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Contamination Found at Schedler Property in Ridgewood

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Perhaps a reminder ,New Jersey is sometimes referred to as the “Soprano State” due to its association with the popular television series “The Sopranos.” The show, created by David Chase, aired on HBO from 1999 to 2007 and centered around the life of mob boss Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, and his family.

The idea of “clean fill ” in New Jersey has long been regarded as an oxymoron and illegal dumping has been a way of life .

Dumping  and dirty land fill have been long time issues at the Schedler property.

Now the Village of Ridgewood has received notice from the NJ DEP that contamination has been found at Schedler Property.

In June of 2019 residents voiced concerns over Dumping at Schedler and at the time Deputy Mayor Knudsen posted on Facebook , “ Last year we worked to find FREE clean fill to create a berm along route 17 to create a visual barrier from the highway. …A site visit was conducted yesterday – with Susan Knudsen, Mike Sedon, Chris R, and Jovan M. The only trees removed were those in the area of the planned berm and only those necessary to make space for the clean soil.

This is really an exciting opportunity to significantly improve the quality of life for area residents by shielding the WSRR corridor from the detriments of Route 17.”

But on May 29th of 2024 the NJ Department of Environmental Protection shot that down, sending the Village a HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE DISCHARGE NOTIFICATION:

 Lead and mercury contamination was recently found on the Schedler property.  Incident occurred 5/15/24 at 12:05am. 
The Village of Ridgewood stated in a Facebook post :
“In light of this letter, we have been in contact with Matrix New World Engineering, the contractor retained by the Village to test the soil along the berm. Matrix will provide a full report to the Village early next week with findings, analysis and recommendations. They are working through the lab analysis and a review of alternative remediation standards as set forth by NJDEP. “
“In speaking to Matrix, we have confirmed that there is no imminent threat to public health on the site. Once additional information is available, it will be shared with the public. Rest assured that the Village of Ridgewood will follow all requirements of the NJDEP and the recommendations of Matrix and other professional service providers to address any and all remediation which may become necessary on the property.”

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81 thoughts on “Contamination Found at Schedler Property in Ridgewood

  1. Not wanting to be outdone by towns such as Fair Lawn and Maywood, Ridgewood now has its own Superfund site.

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  2. Similar to what took place with acquisition of the former Town Garage property, Village officials deliberately kept residents in the dark for days after the presence of contaminated soil was discovered. Documents from NJDEP indicate that contamination was discovered on 5/15/2024. Residents were not notified of such until 5/30/2024. Shame on you again Mayor Paul Vagianos.

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    1. Nope, why don’t you spend a minute and actually read. The notification didn’t actually happen until 5/28.

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      1. Agreed. The official notification took place on 5/28. However, the company that conducted the testing knew on 5/15 (see page 3 of official notification). That company was hired by the Village of Ridgewood. I refuse to believe that company did not phone the Village to let them know the results as soon as they found out. You are actually the one who should spend a minute and read what was sent by NJDEP.

      2. Actually they were notified verbally notified first. We do not yet know when Keith and company were tipped off to the fact that there was contaminated soil. Yes, the letter is dated, May 28th and the Village of Ridgewood and Village Manager Facebook pages were updated a day later. However, do not think that this bunch was not unofficially told about contamination because just a few days later there was an emergency bond ordinance, again with no public info divulged except cryptic posts about “potential” contamination. Give me a break! they needed their emergency bond ordinance because of this information and this was in no way coincidental. It is a sure bet Keith got the call and the bad actors went into actor mode (Vagianos, Whino and Weitz) to convince the public they were just being the utmost of fiscally responsible having nothing but the public’s best interests top of mind.

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  3. You don’t want to mess around with lead and mercury. Two very nasty and potentially harmful to your health substances.

  4. I can hear it now, PFAS, lead, mercury its everywhere, in your carpet, toothpaste, fish, paint on your house …. What’s the big deal? Geez this is terrible news. What day you CR?

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  5. Lesson learned; if you see a sign that says free soil, run for your life!

  6. Village Manager, Keith Kazmark, is a boob!

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  7. “DEP letter was sent in response to soil testing that was conducted by the Village. There was no specific discharge on that date.” – Keith Kazmark, Village Manager.

    Soil testing was done April 19. Results take two weeks at best. So the contractor and VOR held off from reporting contamination till 5/28/24. This is criminal.

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    1. Well, now we know why the urgency to bond and vagueness about what the money was needed for. What liars!

