DiDonato wants town to purchase Frog Rock’s ‘back nine’
Wednesday, January 23, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
COUNCIL, from Page 1
a project that would expand the
drip irrigation capabilities at the
town’s land application site on
Boyer Avenue, allowing it to dis-
charge additional excess treated
effluent from the town’s waste-
water treatment plant.
Instead, Mayor Stephen DiDo-
nato proposed an alternate agree-
ment to purchase a portion of the
golf course at Frog Rock Golf and
Country Club for $1.7 million, use
approximately 21 acres of the site
to discharge treated effluent and
install sewer lines on Boyer Av-
enue.
DiDonato labeled the agreement
a “global solution” to the town’s
wastewater management problem,
which the town has been facing for
the past 26 years.
“Since ‘93, we’ve been trying to
push this thing and sweep it under
the rug. Well, it’s here. We have an
enormous problem on that site. I
said it six months ago; nobody
wanted to admit it … We have
some problems, and we have to
take the bull by the horns. It’s
time,” DiDonato said.
In 2015, DiDonato said the
town was asked by the New Jersey
Pinelands Commission to begin
using a closed water and sewer
system that required it to maintain
and recharge every gallon of water
that is pumped into the town with-
out discharging excess wastewater
to nearby streams.
DiDonato said the town has dis-
posed of as many as 2 million gal-
lons of wastewater per day in
recent weeks and is at risk of dis-
charging excess effluent into the
stream if the rainfall trends of the
past year continue.
If the town were to discharge its
effluent into the stream, DiDonato
said the water table would need to
recede by three to six inches to
correct the matter, which could
take up to three months.
“If we go in the stream for 45 to
90 days—depending on what it
takes—we got major problems …
We’re at a point of no return. I
need to be able to go with ammu-
nition to fight this fight in Trenton
and Pinelands. I need to tell them
we’re proactive. I cannot any
longer be reactive. I need this con-
tract in my hands,” DiDonato said.
According to DiDonato, dis-
charging the town’s effluent into
the stream for this extended period
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of time would subject the town to
significant sanctions from the New
Jersey Pinelands Commission and
could even result in the town being
placed on a sewer moratorium,
which would hinder future devel-
opment.
As a result of the town’s current
wastewater disposal practices, Di-
Donato said a significant amount
of water has been disposed of on
the land of Boyer Avenue residents
who live near the land application
site, which has negatively im-
pacted some residents.
“It was a wet year. Yes, it was a
historic year, I understand all that.
But yes, we are impacting the res-
idents of Boyer Avenue more than
ever,” DiDonato said.
According to Councilman
Steven Furgione, the drip irriga-
tion expansion project that was
initially scheduled to be discussed
would have utilized the land appli-
cation site to disperse wastewater
over a more widespread area
rather than discharging additional
water to the site.
Chris Giannini, a resident who
lives on Boyer Avenue, spoke dur-
ing the public comment portion of
the meeting to voice his concerns
about the undesirable conditions,
such as severe flooding, that have
been caused on his street by the
town’s wastewater management
practices.
“The town is dispersing hun-
dreds of millions of gallons of
water a year behind our home …
We have a 75-acre lake here in
Hammonton and it’d be like taking
that 75-acre lake and dumping it
twice a year behind our homes,”
Giannini said.
Giannini expressed disappoint-
ment in council’s initial plan to ex-
pand the drip irrigation capabilities
on Boyer Avenue, which he be-
lieves will worsen the conditions
of the area and will negatively im-
pact the value of homes on Boyer
Avenue.
“It’s a serious issue and we’re
very concerned about it ... I don’t
know how it unraveled. I don’t
know how you chose to just come
back to the same spot that’s al-
ready drowning with water on an
annual basis,” Giannini said.
Giannini said it’s also disap-
pointing that the residents on
Boyer Avenue don’t even have ac-
cess to the same sewer system that
is causing them so many issues.
“I’m here to say it’s our prob-
lem, and it shouldn’t be our prob-
lem. We shouldn’t have to bear
this for 15,000 residents, espe-
cially with the insult that we don’t
even have the very service on our
street. It’s an insult to us,” Gian-
nini said.
Furgione supported the prospect
of solely moving forward with the
drip irrigation expansion rather
than purchasing the Frog Rock
land.
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