Landfills to Greenfields – The Groundbreaking

By Lisa Kelly

In May, Hackensack Riverkeeper witnessed an historic groundbreaking stemming from years of advocacy—the closing and capping of several landfills in the Meadowlands. EnCap Golf, a Cherokee Investment Partners company, broke ground on a $1 billion project that will transform more than 700 acres of landfills into golf courses and a world-class destination in New Jersey’s Meadowlands District. The Meadowlands Golf Project will turn polluted landfills into golf courses, open space and a pedestrian-friendly village of shopping, homes and hotels. The project will be one of the largest and most recognized brownfield redevelopment projects in the United States.

These landfills (in gray) will become part of the Meadowlands Golf Project. The Phase One groundbreaking covered the areas in dark gray.

“This project is more than golf courses, restaurants, shops and homes,” said Captain Bill Sheehan, executive director, Hackensack Riverkeeper. “Most importantly, it caps the landfills that have defined and defiled our region for so long. It prevents an estimated 12 billion gallons of leachate containing carcinogenic PCB’s, metals, pesticides and other toxins, from entering the local ecosystem over the next 30 years. It creates a stretch of green open space in a region that sorely needs it.”

The initial phase of the EnCap Golf project includes approximately 785 acres of landfills, brownfields and wetlands in Lyndhurst, Rutherford and North Arlington in Bergen County. Of this land, 685 acres will be remediated and permanently preserved as verdant greenfields and open space. Actual development will be limited to only 13 percent of the site, or less than 100 acres.

The central component of the golf project is the clean up and remediation of landfills and the construction of two first-class golf courses, related amenities and the preservation of hundreds of acres of open space. The 18-hole links-style courses will be open to the public. The remediation of the landfills will also protect hundreds of acres of wetlands.

“We’ve been assured the management of the golf courses will be based on best possible environmental practices,” Captain Bill said. “For example, recycling waste water to water the greens is important to protecting our region’s water supply. Implementing a stringent integrated pest management system will also be important to minimize nonpoint source pollution.”

Along with the two public golf courses, the project will also include miles of walking, running and biking trails, more than 20 acres of public parks, and a public recreation complex in Lyndhurst, which will include three baseball diamonds, a soccer/football field, and an indoor facility.

In addition to creating new open space and recreational opportunities, the new destination will include upscale homes, retail amenities and first-class hotel accommodations in a pedestrian-friendly village. The project will include a business hotel and luxury resort totaling 750 rooms, 100,000 square feet of retail space, 750,000 square feet of office space, 1,130 active-adult apartments and condominiums, and 850 open-market apartments and condominiums. A new train stop on the NJ Transit Bergen rail line is also planned.

EnCap Golf recently closed on the acquisition of the property from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and posted a $148 million bond for the remediation and closure of the Avon, Rutherford, Lyndhurst and Kingsland Park Sanitary landfills, as well as the cost to move the recreational fields in Lyndhurst.

This initial phase of the project is anticipated to generate 2,400 full-time and 500 construction jobs. In addition, the project is estimated to generate approximately $19.3 million in annual tax revenues for local municipalities, including Lyndhurst ($13.4), Rutherford ($5.7) and North Arlington ($170,000).

The landfill closure and remediation of this phase of the golf project is anticipated to take four years to complete. The construction of the golf courses and resort village is expected to be completed within seven to ten years. A second phase of the Meadowlands project is being planned in North Arlington and Kearny, N.J. The value of construction for each phase of the golf project is estimated to be more than $1 billion.