News
A $750,000 settlement with Montville Commons developer announced
By Attorney General's office
May 16, 2008 - 11:45:08 AM

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Gina McCarthy today announced that the state has reached a $750,000 settlement with the developer and builders of the Montville Commons Shopping Center in Montville.

Under the agreement, DEP will use $200,000 of the money to fund a study of potential impacts associated with the use of crumb rubber from recycled tires for products like artificial turf and gardening mulch. Another $275,000 will fund further development of DEP’s system to electronically monitor state-owned dams and to promote awareness of dam safety. The remaining $275,000 of the settlement will go to the state’s General Fund.

The settlement resolves violations of state environmental laws in 2005 during construction of the shopping center. The site owner, developers and builders failed to secure a permit for a dam that failed to contain water from heavy rains, forcing evacuation of homes on Podurgiel Lane at the base of the site and temporarily closing Route 32. The settlement also addresses storm water management violations that contributed to a slope failure and a mudslide along Podurgiel Lane.

The state settled with developer Second Family, LLC and construction firms Manafort Brothers, Inc., Antrim Development, Inc., and Nittany Construction, Inc., as well as shopping center tenant Home Depot, the company that also owns the site where the illegal dam was located.

Blumenthal said, “I am delighted that the penalty proceeds will enable a reliable authoritative study of potential health dangers involved in artificial turf fields. This study will help answer profoundly significant questions that are urgent because right now our children are using these fields and communities are deciding whether to spend millions of dollars on installing more of them. As children play on these fields, we are potentially playing with their health until we address these issues. What we don’t know may hurt us – and our children. We must know whether rubber crumbles in the artificial turf contain toxic chemicals that may sicken children or contaminate groundwater.”

“McCarthy said, “At Montville Commons an illegally built and poorly constructed dam used to retain storm waters came perilously close to failing. If that had happened, we could have faced a devastating loss of property and potentially the tragic loss of human life. The lesson to be learned here is that rules and regulations governing something as important as construction of a dam do matter, are important and must be followed.”

“The good news is that as a result of DEP’s intervention and enforcement action a modified water retention system was subsequently permitted and installed to replace this dam and site improvements were made to ensure the stability of the steep slope on the site. In addition, the settlement provides funding for two very important projects – the high tech dam monitoring system DEP has been developing and a study many concerned people have asked for to determine if there are issues raised by the use of artificial turf and mulch manufactured from recycled tires.”

Podurgiel Lane residents reached a separate settlement with the developer, builders and Home Depot for damage to their homes and properties.

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