Parts of the landfill site are still being cleaned up. For the lake and its immediate surroundings, the cleanup process took years. But after being dredged and restocked with thousands of fish, the lake was reopened last fall.
And the Pitman Borough Council recently approved a $1 million bond ordinance to reconstruct a park around it.
``We're looking forward to a truly tremendous transformation,'' said Councilman William McCausland. ``To arrive here from where we have been is amazing.''
The Lipari Landfill sits on Route 322 in Mantua Township, bordering Pitman, Glassboro, and Harrison Township. Pitman, with the residential area closest to the site, was hit the hardest by the landfill's contamination.
The state closed the landfill in 1971 after residents began complaining of health problems. A state-funded study conducted in the '80s found that residents near the landfill had higher rates of adult leukemia than people in other areas. Studies also found that babies born near the site weighed less than children in other parts of the state.
The landfill was capped in 1984.
Almost a decade later, in 1993, the first phase of the Lipari cleanup got under way.
It began with Alcyon Lake and the stream and marshland that connect it to the landfill, said Claire Bonner of Pitman, a community activist who helped initiate the recreation project.
``We always knew that this area would be usable again one day,'' said Bonner, who is a member of a citizens group called the Land Use Committee. ``That is why we starting working together years ago to come up with the best way to give it back to the community.''
Alcyon Lake and the fields around it were once very popular for recreation.
``I remember when there was a merry-go-round, a bowling alley, and a racetrack here,'' said lifelong Pitman resident Ray John, 75. ``We had this incredible boardwalk and people would come from all over to visit. Of course, all that was lost when they found contamination at the site.''