  8. What did the contractor alert NJDEP hotline and not the Village of Ridgewood? Looks like the contractor refused to go along with a coverup.

  9. The contractor alerted NJDEP hotline, not the Village of Ridgewood. Looks like the contractor refused to go along with a coverup.

  10. OK, now that we know that soil is contaminated, is it a health Concerned to nearby residence?.

  11. Hilarious !

  12. Wasn’t this dirt tested before moving it. Will the state make the town remove the Dirt pile .

    1. It was not tested. Rutishauser eyeballed the soil and said it looked fine. Go ahead and come at me Kazmark and accuse me of harassment.

  13. Doesn’t this all go back on the legacy of the previous Mayor who brokered deals with High Density Housing developers to bring this “free” soil and dump here?

    We always knew that these were car dealerships and possibly had contamination.

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    1. Check the records. The previous Mayor didn’t broker deals or test the soil, the Village Engineer and Manager did that. The Village Engineer-Chris Rutishauser, is the one on record saying the fill is clean and free. As a matter of fact, he’s still running the “free soil” deal.

  14. They can bond the cleanup.
    Evan thinks that’s free money.

  15. Just remove the whole damn dirt pile. It’s contaminated it’s just amazing, who want to leave it there.

    1. Problem is, the DIRTY DIRT wasn’t just used for the berm. Dirt was strewn throughout the entire property, the whole thing is contaminated. And caution with the runoff!

  16. A big question is how dangerous is this When the dust particles got into the air.

  17. way to go scheduler community. Sadly with this crew of council and new manager is a constant fight for our rights…now lets work on Habernickel too

  18. Village Manager Kazmark said he wasn’t interested in opening up an investigation into the matter but said businesses, dumped tested soil, but also said that they were aware that there was dumping of soil and solid waste materials which was not tested and this is the soil that is under speculation and contaminated. This seems like a no brainer to have proactively hired a remediation company and not wait for residents to do it on behalf of the village. Responsible municipal government should protect resources and residents. Vagianos was aware of what happened as he was on the council at that time, yet took no action to determine the quality of the soil that he would have Ridgewood children playing on (albeit contaminated soil under PFAS plastic turf). If public health and safety measures are not enough to recall Vagianos for blatant neglect, perhaps the fact that sports families living in Ridgewood won’t see a field on that property for a good long while until a very expensive remediation process has been concluded, which could take a very long time and if Vagianos was counting on votes from the sports families, he may be in for a disappointing election ahead.

  19. Kazmark is spewing lies on Facebook and trying to gaslight people. He is one of the worst things to ever happen to this town.

    1. Amen.. Can’t trust him at all

  20. Rutishauser looked at the soil and said it looked fine.

  21. Shut down this field talk NOW! Aside from the obvious safety issue of being right ON Route 17, now we have poisonous soil?

    Take the Valley site and build your field. You kicked them out, now sweep out the remaining debris.

    Morons.

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  22. Yeah, hear come to lawsuits. if they have to remove that berm, then you know, there’s some bad stuff in that dirt. You can’t just cover it up.

  23. Who in this bunch of Looney Tune municipal gov’t elected officials that make up this Village Council in Ridgewood and a select number of village staff (think CR, JM) has stained their hands over this dirty dirt saga? As for the council, probably all but Ms. Reynolds who continues to follow an ethical path to distance herself from every bad decision they have made and continue to make and our Deputy Mayor, who is turning the tides back to her roots as a tree hugger and sustainability maven, which is a good thing.

  24. What we can’t understand is where are the test results before moving it to that location .or did they just not
    Test it.

    1. The latter. Once the word was out that dirt was being dumped, trucks were over on that property with little to no oversight from the village. No one did anything and in the immortal words of Laurel and Hardy, “Look at the fine mess the village has gotten themselves into this time”

  25. So where are all the sports folks. Still want your kids to play on PFAS turf with a side order of lead and mercury?

    1. Post of the day…!

  26. My mother always said, if you go cheap, you will probably have to buy it back again later. Go with quality. They wanted free dirt and this unfortunately came with the mother load of bad sh*t. tested, not tested, legal or illegal dumping. What a nightmare. Now years later, Mr. Vagianos’ plan for a field at Schedler was “go big or go home”. Yes, this is a regulation sized fiasco and is going to end up in a complete quagmire.

