A former quarry in Tomkins Point, N.Y., may become a successful riverfront reclamation project.
The Tomkins Cove Quarry, owned by Tilcon, ceased stone-mining operations in 2012. It sits on 199 acres immediately north of the Stony Point Battlefield and was mined about 280 ft. below the level of the Hudson River, which is about 300 ft. away from the quarry.
Dan Walsh, a principal with Hudson River Resources, made a presentation at the Stony Point Town Board about his company’s plan to reclaim and restore the site by filling the massive area with crushed brick and concrete retrieved from construction sites, according to SPACE – Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment.
The material will be certified and shipped in by barge during a 16 to 20 year period to transform the abandoned mining operation into a Hudson Riverfront Greenway – expanding the Stony Point Battlefield Park with a permanent natural area public access that could include hiking trails, birdwatching, environmental education, scenic views and other passive amenities, based on public input.
- The project would use materials commonly used throughout the state in reclaimed properties, such as clean crushed concrete, crushed brick, rock, stone, and construction soil and fill. The company would chemically test any questionable material. “This is not a landfill,” Walsh emphasized. “This is not garbage. It’s very specific material.”
- The project would also create about 38 long-term jobs for highly skilled employees. The company would give preference to candidates from Stony Point and Rockland County.
- It would bring tax ratables to the town as an industrial site during that phase of operations. The company plans to rehabilitate the conveyor already on the site and the barge dock, both of which have fallen into disrepair. It also plans to rebuild roads within the quarry.
- All of the material would come to the site via river barges so trucks would not clog the roadways. “In doing that, what we’re accomplishing is removing literally millions of trucks from regional highways because this material would otherwise have to be trucked from construction sites,” Walsh said. The company estimated that using barges, with two to four trips daily, would reduce fuel consumption by about 36 million gal. and reduce truck travel by about 170 million miles.