Vincent Mackiel

By Joseph L. Kuchie —

SOUTH AMBOY — The property owned by Amboy Aggregates was debated by the South Amboy Council and resident Vince Mackiel at last week’s council meeting.

The council passed a resolution that approved a settlement agreement between the city and the Amboy Aggregates property. The deal would eventually lead to most of the property being shut down starting on October 29th.

This move comes after months of debate on what to do with the location. The city of South Amboy has fought with the Amboy Aggregates property in a number of courts over redevelopment needs and the purchase of certain parts of the area.

Resolution 139-2012 also stated that the property would have certain restrictions while it remained active. However, Mackiel was concerned on how strict those restrictions would be and how they would affect the city of South Amboy.

“You have one closing date on October 29 but then you joined into a joint venture, so I don’t know when that second closing date is going to happen,“ Mackiel said. “I’m concerned…The restrictions should be meaningful.”

Mackiel was concerned about the restrictions because of a public notice he received earlier in the month. The document, entitled NAN-2012-00561-WBC, was an application by Amboy Aggregates to continue dredging for another ten years for the purpose of sand mining.

The application was reviewed by a number of different departments, and it was decided that no historical areas would be affected and the water would not be contaminated by the work. However, it was noted by the Essential Fish Habitat that certain fish species, mostly flounder, would be shortly impacted episodically every ten years.

Council President Joseph Connors explained to Mackiel that the resolution was passed to shut down the site for good. If the site was shut down and closed, there wouldn’t be any more problems.

“We just voted on the situation to close the place down,” Connors said. “Close means done.”

Mackiel was very vocal in getting more information from the council, standing in front of them well after his five minute time limit had expired. The council did not explain exactly what the restrictions were, but the reiterated that the resolution was passed simply to shut down the property.

According to the resolution, the settlement agreement anticipates that all business operations of Amboy Aggregates will cease six months from the date of the first closing (October 29th). There was no confirmed date for the second and final closing.