BEESLEYS POINT — One of the most visible and iconic symbols of the former B.L. England Generating Station will be nothing but a pile of rubble come Thursday.
Upper Township Administrator Gary Demarzo forwarded a statement from Chad Parks of the Beesleys Point Development Group advising that implosion of the defunct plant’s cooling tower is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 29.
“In line with continual environmental remediation, asbestos abatement and demolition activities related to the redevelopment of the former BL England power station, the cooling tower structure is slated to be demolished by way of implosion,” Parks said in the statement.
Beesleys Point Development Group (BPDG) has hired Controlled Demolition Inc. to perform the implosion.
“Great care and preparation has been taken leading to the event to assure local and state compliance as well as the safety of the community,” the statement said.
Township Committeeman Jay Newman, chief of the Marmora Volunteer Fire Company, said crews would be ready in case of need but did not expect to be called to duty.
BPDG bought the property, which is more than 350 acres, in November 2021. The sale, about four years in the making, was another big step in a planned project for a marina, shops, restaurants, a hotel, seasonal villas and some sort of boardwalk.
B.L. England was a major factor in Upper Township for nearly 60 years as a source of jobs, electricity and funding, providing the township with energy tax receipts of more than $6 million a year for hosting the plant.
For more than a decade, the 447-megawatt plant was under an order to meet emissions standards or close down. The state Department of Environmental Protection gave the order to then-owners Atlantic City Electric in 2006. The company sold B.L. England to RC Cape May Holdings LLC that year for a reported $12.2 million.
The plant’s owners had hoped to switch it from being coal- and diesel-fired to natural gas, which depended on a controversial pipeline that would have went through part of the Pinelands. Environmental groups fought against the pipeline and the owners dropped those plans in February 2019.
At the end of 2020, the Upper Township Planning Board supported designating the site as an area in need of redevelopment. That designation gave Upper Township broad powers to develop the site, parts of which were vacant for decades.
Other structures on the site that will be removed include the smokestacks and oil-storage facilities.
The statement from BPDG said asbestos abatement was completed at the cooling tower and cleared by the DEP. In addition, all necessary state and local permits have been obtained and appropriate authorities notified of the pending implosion.
“Additional courtesy notifications include the State Police and Coast Guard,” the statement said.
Steps have been taken to limit dust and debris.
“Months of preparation have taken place to remove the interior ‘packing’ of the cooling tower. This packing is very light-weight plastic ‘accordion’ style material that was compacted and transported to the Cape May Landfill,” according to the statement. “In addition, all interior ‘guts’ of the tower have been removed.
The point of implosion has been wrapped in chain-link fence and fabric to prevent any material from leaving the area and water- and dust-suppression equipment will be running to limit migration.
Designated public viewing points have not been defined but there are many great places to view the event safely.
Public access to the fishing pier will not be permitted, with boat traffic under U.S. Coast Guard jurisdiction.
The statement says the implosion will be timed for when children are in school, where they are unlikely to even hear the event more than a mile away. The closest home is 3,250 feet away and also “very unlikely to feel any vibration from the event.”
Newman said the township is working with BPDG on a plan for development following cleanup of the property.
“We want the site cleaned,” he said, adding the cleanup is “the best part of the process.”
Township officials are looking forward to seeing the property developed.
“I think it’s going to be a good thing for the future of the township,” Mayor Curtis Corson said.
He said the development would create a destination at the dead end created when the Beesleys Point Bridge was closed and eventually demolished, cutting off access to Atlantic County.
Hooking into sewage treatment plant in Ocean City
Corson said the township is working on a feasibility study to see if it’s possible to connect to the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority’s sewage treatment plant in Ocean City.
“It needs to be established if they have the capacity and what their build-out is,” Corson said. “It would be beneficial if they would take it, it would reduce the rate for their ratepayers.”
He said the island’s electricity and natural gas are provided by the mainland and it would be neighborly for the city to accept the sewage.
“I’m sure we’ll reach some kind of understanding with them if that’s feasible,” he said.
Connection to the treatment plant would benefit more than the project in Beesleys Point.
“The primary and elementary school has a sewer plant we’re running and maintaining, we would want to put them on it,” he said. “ShopRite likely would want to connect.”
Corson called the implosion “a step forward,” adding he expects total cleanup to be completed by April or May.
The mayor said the development would provide waterfront access and bring more people to the area, where the township and county worked together to build Beesley’s Point Park last fall.
The park, located on Harbor Road overlooking Great Egg Harbor Bay, was dedicated in a ceremony Oct. 19 that celebrated the partnership that made it happen.
Serving as a demonstration site for the county’s new Creative Placemaking Plan, the park is intended to set a brand identity for recreational open space projects throughout the county.
“Due to the nature of what’s there, there is going to be a lot of open space and passive recreation because it’s a large site,” Corson said.
He said residential development likely would be part of the BPDG’s plans.
“They own the entire property,” he said. “They probably will develop the whole thing, soup to nuts.”
Ørsted, the Danish company partnering with PSEG to build the proposed Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine farm off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties, plans to connect the transmission cables bringing the electricity from the wind farm to the power grid at the site. The company plans to run the lines from the wind farm 15 miles off the coast through Ocean City and along Roosevelt Boulevard to Beesleys Point.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff