The hearing on a controversial application for an industrial materials burner in the Bridge Business Center will take place at Monday night at the Bristol Township Zoning Board Meeting.
The zoning board was scheduled to hear testimony at last months meeting but a postponement was requested by the Route 13 Bridge Partners LP of King of Prussia, Montgomery County, the company making application for variances to the township code
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The proposed plan has drawn the ire of the the public on both sides of the Delaware River which has grown on social media this past week, leaving a nasty stench among the public, officials from New Jersey and Bristol Township about the incinerator.
The company plans to construct burners on two pieces of land on the George Patterson Boulevard. The proposed 50,000-square-foot building would sit between the Delaware River and the Dow Chemical property, close to Route 413.
The company didn’t state a reason for the postponement in the written request it submitted to the township, according to township officials last month, however, officials from New Jersey, including former Governor Florio, who is representing Burlington City as special counsel plans to attend Monday’s meeting he told the Burlington County Times on Friday
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Florio, in that report, wondered if the board possessed the “expertise” to decide matter saying he hopes “common sense” is applied hoping the board fully understands the “fragility of the system.”
Florio has been called an environmental crusader in the past and is credited with authoring New Jersey’s Superfund laws.
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The potential for acrid odors, which at times already are pervasive in the Lower Bucks County area is one of many concerns on both sides of the of the state line.
Heavy trucks filled with waste pounding on the already comprised roads of Croydon for example is another issue, one Bristol Township official said requesting they not be identified.
“Yes we’re doing milling and paving work in the area, but maybe the company should me made responsible for the roads immediately surrounding and adjacent to the property so tax payers don’t have to foot the stench and the bill for roads that could be potentially be damaged by the myriad of trucks coming back and forth daily, they said.
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Medical waste is what the company wants to incinerate at the site if it was to open.
In December the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders passed a resolution on calling on the Bristol Township Zoning Hearing Board to reject the application citing concerns about the potential damage to the environment and health of citizens, Freeholder Deputy Director Leah Arter told the Register-News
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Sources close to the zoning board say the request for the variances will “likely pass” because the burners they use now are nothing like what was used in the past.
The technology has improved significantly, the source opined.
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The company is challenging the township’s zoning ordinance and is requesting variances of those ordinances, according to Monday’s agenda.
