On the waterfront, a new Carteret

Amid the contaminated former industrial sites along Carteret’s waterfront, a 17-acre park complete with fishing pier, gazebo and playground stands as an inviting symbol of the potential borough officials see for the banks of the Arthur Kill waterway.

Carteret is pushing forward with an ambitious 105-acre waterfront redevelopment project along Industrial Avenue that would feature a 252-slip marina sheltered in a cove, a sprawling waterfront transit village and a ferry stop for trips to Manhattan. Mayor Dan Reiman said the final plans may even include a hotel and office space.

“We’re providing a destination point,” Reiman said. “For many years, residents couldn’t access the waterfront. Now we’re taking the waterfront back.”

The existing waterfront park has proved a popular spot for fishermen casting lines for bluefish, striped bass and fluke in the Arthur Kill, which separates New Jersey from Staten Island. The redevelopment plans call for extending the fishing pier about 800 feet to the south to provide a shelter for boats in the new marina that would be created. A boardwalk with shops, offices and apartments would also line the marina.

Reiman said Carteret has received waterfront redevelopment permits for the site from the state Department of Environmental Protection for the pier extension, but is still waiting for another permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for the marina dredging.

While the borough waits for approval, workers have been testing the soil of contaminants. Most of the redevelopment area is currently home to dilapidated warehouses or vacant fields filled with rubble and dirt towering over the Arthur Kill. Chemical companies such as DuPont and American Agricultural Chemical Co. once operated on the contaminated Carteret site.

Reiman said he hopes cleanup would start by next year or 2010. The cleanup process was bolstered earlier this year when Carteret became eligible to receive up to $5 million annually for remediation over a five-year period from the state DEP.

Reiman said the larger redevelopment project would include a ferry terminal with about 350 parking spaces to anchor an upscale village of condominiums and townhouses on tree-lined blocks. Reiman said the final numbers of residential and commercial units would be determined after more testing is done on the contaminated land.

The proposed changes have been met with some concern by harbor pilots who navigate large vessels through the narrow Arthur Kill. They are worried the additional traffic from a new marina could make the area dangerous for boaters. But Reiman said he hopes negotiations with the harbor pilots could resolve their issues.

While fishing on the Carteret pier on a recent sunny day, anglers voiced approval for efforts to improve the waterfront area, though they wondered if the slowing economy and higher gas prices would affect the success of a new marina.

“I don’t see how it can be successful, with the price of gasoline, and it may interfere with commercial traffic,” said Jimmy Palfi, 79, who has lived in the borough for about 50 years.

But Palfi said he enjoys the fishing pier and the improved cleanliness of the Arthur Kill.

“This is one of the greatest things to have happened to the borough of Carteret,” he said. “This is like a miracle, because 30 years ago, nothing was here.”

 

 

Sharon Adarlo

Star Ledger