  27. Soil tested by the developers wanting to dump the soil, not the Village of Ridgewood. And the Village Engineer took the “results” at face value. He said he looked at the soil and it looked fine. 🧐🤓🥸 🤥

  28. Ah, this reads like one of those steamy beach novels, except that it is true. The story, I must say though, is a real page turner with plot twists, villains, good guys (and girls) and hopefully a real Hollywood ending. The village wants residents of the Schedler neighborhood to believe they are standing by them in chapter 3 but then they are up to their old tricks in chapters 4, 5 and 6. It is almost like a version of good vs evil, wrong vs. right. dark vs. light. who will prevail. It shows stregth and determination on the part of that neighborhood, that is for sure. They have had to deal with one moral dilemma after another by poor decisions that are made without a care in the world about health and safety. The right thing to do is to route for the people in our community, not a ball field. for Vagianos, it is “the crying game” right about now and Winograd is probably beside herself that the turf vendors might forget who she is and Weitz is still on line trying to order those shirts with his kids names on them. I await the next chapter in this daily drama that has overtaken our fair village.

  29. Ridgewood cannot maintain the parks they already have that are not filled with tons of contaminated dirt. PFAS Paulie himself said that they do not have the grounds crew like Yankee stadium so how would this park, if it ever becomes one, be maintained? Oh sure, it would look good the first week, but after non watering and upkeep, it will go to pot. They will be spending big bucks to clean this up. there will be no money left. Not sure how many days you have been here but, welcome to Ridgewood, Keith!

  30. No human being can look at soil and determine if it’s safe or not. Unless you’re Superman. This is ridiculous. Heads mush is enough. Webber’s name is on the paperwork. Well consider you’re done like Biden says no one’s above the law see ya. You guys like Biden well, guess what now eat those words suckers.

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    1. Actually, we can and do. Guidance and standards take into all variables like exposure, bioavailability, individual species bioaccumulation, receptor species, food change and other ecological factors. But thanks for playing

  31. You know what this is the biggest shit going on in town right now. If the village is forced to remove all that soil that’s gonna cost big-time money .I blame the the old Council, Old mayor , previous manager engineering. that dirt pile was started on their administration going back four years ago. The bottom line is who signed off on it, and when they certified to do so. This is an extremely embarrassing . These individuals obviously were not Performing up to their duty standards. They can actually be charged for so many multiple charges here. Everything from falsifying paperwork, falsifying soil inspection so much more maybe they’ll turn me general should get involved with this one. Village hall needs a big sweeping. You know what the taxpayers are stuck again to pay for this and this is not going to be no small bill. This is big money. As we can see, the village has been going down since the last four years, everyone noticed that. You wonder why,

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  32. Supposedly, there’s a private investigation going on regarding village employees that worked on that site. What do you think it was only done by one person we had engineering on the ground, we had At least three street department employees running equipment, we had Village employees hauling with dump trucks to that site. And guess what it’s all on the surveillance. We think the village Health department needs to get all the names of employees that were breathing that dust. No one knows what a long-term effect is going to be here. This is not even funny.

    1. Don’t worry, a thorough investigation will be done, and the culprit revealed:

      The new guy who started last week………………………

  33. When people look back at the time and money the current mayor and village council majority, all people will remember is going to be that this project cost the village more than just money, but hours of time of staff to make this project a reality. So much unnecessary spending for special projects and the astronimical cluster f*ck that this project has turned into. All because of selfish short sighted ideas cooked up by the 3 amigos whos plan focused on creating something that was and never will be appropriate to turn ahistoric property into a giant plastic ball field. Laughable at best but at this point, Vagianos, Winograd and Weitz have created a colossal sh*tshow of epidemic proportion that will take a long time to fix.

  34. So very true, money time and effort is one thing, but now we have a super fund pollution site in the village, which May affect many individuals health down the road we just don’t know. I think between the Health Department ,and the D e p , should find out exactly who worked at that site , and nearby neighbors to see if anyone affected in any which way. It’s very responsibility.

  35. Agree with your point, that anyone working there or living in that neighborhood should be evaluated for health concerns. It is very scary and this seems to only be the tip of the iceberg as only the berm was tested. Who knows what else will be uncovered when the expanded testing that the Village Manager spoke about is underway. This is really an awful and dangerous mess and I am confused as to why there is no imminent danger according to the Village Manager and the firm who conducted the testing. How can they be sure.

