Politics & Government

Former Belleville Roche Facility Not Suited for Residential Property

Former industrial site could contain medical facilities and professional offices, hotel and conference centers and other uses.

The former Roche pharmaceutical manufacturing center in Belleville isn’t fit for residential development, officials decided this week.

A consulting company studying the property determined that the site contains soil and groundwater contamination, ruling out residential use as well as child and adult care facilities, the Belleville Times reported.

In July, the Belleville officials voted to restrict developers building a hospital, ambulatory/surgery center, or medical helicopter pad on the site for, respectively duplicating services Clara Maass provides and disrupting the neighborhood.

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Permitted conditional site uses include medical facilities and professional offices, hotel and conference centers, and municipal and public facilities, the Belleville Times reported. 

In a 2011 Patch article, Lawrence Hajna, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said "low levels of arsenic” have been found in the groundwater and soil at the site, but the contamination has not spread off the site and that Roche “voluntarily” entered into a remediation program in 2006 and is now finalizing a cleanup plan, Hajna also said. 

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