Herald & Lantern 16 November '83

20

NewsDigest

(From Page 1)

A Time to Listen CAPE MAY - More than 500 attended and about 20 spoke for five minutes apiece at a town meeting last Saturday. Then the session was opened to the floor City officials listened; said little.

Raid Nets Two WILDWOOD — After a two-month investigation, police raided the Blue Jay Motel on Atlantic Avenue just after midnight Saturday morning and arrested two East Roberts Avenue residents on drug charges. Pedro Agilarmoya, 38, and Juan A Lopex, 24, were both being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. Police said they confiscated 215 packets of suspected heroin (valued at $6,400) drug paraphernalia and $4,200 in cash.

10 Injured

WILDWOOD — Dense fog along Wildwood Boulevard last Wednesday morning was blamed for five accidents that left 10 people injured and 15 cars damatllL according to police. Nine motorists were treated and released from Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital, but John ally of Villas was Idmitted with internal injuries. J

Turtle Tenants OCEAN CITY — This resort plans to purchase 53-70 acres of wetland, between 56th and 60th streets, to prevent development on that tract. The Scarborough Corp of Marlton offered its property to the city for $3,000. City council reportedly agreed to purchase the land at a recent closed meeting

No Job Yet

COURT HOUSE - County freeholders tabled action last week on a proposal to name a county administrator. After an hour-long closed session, the freeholders announced last Wednesday night that they would delay a decision on the new position and who will fill it until after they have studied the proposal further. Next Tuesday, the freeholders are expected to unveil a 90-page evaluation of county government efficiency.

Come Back to O.C.?

OCEAN CITY — Tourist Development commissioners told city council last week that they plan to air 10-second commercials, aimed at the Philadelphia and Harrisburg audiences, during winter telecasts of ABC’s ‘‘Good Morning America.” Financed by mercantile tax surcharges, the commercials will highlight Ocean City’s summer attractions during the frosty months, similar to Florida’s ‘‘I Nied it Bad" and “Come Back to Jamaica” campaigns.

Sentence Tomorrow

COURT HOUSE — Unable to agree with grand jurors on whether the April murder of three babies warrants a death penalty for their father, the county prosecutor’s offices recommended last week that Walter O. Keresty, 28, of W. Pacific Avenue, Villas, serve at least 30-years behind bars. Superior Court Judge James A. O’Neil refused Thursday to allow Kerestv to retract his guilty plea. Keresty is scheduled for sentencing tomorrow.

New Angle

TRENTON — Delaware Bay fisherman will have something new to cast for if the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife approves a proposal to stock the

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Delaware River with 10,000-20,000 adult salmon. The division is smiling on the plan, seen as a benefit to recreational fisherman. Some of chinnok, steelhead and coho salmon might also be a nice catch for commercial boats in the bay, the division director noted.

Fire Code Signed * NEWARK — “Life hazard structures” — restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, bars, and buildings of more than six floors — must now be equipped with fire alarms and sprinkler systems or face being closed by a new state Fire Bureau signed into law here Saturday by Gov.