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    1. Because our puppet Village Mgr is a politician , they put a spin on everything

    2. Excess PFOS are already in our drinking water for years
      EPA Town Garage to become a pocket park
      Schedler to become a toxic turf, lead and mercury sports complex.

      “chemicals are everywhere” – if you can’t fight them, join them says Mayor Paul.

      Don’t forget to VOTE NO for a second term !

      1. Not to worry, Mr. RBSA baseball dude in his grown man baseball uniform is ready to create another online petition in thte hopes helping to get Vagianos the votes. He will just send it to anyone and everyone, especially the email lists that don’t belong to him like Dad;s night debacle and voila. problem solved.

  36. If everybody just showed up with a spoon, and took a single spoon’s worth of contaminated soil and mixed it with their own dirt back home, we could dilute the toxicity and spread it evenly over the entire village. If we came together as one village, with one heart, our troubles would all be over instantly.

    1. Yes, genius. I hope it is a large kitchen spoon. It would be great if the same rule would also apply to invasive trees. If you are making the case that these invasive species need to be removed at Schedler than it would stand to reason and all invasive trees that are located in public areas and throughout the village at private properties putting Ridgewood in peril, should be removed.

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    2. Paid for by the Spoons for Schedler Super PAC?

    3. Finally someone making sense. We must all come together despite our political views. Together we are stronger. Thank you, you have my spoon. God bless you.

  37. I don’t give two shits about political. This is about all of Our health. This is not going away. Until it’s safe.

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    1. Uh huh. Please tell us more about all the processed food you eat. Go open all your cabinets and toss out all the toxic cleaning supplies, household chemicals and hygiene products while you’re at it too. No, I bet your scrub everything with lemon peels and baking soda, right? Ah, but a pile of dirt has you concerned for “our” health.

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      1. Aw a little mercury and lead does a body good? That is wild and I would like to know why anonymous if such health concerns are not an issue. Come right out and please don’t hide behind your keyboard, alright knower of everything.

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        1. A little lead injected at the right spot is a great antidote for incurable stupidity.

          1. Well it is obvious you are glowing, maybe from Mercury, and unfortunately, we can see you comig from a mile away.

            1. I’m as bright as your future.

  38. We think the d e p And any other State agencies that May get involved in this. should definitely have a list of all employees that work at that site. They could be infected. And then reach out to nearby neighbors and oh yes, this will be handled in the most professional way and this list will be broadcasted. There will be no coverups anymore.

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    1. The Attorney General should be getting involved. This is really bad. This is not an oops.

    2. Infected with what? PAHs and heavy metals don’t “infect.” Heavy metals are neurotoxins, PAHS (particularly BaP) are carcinogens. There has to be, for the most part, long term exposure to these chemicals. It’s toxicity, not infection.

  39. Do you know what is amazing? Where is the news on? This was anything in the original news, the record, channel 12 news, major networks this is big-time.

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  40. have you notice all the people put thumbs down. They must be Liberals. Must live President Biden. Ok Complain on how much things cost.
    Right!

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    1. Stop with the liberals versus everyone else. This is about political alignment but should be about a community coming together because their municipality screwed up and IS screwed up. Period. Nothing more, nothing less. Council majority and mayor said they cared so much for this property. Let’s see that in action.

      #OperationCleanUpStarts Now; #KeepRidgewoodPFAS Free

      1. OK liberal

  41. I am actually shocked that so many people are surprised by this! Any of the residents who lived in Ridgewood when the apartments were suggested were fully aware that the idea of free fill was a done conclusion before the above ground buildings were even removed. Everyone knew the above ground buildings included 3 car dealers with their repair shops and an active gas station with it’s repair shop. I think the dry cleaners is under our unused garage. As far as I know, there was absolutely no testing of any of the soil before it was dumped and spread around the property.

  42. One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal brayed pitifully for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided, because the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway so nobody else would fall into it, it would be better just to bury the donkey there. The farmer invited all his neighbors over to help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey, realizing what was happening, became frightened and began to bray hysterically then suddenly, he became very quiet. A few shovel loads later, the farmer, thinking the donkey had died from being buried under the dirt, finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up with each shovel full of dirt being piled on him. The donkey was strong and had a will to triumph over adversity and shake off so much dirt and step up until he was able to make it to the tops, tep over the edge of the well and trot off.

    Moral of the story: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt, may even contaminated dirt. The trick is to shake it off and step up. Each of our troubles are a steppingstone toward survival to get out of the deepest well just by not ever settling and not ever stopping when someone else’s plans for you are wrong.

