Jones Lang LaSalle


Company proposing golf course at river site
By KARA L. RICHARDSON
Staff Writer

BRIDGEWATER -- Standing on property Thursday that was one of New Jersey's earliest chemical facilities, township officials saw the land's possible future: a golf course and wildlife habitat.

Wyeth, a Madison-based pharmaceutical company, invited members of the Township Council and Planning Board to tour the American Cyanamid Corp. site, which closed in 1999. The land was once at least eight streets lined with industrial buildings. Now, all but one of the structures -- a warehouse -- have been razed.

"I can close my eyes and see thousands of people working," said Ray Bateman, who is serving as a Wyeth consultant on the project. When Bateman ran for a the state Assembly seat in the 1960s, he met with the union there. "It was like a city and now it's gone."

Wyeth bought American Cyanamid in 1994. After the company closed its Bridgewater plant, Wyeth inherited American Cyanamid's 200-acre contaminated site, which is south of Main Street and west of Interstate 287, and its cleanup.

In 2003, Wyeth went to county and township officials to propose an $8.5 million project at the site, which includes the 18-hole, links-style golf course, a 95-acre wildlife habitat along the Raritan River, tennis courts, a driving range and a recreational complex along Main Street. If township officials approve the project in 2007, Wyeth officials hope to finish the project by 2012.
It has not been decided if a golf course is the best option for the property, Council President Allen Kurdyla said.

"Let's see what the whole plan will be and what will be best for Bridgewater," Kurdyla said.
In the year ahead, Kurdyla said Bridgewater officials will review the cleanup findings of the Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Protection Agency, and meet with other environmental and financial consultants. Much of the property is in a flood zone.