Fair Haven: Close the Brush Grinding Operation

Close the Brush Grinding Operation
The resident of Fair Haven demand the Brush Grinding operation cease to operate. All brush collected or generated in Fair Haven be removed and processed outside of the borough. The Fair Haven Fields property currently used for this operation be converted to park land per Green Acres agreement.

18 wheeler on who had just turned off 3rd Street to travel up William Street, struggling to navigate the narrow roadway and turn into the site.

Petition Background:
The towns of Rumson and Fair Haven collect brush and tree trunks from the town residents, park maintenance projects (such as the Fair Haven Field Buffer project) and dump or "stage" it on a corner of Fair Haven Fields, a Green Acre property, located at the intersection of Hendrickson Place and William Street. Debris collected by the street sweeper used to clean the Rumson and Fair Haven streets is also dumped at this site.

Several times a year an outside contractor is employed to

• Bring an industrial tub grinder into the neighborhood on an 18 wheeler flat bed. (VIDEO: Tractor Trailer on Hendrickson Place)
• Grind the "brush" into wood chips
• Remove all of the wood chips in 18-wheel tractor trailers making multiple trips a day in and out of the neighborhood

Route used by the grinding company:

• Hendrickson Pl, William St, Allen, 3rd St and Fair Haven Rd

Time of Operations

• 7am - 5p daily

Fair Haven Police Department resources are diverted to this operation to manage the truck traffic in and out of the residential neighborhood.

These activities pose significant health and safety risks to the families living in Fair Haven and has become intolerable to the residents.

ISSUES
1.HEALTH

• The industrial grinding machines run 7am - 5p daily during the grinding effort, creating SIGNIFICANT NOISE & AIR POLLUTION. (VIDEO: Click here, to HEAR what we HEAR!)
• Studies show exposure to wood mulch dust and fungal spores within the piles can lead to pneumonia, asthma, chronic fatigue and cancer (sinus, lung and throat.)[reference Health Effects]
• The grinding creates dust cloud and significant odor limiting neighbors' ability to use their property and prohibiting children from playing outside during the grinding operation, which generally runs 2 weeks at a time, several times per year.

2.SAFETY

• Work takes place between 7am and 5pm putting the children of Fair Haven walking and biking to and from school and then to sports practice in Fair Haven fields at risk. They must share the road (Fair Haven Rd. William St, Hendrickson, Third St and Allen St) with the 18 wheelers during the grinding operation.
• The 18 wheel tractor trailer trucks line up along Hendrickson Place before the site is open each day at 7am and idle causing the neighbors to breath in their emissions as they travel to school.

3.INCREASED TRAFFIC:

• In 2018 ,314 rear packer garbage truck loaded delivered 9,339 cubic yards of brush [Source: 2018 Brush Grinding Logs] deliver brush to the Fair Haven Fields site from Rumson and Fair Haven Boroughs.
• 29 truckloads (93 cubic yards)[ Source: FH Borough Street sweeping collection slips 2017] of street sweeping debris is dumped in the site.
• Each day during the grinding operation 18 wheel tractor trailers drive in and out of the site repeatedly throughout the 2 week operation.

Grinding Equipment contracted and brought into the site several times a year.

Grinding Equipment along the 3rd baseline fence of Fair Haven Fields at the end of Hendrickson Place.