BRICK – For 10 years, a third party sold solar power collected from a grid built over a landfill, but now the township had to find a new company to manage this.
The Township Council authorized a side letter agreement to the original redevelopment agreement with Brick Standard LLC, who was the developer of the solar farm on Sally Ike Road, completed in 2014 on the site of the former French’s Landfill.
“As part of that redevelopment agreement, RWE, also known as Con Ed, was a third-party supplier who sold the energy back to the grid and then reimbursed the township for our portion of the sold energy,” Council Vice President Derrick T. Ambrosino said.
RWE is ceasing operations to the wholesale energy market, effective December 31, 2024, he said. Brick Standard LLC has a relationship with its own third-party supplier – DTE Energy Trading – and in this agreement, DTE will be the third-party supplier in 2025.
“They will directly deposit those funds into a bank account the township establishes to accept those payments,” Ambrosino said. “They are proposing the same purchase price per kilowatt hour, and the agreement specifies no additional cost increases to the township.”
In other news, the council passed a new ordinance that establishes various regulations regarding the keeping and housing of pigeons and pigeon-like birds, as recommended by Township Code Enforcement.
Councilwoman Melissa Travers said that current township code does not specifically address pigeons, so the changes include limiting the number of pigeons and doves to 25, and locating pigeon coops and enclosures to no less than 25 feet from any dwelling.
During public comment, Baywood resident Art Hasselbach asked that certain issues be looked at in the new year, including the need for more street lighting in his neighborhood and a request for road repair.
“The lighting on many of the roads, especially where I live, are very inadequate, and that high pressure sodium is garbage – it’s old technology that should be replaced by LED lighting,” he said.
“I understand the electric company probably doesn’t want to spend the money, but we’re paying for the electric on those lights and you don’t get the amount of lighting out of those things as you would from an LED for one tenth the cost of the electricity.”
Hasselbach said increased lighting would increase safety for residents.
As a property owner off St. Lawrence Boulevard, he said a portion of that road has been patched for over 20 years and “has never been fixed, properly.
“There’s a lot of holes on that road, and nothing ever gets done about it…the road is built on peat underneath and it undulates, and it’s soft,” he said.
The road needs to be dug up and a new stabilized stone base is needed to correct the problem, he said.
“You can keep putting blacktop on top of it forever, and it’s not going to correct it,” he said. “The road has been terrible for 20 years.”
Interviewed after the meeting, township engineer Elissa C. Commins said that officials are currently making their list of what streets will be worked on for 2025.
The governing body also authorized to renew a shared services agreement with the Borough of Mantoloking for code enforcement and zoning officer services. The township will be reimbursed for the time spent by staff providing these services.
The next council meeting will be on Tuesday January 28 at 7 p.m.
