Blog: FEMA and BRSA Will Be Union Beach's Greatest Obstacles for Recovery

A Union Beach resident reflects on FEMA and the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority.

BRSA Wind Turbine Project Halted by Union Beach Injunction

Delivery of the turbine components was scheduled to begin Monday

The New Jersey Superior Court of Appeals issued an injunction Wednesday on behalf of Union Beach, halting construction of the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority's wind turbine. Conti Group, which has been contracted by the BRSA to build the turbine, must not only stop construction but also begin to demobilize by removing their equipment and their crew, explained BRSA Executive Director Rober Fischer. "Union Beach has filed an application for a restraint to stop the Authority from transporting and building the turbine. We received it yesterday and we're going to abide by it," Fischer said. The turbine has been hotly contested by Union Beach and several bayshore municipalities. The Union Beach Planning Board struck down the BRSA's plans …

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BRSA Wind Turbine Contractor Explains Finalized Route Through Matawan

Three components expected to travel along Route 79 through Matawan

A project manager from Conti Enterprises, the company contracted by the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) to build a wind turbine in Union Beach to offset its energy costs, shed light on the finalized route from Newark to Union Beach at the Matawan Borough Council meeting Monday night. Eric Millard explained that the majority of the components will travel down Route 35, onto Route 36 and into Union Beach. However, due to low train bridges over the highway, now part of the Henry Hudson Trail, three components that make up the tower of the wind turbine will have to travel down County Road Rt. 79 through Marlboro and Matawan.  For Matawan, this means the three components will travel along Freneau Avenue to Main Street, at which …

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Wind Turbine Permit Fees, Temporary Storage Costs BRSA $268K More

“Expenses beyond original scope,” said Robert Fischer, executive director of the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority, at meeting Monday.

The Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) approved an additional $268,000 in available funds for unforeseen expenses related to the wind turbine it plans to install on its property in Union Beach. The funds, approved through a change order request at the BRSA's regular action meeting Monday night, are available for distribution over the next five months. The company contracted by the BRSA to complete the transportation and assembly of the turbine, Conti of Edison, was originally alotted $343,000, according to Robert Fischer, the executive director of the BRSA. However, expenses resulting from delay costs, such as storing the turbine in Newark, and permitting costs, such as engineers working to establish the transportation route for …

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BRSA Approves $13 M Preliminary Budget for 2012

Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority operations budget to go down, among cost-cutting measures

The Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) approved a $13.1 million 2012 preliminary budget on Monday at its meeting at in Union Beach. Commissioners David Cohen of Holmdel, John Colligas of Holmdel, James DiNardo of Hazlet, and Frank Wells of Union Beach approved the budget, 4-0. Commissioner Kathleen Parsells of Union Beach and Chairman Lou Pisano of Hazlet were not present for the vote. The budget will be sent to the state Department of Community Affairs Local Finance Board. If approved, it will be sent back to the BRSA for a formal adoption at a public hearing in December. The budget includes the Debt Service Agreement, which allows for the bondholders to be paid back.  The amount of debt will go from $7 million to $4 million by …

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Tony Orsini

9:16 am on Sunday, October 30, 2011

By my experience as a former elected official, the BRSA has its own agenda independent of a town's best interests. Any town should be vigilant WHO they appoint to BRSA, as in not some ignorant stooge or someone looking to benefit from "deals," professional, business, or political. Without going into dueling statistics, I don't see why there is not a working model somewhere we can gauge risk …   more ›

Matawan Passes Resolution Opposing Construction of BRSA's Wind Turbine

They are the fourth bayshore municipality to formally oppose the wind turbine

The Matawan Borough Council joined several other bayshore municipalities by passing a resolution that opposes the construction of a wind turbine in Union Beach at the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority's (BRSA) Wastewater Treatment Facility. According to Resolution 11-09-36, which was passed 7-0 at the council meeting Tuesday night, Matawan Borough, "shares the concerns expressed by the residents and governing body particularly in light of what appears to be at best a limited effort by BRSA to reach out to residents of the Bayshore and a lack of transparency in this matter." The BRSA is a government agency that handles the raw sewage of Union Beach, Holmdel, Keyport, Hazlet, Keansburg, Matawan, Aberdeen and parts of Marlboro, by …

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Bruce Sinclair

7:42 pm on Friday, September 30, 2011

From what I have seen here, there are two very vocal camps here – those opposed to the wind turbine and those opposed to those who are opposed to the wind turbine. Neither is likely to change the opinion of the other and their continued use of invective and innuendo is not likely to sway the opinion of any third party – it has certainly not swayed me. The body of outside study and evidence that I…   more ›

Special Delivery: BRSA's Wind Turbine Parts Arrive in Newark

As permitting process and court fights continue over construction of the $7 million wind turbine, the BRSA is receiving shipments of the wind turbine parts and storing them in Newark.

Nearly all of the General Electric manufactured components that will be used to construct an industrial wind turbine on the site of the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) in Union Beach have been delivered to a warehouse in Port Newark, New Jersey, said BRSA Executive Director Robert Fischer.  The parts are manufactured in different locations in the United States. The three 110-foot long blades were driven along state highways from Texas in three specially-designed truck with a front and back steering wheel, for navigating turns. The heavy nacelle, or generator, along with the nose cone, was sent up from Pensacola on a ten-axle truck. The tower sections were shipped from Iowa.  And on a truck today -- somewhere in New York or …

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BRSA Sets Lower Connection Fee for New Users

A look at what it costs to hook up to the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority.

It's getting cheaper for new sewer users to hook up to the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority. At a public meeting July 18 at its Union Beach facility, the six Authority Commissioners approved the 2010-2011 rate of $6481, down about 3.7% from last year's $6732.  The decrease came about due mostly to two factors used in calculations, said Executive Director Robert Fischer. Grant money received from the American Recovery Act will improve efficiencies at the plant, which allowed for cost savings projections. Those projects include the replacement of all chemical storage tanks, the installation of a wind turbine to reduce energy costs, the installation of a screening press to reduce water content from paper products the authority pays to …

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