Redevelopment can benefit economic interests, restore waterfront
For thousands of New Jerseyans like me, interaction with the Raritan River is limited to the simple act of driving over it during rush hour.

Bridging North Jersey and South Jersey, the Garden State Parkway's Driscoll Bridge rises high above the Raritan. Many of us remember this location for its infamous legacy - the horrid stench that rose from its glowing chemical lagoons along the parkway. This site held the operations of National Lead, and for decades, added to New Jersey's regrettable image as "America's armpit."

We now have the opportunity to change that. Driving over those parkway bridges today, we see that the toxic legacy has been replaced by hundreds of acres of recovering tidal wetlands, stretching far in both directions along the Raritan riverfront. Against all odds, nature perseveres, reclaiming much of the National Lead site. Bald eagle, harbor seals, peregrine falcons, river otters and even the bottlenose dolphin have been spotted here.

Yet state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa Jackson is weighing a proposal now to cap most of that contamination, even the radiological waste, in place.

Once they pave over nearly every last developable inch of National Lead, they want to put in high-rise condos and urban sprawl. Imagine your family living on top of a radiological waste dump. Even worse, this will be largely paid for by taxpayers, while the politically connected redeveloper and elected officials reap many millions of dollars in rewards. With more than 2,000 new homes, schools and related services are likely to cost millions each year, far outweighing the dubious benefits of ratables.

Gov. Jon Corzine's administration, which should be actively monitoring the cleanup, instead appears content to sign off on anything the developer wants.

There is a much better option, however - a balanced redevelopment that actually benefits the economic interests of Sayreville residents while acknowledging the regional impacts of the site for all New Jerseyans. The redeveloper can still make a profit by building on 200 acres, or twice the original facility's size, but the rest of the waterfront site can be preserved and restored for the public to finally enjoy.

The Raritan is the longest river solely in New Jersey, yet contamination and overdevelopment have kept families from being able to enjoy fun activities such as boating, canoeing and recreational fishing and crabbing.

Groups like Edison Wetlands and Baykeeper are working to make National Lead and the Raritan into something New Jersey can be proud of. If we don't support them, we can watch as the "National Lead Gateway" between North Jersey and South Jersey becomes just another overdeveloped eyesore of towering urban condos. And a few years from now, our children will wonder why no one stopped the sprawl.

Charles Jegou

Milltown