Governor Jon Corzine visited the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission in Lyndhurst on April 9 to speak with local officials about the project. The Governor concluded that remediation would remain a top priority and not development.

Representatives from the Governor’s office, the Meadowlands Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection and the mayors of Rutherford, Lyndhurst and North Arlington will be meeting regularly to discuss issues concerning the landfill remediation project in the Meadowlands, according to Rutherford Mayor John Hipp.

April 18 is the deadline for EnCap to come up with a detailed landfill remediation budget and plan and the group will meet after that, Hipp added. He was pleased the meeting took place. "I want the Meadowlands Commission to continue calling these things. I want them involved," he said.

North Arlington Councilman Al Granell, also in attendance, said the meeting went well and gave North Arlington a chance to express its concerns with the project. EnCap Phase I, the landfill remediation and subsequent construction of golf courses, housing and a hotel, will not happen in North Arlington.

However, Phase II, a separate plan to redevelop light industrial businesses on Porete Avenue, is a major concern for North Arlington. The borough is in litigation with the developer. EnCap sued North Arlington for refusing to take businesses through eminent domain to make way for the project after signing the deal.

Out of South Jersey

EnCap’s financial backer, Cherokee Investment Partners, is pulling out of a large-scale brownfield development project in south Jersey, according to news reports. Cherokee, the North Carolina-based company that became heavily invested in the EnCap project, has canceled plans to redevelop an industrial area in Pennsauken. The project would have included homes, hotel rooms and retail space spanning 600 acres on the Delaware River.

According to the News & Observer, a Raleigh newspaper, Cherokee is looking to divest a number of investments, but did not state whether or not this included EnCap.

Cherokee did not return phone calls and did not respond to questions about whether Cherokee will abandon the EnCap project. However, the newspaper cited a sluggish housing market as the reason for abandoning the project. Cherokee still has money invested in the Meadowlands project, but the Trump Organization has taken over as project developer from EnCap.

Trump launches Web site

The Trump Organization launched a Web site, www.trumpprogressinthemeadowlands.com, offering text, photos and video to highlight progress on the EnCap site. "We look forward to continued progress and success at the once troubled site," said Donald Trump in an e-mail message.

Through the Web site, Trump plans to provide consistent, and sometimes real time, updates on the environmental cleanup, work with area towns and plans for the future of the site.