Carteret has received a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection to build a public marina at its waterfront park on the Arthur Kill.
CARTERET -- More than two decades ago, officials in Carteret wanted to turn their abandoned industrial waterfront into a park and public marina.
The borough has the park and now, is a step closer to adding the public marina.
Mayor Daniel Reiman announced Monday that the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection has approved the borough's application to construct a municipal marina at the Carteret Waterfront Park, along the Arthur Kill waterway.
Reiman said construction will include nearly 200 slips for recreational boats.
The approval for the marina also includes environmental remediation of the long-abandoned IT Williams treatment pond, adjacent to the Arthur Kill, as part of the project.
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"It is hard to overstate the importance of today's approval," Reiman said Monday. "Since former Mayor (Peter) Sica first proposed the concept and the borough acquired the property in the early 1990's, Carteret residents have been looking forward to the creation of a municipal marina. Today, we celebrate a victory for our entire community and look forward to the next step in this process."
With the DEP granting the waterfront development permit and related environmental certifications, the borough anticipates the Army Corps of Engineers, which completed its review of the marina application in the summer of 2015, will issue its final approval in the near future, Reiman said.
The borough initially applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for the necessary permits to build the marina, but was denied, he said.
Reiman said the borough appealed and the denial was reversed with remand for additional consideration of the marina permits.
The marina is the last major phase in the development of Carteret Waterfront Park, which now includes a fishing pier, miniature golf course, exercise trail and other amenities, the mayor said.
Financing for the park has come primarily through a combination of federal, state and county funds, according to the mayor.
He said the total marina project will cost about $25 million, including remediation, but the mayor said the borough has a grant of $9.8 million from the state toward the cleanup costs.
Reiman said he expects to have the Army Corps approval in about a month and go out to bid on the remediation by early next year.
"That will take 12 to 18 months to complete," the mayor said, but he said all of the contaminated soil would be dredged up and removed.
The mayor said the project has led to the establishment of the borough's local port authority and the park is now home to a marine barracks for the N.J. State Police.
Reiman said he expects construction on the marina to begin in July 2016.
"It's taken a long time to get to this point, but it has been well worth the wait," the mayor said.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
