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Select Board hits pause button on DPW renovation; transfer station could be at risk

Harvard’s landfill problem just got much bigger. 

Solid waste from the old landfill was thought to be contained in the area behind the trash bins at the Transfer Station. But test borings taken in October by engineering firm Tighe & Bond found solid waste under most of the Transfer Station and the western half of the Department of Public Works facility. Town Administrator Dan Nason reported the findings of the October tests to the Select Board at its Dec. 3 meeting.

In light of this discovery, Nason proposed pausing any further work on the design of the new DPW facility. The board agreed. 

In 1984, when Harvard closed its old landfill on Depot Road and built a new Transfer Station, there were no state regulations to cap or otherwise officially close landfills in Massachusetts. But the state Department of Environmental Protection is now requiring Harvard to officially close the old landfill, and the first step was to determine its boundaries. 

Test borings show that solid waste is buried under the entire Transfer Station except for the entrance, the bottle deposit shed, and the first six parking spaces near the entrance.  Solid waste was also found beyond the Transfer Station property line on the Bowers Brook side.

At the DPW facility, the line that indicates the edge of buried solid waste extends along the Depot Road fields property line as far as the salt shed and across the driveway to the side of the pole barn. The area includes the salt shed, but not the pole barn. Borings taken along the edge of the athletic fields showed no presence of solid waste. 

Nason said it is unclear what actions DEP will require at the Transfer Station in light of these findings. But he said it was “very possible” that the DEP could close it, and there is currently no other location available for the facility. 

Select Board member Charles Oliver said if the Transfer Station were gone, it might be possible to put the proposed new fire station there. Member Rich Maiore said the town should get the square footage needed for both facilities. But even if both facilities could fit on the site, it’s not clear if anything could be built at the Transfer Station site after the landfill is properly closed. Nason said solid waste cannot support heavy structures because it compresses. 

Nason said he also has a problem with the design for the $10 million DPW renovation that the town already voted on. He said it includes no additional garage space, and the department already has vehicles that must be kept outside or garaged at the school. Now that solid wase has been found on the eastern side of the salt shed, the ability to expand the garage is more limited. He said there is also no space for additional staff. And he is worried about what sort of underground monitoring DEP will require at the site that might impact the current design. There is no timeline for that agency’s decisions, so it could require changes after construction is completed.

Now that the town knows the extent of the underground solid waste, Nason told the Press it could make more sense to move the DPW elsewhere, which would open the door for a combined DPW and Fire-EMS campus. He said that solution would save the town money in areas such as shared common spaces, site costs, paving, and utilities. It would also untangle the DPW renovation from the landfill problem. 

Nason said he will work with DEP to try to get the information the town needs to move forward. In the meantime, the Select Board will follow up with consultants to determine square footage requirements for combining the two facilities. Maiore said he will speak with the Open Space Committee to try to identify other parcels that might be large enough for a combined campus.

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