48 Million Pounds of Contaminated Soil: Ridgewood’s Massive Zabriskie-Schedler Cleanup Plan Explained
photo courtesy of Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Village of Ridgewood is moving forward with a major remediation project to remove vast amounts of contaminated soil and solid waste from the historic Zabriskie-Schedler House property on West Saddle River Road.
Scheduled to begin in January, the project is expected to take six weeks and involves operations of significant scale, as detailed during a community meeting on November 13, 2025, led by Village Manager Keith Kazmark.
The Staggering Scope of the Cleanup:
- Contaminated Soil: An estimated 24,405 tons (or 48,810,000 pounds) of contaminated soil must be excavated and hauled away.
- Solid Waste: An additional 24,000 square feet of construction garbage, including concrete, cinder blocks, asphalt, and tire debris, needs to be removed.
- Truck Traffic: The soil and waste removal will require a minimum of 1,100 truck trips—approximately 37 trucks a day entering and leaving the site.
The Root of the Problem: Violation Notice Issued
The necessity of this massive excavation stems from a Violation Notice issued by the NJDEP’s Bureau of Solid Waste Compliance & Enforcement on December 11, 2023. The Village was cited for the “use of contaminated fill at this site in violation of the Solid Waste Management Act.”
The contaminated fill, moved to the site between 2019 and 2020, came from multiple sources, including the former Brogan Cadillac site (152 S. Broad St.), Bergen Community College, and various water main repair locations. Although some testing was conducted at the time, the NJDEP raised questions about its adequacy and documentation.
The Remediation Plan: Digging Deep and Addressing Concerns
The remediation plan, currently under review by the NJDEP, was outlined by Matrix New World Engineering staff, including Licensed Site Remediation Professional Christopher Pittarese and Project Manager Melissa Feury.
- Excavation Depth: Contaminated areas will be excavated to depths ranging from 2.5 feet to 4 feet, plus an extra six inches of clean dirt to ensure full remediation.
- Tree Removal: Due to the depth of the required digging, an estimated 35 trees with large diameters must be removed, as the excavation would kill their root systems anyway. The Village will attempt to save and transplant 80 arborvitae evergreens.
- Controlling Dust and Traffic:
- Dust: Dirt will be dampened, and air monitors will be placed around the perimeter. All transporting trucks will be tarp-covered and meet DEP standards.
- Traffic: Trucks will access the site via West Saddle River Road off Route 17 to minimize impact on local residential streets.
Resident Concerns and Cost
Around 30 residents attended the community meeting, focusing on concerns regarding noise, dust, traffic safety, and verification of the remediation’s success. Manager Kazmark noted that shortening the work day would only lengthen the overall duration of the project.
The Village has already budgeted $1.85 million across its 2024 and 2025 capital budgets for soil testing, but the final total cost for soil remediation will be determined by contractor bids due at the end of the year.
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Idiot festival…
I hope this doesn’t affect day to day operations for the History & Cultural Center.
2 million dollars to remove the “free” dirt.
I was surprised to hear there were construction debris that needed to be removed.
How did that get there?
You’ll be lucky if this ends up to be 2 million. Whinograd said, in one of her never-ending monologues, “Welcome to expensive” and she is not kidding. Once all is said and done it will probably be $3MM. But don’t fret because you have Bond King Evan Weitz , who will provide his valuable financial insight and make everyone feel better.
How about a COUNCIL remediation project?
Who is responsible for? Maybe the money should come out of their pension or salary.
Illegal dumping. At least 1 trucker driver caught on camera doing it.
The additional “Open Space” taxes will pay for the balance.
1.8 Mill for testing is just the beginning. They are probably looking at roughly $7–15 million for just clean up, with most of that driven by the contaminated soil disposal.
Another $2-3 million for a field that will never happen and 99% of the town doesn’t want.
And the idiots responsible are still employed and padding pensions we’re all going to pay for.
I want my taxes back.
This council is not just stupid and dirty.
They are legitimately insane.
Keith Kazmark and buddies charged matrix to remove BERM to create a bigger field.
That’s what’s causing this big expensive dirt removal.
That’s the hidden agenda.
someone sb in prison
1100 fully loaded dump trucks passing within a few feet of an historic house every single weekday for six weeks? Can’t be good for the house!
This is going to be a fantastic photo op for the clown council!
Pee Wee can pose on one of the trucks wearing his Veterans Day scarf.
Or perhaps a family style picture of the whole gang wearing hazmat suits.
the council and kk in hazmat suits
The Borough council are all crooks.
And after the millions are spent to clean up it will then be re-contaminated with PFAS crumb rubber for an artificial turf field.
I’m anxiously waiting for the ground breaking ceremony, complete with golden shovels.
KK is preparing the press release and warming up his camera.
Evan will be wearing a bond trader jacket.
Siobhan will note how the health of the resident squirrels will be tracked to detect contaminants………………………………..
There are now 25MPH Exit signs plastered all over Route 17N leading up to the WSRR exit.
Who put those up? It’s not a county road.
Hmmm…
Was Scott Muller there to speak up again about his grand plan to remove the doil and dump it onto the former mayor’s front yard as he said on record. Not only do we have an unethical clown council and Village Manager, they March to the beat of the sports league drums. So unprofessional.