includes those features and adds others such as an enlarged picnic area with a pavilion, additional grading, earthwork and site clearing. 

VCP is a wetlands that includes a blue heron habitat and a potential habitat for bald eagles, according to Perello. He noted that state regulations now call for a 150-foot wetlands buffer.

In decades past, the mandated buffer was only 50 feet. That being the case, Perello said, many of the older homes in the vicinity of Victor Crowell would not be built today.

Prior to the master plan session, officials dedicated the annex building, which was purchased from the family of Ray Ogiba, who owned Foreign Express and passed away in 2022. A sign that will be placed on the structure noting it is dedicated “to the people of Middlesex Borough.”

Officials said there were concerns the property might become home to a convenience store, before it was purchased from Ogiba’s family after his passing.

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