By Kim
119 Bearfoot Road (the location of the new senior center) has an area on the property which had been a shooting range of the former fish and game. The area is gated off to the public as the soil is tainted with lead and arsenic. A Public Meeting is scheduled for February 17th to discuss clean up alternatives. A clean up grant of $200k had been awarded by EPA under the Brownfield’s program in 2005 and is still available to defray costs to the town.
Notice of Availability Community Relegations Plan and Analysis of Brownfields Cleanup Alternatives For: 119 Bearfoot Road (a.k.a. 119 Colburn Street), Northborough, Massachusetts The Town of Northborough, Massachusetts has filed a Community Relations Plan (CRP) and an Analysis of Brownfields Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA) with the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) as per required for the Cleanup Grant (09262) Copies of the CRP and ABCA are available for public review at the Town of Northborough Planning Office, 63 Main Street, Northborough, Massachusetts. Written comments to the CRP and ABCA shall be accepted until 5 p.m. on February 19, 2010. On February 17, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. a public meeting shall be held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room at 63 Main Street, Northborough, Massachusetts To obtain more information on the CRP or ABCA please contact Kathy Joubert, Town Planner, Town of Northborough, 63 Main Street, Northborough, Massachusetts 01532 at (508) 393-5019.
I know of no other alternative than to start the clean up by excavation as it is usually done. At Town Meeting several million dolloars was allocated for this task. The $200,000 Brownfield dollars would hardly be enough to do the job. It is my opinion that the million(s) allocated at the Town meeting also would not be enough to do the job. I somehow think that the direction that may be taken is to permanently fence off the so-called contaminated area permanently and then use the allocated monies to finish the work on the unplanned sewage problem. In well managed projects with contaminated land the remediation is done first and then the building proceeds in that order. In this case with remediation as executed on a newly built site there could be significant discovery of additional remediation requirements in and around the building site. For example, will the building need to be covered during remediation. This has the potential of costing the taxpayers much much more than announced as a plan last year. My best judgment is to close down the project. It was a bad deal then and it is a bad deal now.
MassDEP website on the property:
DEP Site
DEP Remedy Implemention Plan 12/08:
http://public.dep.state.ma.us/fileviewer/Default.aspx?formdataid=0&documentid=33683