By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The “Big Candle” has been permanently extinguished.
A spectacular implosion Thursday morning toppled the nearly 400-foot-tall smokestack at the former B.L. England power plant overlooking the Great Egg Harbor Bay in Beesleys Point.
It took just seconds for explosives to destroy the cylindrical tower that been a landmark at the Jersey Shore since 1987.
For decades, countless motorists on the Garden State Parkway would pass by the smokestack while crossing over the Great Egg Harbor Bay bridge connecting Atlantic and Cape May counties between Somers Point and Upper Township. Boaters used it as a navigational aid.
Cheryl Kreutz, whose husband, Dave Kreutz, is one of the owners of a development group that plans to transform the old B.L. England site into a commercial and residential project, noted that local residents affectionately nicknamed the smokestack the “Big Candle.”
(Video courtesy of Martin Fiedler of Just Right TV Productions)
As a prelude to the implosion, the Beesleys Point Development Group held a “Say Goodbye to the Stack” event on Oct. 21 to give the public a chance to bid a final farewell to the tower. Dozens turned out to write their names and personal messages on the stack.
“Somebody wrote on it, ‘Goodbye, Big Candle,’” Cheryl Kreutz said.
On Thursday, hundreds of spectators lined the banks of the Great Egg Harbor Bay and stood on a pier next to the Tuckahoe Inn to watch the implosion.
Shortly after 10 a.m., a series of explosions detonated at the base of the smokestack. The structure plunged to the ground in mere seconds, disappearing in a gigantic cloud of grayish smoke and dust that descended over the bay.
“It was very loud. I felt it inside,” 7-year-old Matthew Dittrich said while tapping on his chest to mimic the reverberations of the explosives.
Matthew and his 5-year-old sister, Chloe, were lucky enough to get the day off from school to watch the implosion with their mother, Lauren Dittrich, of Haddonfield, N.J.
“Isn’t this cool? I told my kids that you get to miss school today to go see something get blown up,” Lauren Dittrich said, laughing.
Cathy Niedzwiecki, whose son, Tim Niedzwiecki, is part of the Beesleys Point Development Group, celebrated her 76th birthday by watching the implosion unfold.
“I found it to be very exciting,” she said. “This is my birthday. I am very grateful to be here.”
Greg and Roxanne Pontano of Mantua, N.J., brought their 8-year-old daughter, Sophia, for what Greg characterized as a “good show.”
“I’m happy that the tower is going to fall down,” Sophia said shortly before the implosion did just that to the smokestack.
Greg Pontano, an employee of Cutting Technologies Inc., a company that specializes in demolition, was part of the effort to get the smokestack ready for the implosion. He explained that the company cut some of the concrete on the bottom of the stack to weaken the structure for the implosion.
The 390-foot-high smokestack was by far the tallest structure remaining from the old B.L. England power plant site. A few smaller structures still must be demolished before cleanup work is completed by the Beesleys Point Development Group.
Built in 1961 and closed since 2019, the B.L. England plant totals about 350 acres on the Upper Township side of the bay in Beesleys Point. Last fall, the plant’s cooling tower was brought down in an implosion. Then, the boiler building was imploded last April.
The Beesleys Point Development Group bought the site in 2021 and has discussed the possibility of building a marina, a hotel, restaurants, retail shops and homes, while also preserving some of the ecologically sensitive wetlands on the property. It is expected to be a multiyear process.
“That’s a tough guess,” Dave Kreutz, one of the partners of Beesleys Point Development Group, said of the timetable for the project. “But it will be sooner than any other developer could do it.”
Kreutz stressed that the group has been closely collaborating with Upper Township officials and the local community for the property’s redevelopment plans. The township has officially declared the site in need of redevelopment.
In addition to the commercial and residential aspects, the project is expected to include a strong environmental component to take advantage of the bayside location. Kreutz mentioned the possibility of opening up nature trails along the property and also having educational programs to teach local schoolchildren about the environment.
Kreutz said he realizes the community will have mixed feelings about losing the landmark smokestack after having it for nearly 40 years. But he noted that the smokestack was a source of pollution at the coal-fired B.L. England power plant.
“I feel there will be some sadness in the community, regardless of how bad a polluter it was,” he said. “For some, it was a symbol of home. It had also become a beacon for the boaters. But it has been littering the property for so many years. It’s time for a new chapter.”
Part of the property is expected to serve as a substation that would connect the turbines of a proposed offshore wind energy farm with the land-based power grid.
An underground transmission line for the Ocean Wind 1 project is expected to come ashore at the beach at 35th Street in Ocean City and then run through Ocean City and Marmora to finally connect with the substation.
The wind farm is planned 15 miles off the coast from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor, passing by Ocean City, Sea Isle City and other beach towns in the process. Cape May County and Ocean City officials are strongly opposed to the project, asserting that it will hurt tourism, the commercial fishing industry, marine life and migratory birds. They have filed a series of lawsuits to try to block the wind farm and the transmission line.