Bum Trash at H-W? - (From Page 1) recovery center at the Woodbine landfill by 1990 and convert trash into steafti energy. But why not build that center sooner at Sunset Beach? McCall and Gilbert asked. The magnasite plant is well suited for a recovery operation, they maintain Fothergill agrees. In fact, he has the figures to show that the magnasite plant can be converted into an environmentally safe, money-making incinerator which could burn trash to create energy. He plans to formally present a township study of that idea to the municipal officials on Nov. 21. Financed by $3,370 of township money, “A Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Alternative for Lower Township, N.J.” focused on the conversion of the magnasite plant into an incinerator for township trash and that of other users: Drafted by Sanborn-Wielenga Associates of Kalamazoo, Mich., the report regards the industrially-zoned plant as one of the most ideal sites along the East Coast for an incinerator. Prevailing winds would blow smoke from the plant's tall stack out to sea, according to the report’s authors. That stack can be retrofitted with one to four incinerators for about $950,000 each. The stack is already equipped with scrubbers that remoye noxious particles from the smoke. WITH HEAT EXCHANGERS added, energy could be produced for industrial clients who could set up shop at the large tract, according to Fothergill. He said one potential customer for that energy is willing to relocate operations there if the idea develops into reality. Without heat exchangers — using the plant only as an incinerator — the cost to haulers Who dump their trash for burning there would be half the cost of tipping fees at the county's new landfill, Fothergill estimated. He s looking for cooperation from MUA and municipal officials in getting the project off the ground because the township has related designs on the magnasite plant. ^ Although McCall and Gilbert envisioned a resource recovery center at the magnasite plant and recycled rail line as c ounty MUA projects, Lower Township’s study forsees the incinerator as a municipal operation with the township and neighboring communities in mind, Fothergill explained Lower would acquire and operate the magnasite plant incinerator, fueled with trash collected from any haulers, the lower the cost, Fothergill reasoned. But his idea goes beyond an incinerator plant As Fothergill sees it. the township could convert the trash to dollars by converting the heat to energy That energy could be supplied to customers the township hopes to attract to the plant THOSE CUSTOMERS vhll create jobs and pay taxes to offset taxes paid by Lower homeowners. An industrial and recreational complex could be developed s^at the magnasite plant which would benefit the area, Fothergill maintains. To implement the township plan, however, two major obstacles must be overcome, he conceded. First the township has to acquire the Harbison-Walker facility; negotiations between the township and company have gone “nowhere,” the committeeman said. Harbison-Walker plant manager Raymond V. McCoy did not return calls from the Herald and Lantern. Second, the county MUA, in effect, owns the trash in the county; if the MUA doesn’t like the township incinerator idea, that plan, figuratively speaking, goes up in

Thomas Kean. The bureau will administer a state fire code, also signed by Kean, which supersedes municipal regulations. Thirty percent of state municipalities have had no fire safety codes. o

smoke. “If it’s practical and it makes sense and it’s cost-efficient, I think it's worth looking into,” Cape May Mayor Arthur Blomkvest said of the incinerator concept. With the McCall-Gilbert plan for resurrecting the abandoned rail line, the mayor said, the incinerator “makes a lot of sense to me.” “I don’t think that landfill situations are the answer,” he added. “We’re getting pretty well saturated down here. “I don’t think the landfill in Woodbine is going to be the answer at all — that’s just stop-gap,” Blomkvest continued. “I fe61 very sorry for the MUA members because they have their hands full.” “I THINK WE OUGHT to look into it,” Fred Coldren, Cape May city manager, said of incineration. “I think it’s worth looking into.” Charles Norkis, MUA chief engineer, said he hasn’t seen the Lower incineration proposal, but “we did a study on it too.” “It’s not as cost-effective as it seems,” he added, referring to energy conversion. If incinerator operators convert the heat to electricity, he explained, that process is too expensive. If they convert to steam, however, it’s more practical. Conversion to steam power, in fact, is what the MUA has been considering for the resource recovery center it plans to build at Woodbine — and what Lower Township intended to do at the magnasite incinerator. “That would be good if they could work something like that out.” Norkis said, adding that he would have to see the township plan and figures before analyzing them. "I think we could always take another look at it,” he said of the proposed transfer station and possible alternative. “We need a landfill in the •'county anyway,” he said, noting that incinerating the trash could extend the lifespan of that landfill. LOWER’S INCINERATOR STUDY, commissioned by the township committee during the summer, represents the municipality’s latest effort to combat escalating trash costs. Until Oct. 15, the township and many other municipalities and private haulers had been dumping at the E.L. Smith landfill on south Bayshore Road near West Cape May. Haulers there were paying less than $7 a ton in tipping fees and Lower was hauling more than 14,000 tons to Smith's each year. Smith’s closed Oct. 15 and its customers began trucking their trash at twice the tipping fees to Mar-Tee landfill in Middle Township. Even before the extra loads began arriving, Mar-Tee operators gave notice that the dump was quickly reaching its design capacity. Last week, Mar-Tee gave notice that it would close by this week, but the landfill is expected to stay open through Nov. 22. Unless Mar-Tee remains open after that date, haulers will have to truck their trash to W'oodbine, Deptford or Egg Harbor townships while awaiting the opening of the new county landfill, the transfer station or an alternative solution like the incinerator. Through Fothergill, Lower hashed out an agreement with Edward Smith, owner of Smith's landfill, whereby the township would lease the dumpsite and Smith’s equipment to continue his operations. Lower intended to dump its trash at no charge and recoup the leasing costs though tipping fees from Smith’s customers. The state Department of Environmental Protection, however, took a dim view of the deal and has yet to signal its approval.