    Those Schedler neighbors are strong and they are survivors. I hope that they never give up and should never settle for the bad decisions of Ridgewood’s special interest projects and local government that think it is acceptable to subject them to one of the worst decisions that Ridgewood has ever concocted. They need to fix the problems, of which there are many. They need to ensure measures to protect health rise above the giant piles of dirty dirt. I can only hope that they step up at every chance they get.

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  43. Right look at how everything cost under the administration that is running the country right now. No one can say that they are better off under our current president than before if they put thumbs up for this administration, I don’t know. I wonder what you’re thinking. Explain.

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  44. How can individuals put thumbs down on the well-being of safety for neighboring residence and employees? Wow it shows how some people just don’t care but if you worked on that site or you lived next-door, I’m sure you would have a different approach. Hypocrites

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  45. So, PJ, why won’t you publish my comment on this?

  46. If I am reading this correctly, there are 4 hazardous substances present based on initial screening of surface soils samples at the following concentrations:
    Benzo (a) Anthracene = 1.85 ppm = 1.85 mg/kg
    Benzo (a) Pyrene (BaP) = 1.96 ppm = 1.96 mg/kg
    Lead (Pb) =169 ppm = 169 mg/kg
    Total Mercury (Hg) = 0.29 ppm = 0.29 mg/kg

    New Jersey DEP Soil Clean-Up Standards Non-Residential Ingestion/Dermal Contact (May 24, 2024) are as follows:
    Benzo a Anthracene = 23 mg/kg
    Benzo a Pyrene (BaP) = 2.3 mg/kg
    Lead (Pb) = 800 mg/kg
    Total Mercury (Hg) = 390 kg/mg (was 65 kg/mg in 2017)

    It is also important to note that “contaminants” may be present as ambient background concentrations (they exist as natural elements and not as a result of anthropogenic activities). Metals such as Pb and Hg often present in high concentrations in ambient soil samples removed from pollution sources. A fairly extensive (and journaled) study Ambient Levels of Metals in New Jersey Soils, conducted by Rutgers in the early 2000’s measured Pb background concentrations in the Urban Piedmont Region (us) at 111mg/kg (median, n = 67 for samples where there was detection above detection limit ) and Hg at 0.18 mg/kg (median, n = 50 for samples where there was detection above detection limit).

    My reaction to the very brief “sampling” results is that there is little to be concerned about based on very little, and less than meaningful, information. From a study design perspective, there is no context to the information provided. There is absolutely no information on sample design, QAQC (spikes, duplicates, etc), data analysis … How many samples were taken, where and to what depth, were multiple sample locations composited for into one sample for the purpose of analysis, was a reference site used for sake of comparison, berm vs. ambient Schedler vs a nearby property? What contaminants were tested for (they only reported 4; were the others all non-detects?)? Does the suite of chemicals tested take into consideration the known sources of the deposited materials? In short, was the sampling and testing performed adequate to characterize the site with respect to contamination?

    I am looking forward to reviewing the sampling and testing data when it becomes available.

  47. 👍. S up on that the top is in a real pickle. Remember what the engineer said, the soil looks good by looking at it. And he’s an engineer wow that’s pretty scary. The piece of chicken looks pretty good by looking at it. Maybe you fell on the floor maybe you should wash it up before cooking. What is stupid comment.

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    1. HUH? This comment is unintelligible…care to clarity?

    2. What the analytical data poster is saying is the data is garbage. Garbage in . . . garbage out.

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  48. Let’s wait for the real and final results. Then let’s see what the state recommends in taking care of this situation. It may go a few different ways. In the end, even if the state says it’s OK it can stay, maybe there’s a Safeway in containing this I don’t know. But the bottom line is the town still screwed up. And no one or anyone can put thumbs down thumbs up. This is costing to town, big money. And it wasn’t budget for. And if this was a private sector, you would be fired immediately for not doing your job. We have individuals that were either not working up the duty standards or just maybe they were told to look the other way, you never know in the village. I wouldn’t put it past anyone from the top. I would love to know how many thousands of yards of material is at that site. And if they had to purchase clean safe dirt, how much would that cost? That’s interesting right people

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  49. We wonder if any employees received any kind of stipend for saving the town an extremely large amount of money for not purchasing topsoil. Think about that.

  50. I think the best thing is just to remove all the soil. Bring in new clean soil or put up a big wall or someone has other ideas speak up.

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