Closing the old town landfill just got more complicated. Trash, in some cases more than 10 feet deep, has been found buried in the ground near the pole barn at the Department of Public Works, well beyond what had been considered to be the boundaries of the old landfill. The trash was discovered during geotechnical testing on the DPW site as part of the project to design the proposed renovation of the facility.
The old landfill, located on the hill behind the trash compactors, closed in 1984 after the Transfer Station was built. But the state Department of Environmental Protection is now requiring the town to officially close it. Installing monitoring wells to look for groundwater contaminants in the landfill area was thought to make up most of the required work. Now, just determining where all the underground trash is will have to be added to the scope of the project, increasing its cost.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan broke the news to the Select Board at its Feb. 6 meeting. He said trash was found under the ground in two locations—near the DPW fuel tanks, and about halfway down the back of the pole barn. He added that Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro had found some aerial maps of the DPW from the 1970s, and those maps seemed to show multiple holes at the landfill that people would have been able to drive up to and throw trash into. Bragan told the Press the soil covering the trash was less than a foot deep in one spot, and the depth of the trash was measured down to 10 feet, but “it goes deeper.”
Bragan said it’s likely that the pole barn could be on top of a landfill area. If it is, he said, the state might require the town to move it. The pole barn is on the list of buildings to be replaced as part of the proposed DPW facility renovation. The trash problem came up during a discussion of plans for that renovation at that same Select Board meeting. Chair Rich Maiore asked Pablo Carbonell, chair of the Permanent Building Committee, if the underground trash would affect the project. Carbonell said that in his opinion, the other DPW buildings have been at that location for a long time, and so would likely not have been built on part of the landfill. The pole barn is newer, though, and he said, “That’s a whole different story.” He said the pole barn would be the first thing removed from the project if bids came in too high.
Bragan said engineering firm Tighe & Bond, which is managing the landfill’s closure, will begin digging in March to locate the boundaries of any trash holes beyond the main site. Once the boundaries are known, the firm will work with the DEP to determine what to do about the additional landfill areas.
