Above: Access to Southborough’s largest Town-owned conservation parcel is partially closed while cleanup work is underway. (image edited by Beth Melo using Town announcement and GIS map)
Yesterday, the Town announced that work is resuming on the cleanup of the Breakneck Hill Farm Dump. That means that, once again, an area of parking and trails on the Conservation Land will be closed.
But, that doesn’t mean that the entire property is off limits.
Back in March, Conservation agent Melissa Danza announced the temporary closure of the parking lot next to the Community Gardens and trails from that lot. Over the summer, that cleanup work was halted due to the discovery that the project would require almost double the funding that had been approved.
(You can read more details about asbestos complications at the old farm dump here.)
At the Special Town Meeting this fall, voters approved borrowing the extra funding needed. Now, Danza has announced that the work is resuming and the closures that come with it.
The Town still hasn’t publicly posted any trail maps for the areas of the property that are still accessible. But I cobbled together an edited map (right) using the Town’s GIS map and the announcement map to identify where you can and can’t park. (Although it doesn’t mark trails, some pathways are visible in the terrain.
The closed areas will be used by the Town’s contractors for the excavation and waste removal at the identified waste site. During that time, the public will be prohibited from entering that area and its access routes.
According to the announcement, the cleanup work should be completed by the end of this year, but the full restoration of the impacted area won’t be completed until the spring.
Below is the full October 17th announcement from the Town website:
Breakneck Hill Farm Dump – Ongoing Work & Trail Closures
After a successful vote for additional funding at the Special Town Meeting, work at Breakneck Hill Conservation Land has resumed for the removal of solid waste and asbestos containing material within the farm dump area. The Town’s contractor, Strategic Environmental Services, will be excavating and properly disposing of the material under an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with MassDEP Solid Waste Division. Trailer trucks are expected to enter the property, one at a time, to be filled with debris, and removed from the property on a daily basis. This will not impact any local traffic as trucks will only enter from Route 9 to the site access point once they are ready to be loaded and return the same way.
Please note that the access to the site from the Community Gardens (next to Harding Botanicals) is closed to the public. The parking lot at the Community Gardens will be open nights and evenings, but access from the adjacent trail is prohibited until work has been completed. Please follow all signs regarding trail closure and follow all postings for your safety. Under no circumstances is the public allowed to enter the property from the Community Garden parking lot where stone has been placed for an access road. Only authorized personnel with property Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) may enter this area due the ongoing work.
The excavation work is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with final restoration activities to resume in the spring. Any questions can be directed to Melissa Danza, Conservation Agent at mdanza@southboroughma.com or 508-281-8984.
Two weeks prior to the announcement, the Town posted an update from Danza on the project status. That provided the public with more background on the work to be done. It also included the map (right) of the project area. You can read that full announcement here.
So the 2nd Act of what is a 3 Act tragedy is approaching the end. The first Act, The Mission, which played out for 2 years, involved my efforts as a one of Southborough’s Conservation Commissioners. It started with my becoming aware of this calamity, involved numerous attempts to engage town officials in a meaningful effort to address the dump and finally ended when the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection stepped in and ordered remediation of the site. A very dramatic ending for the first Act. The second Act, The Performance, is ongoing. It includes Town Meeting’s appropriation of $4.4 million dollars to pay for the clean up and the actual on going clean up efforts. The third Act, The Reckoning, when those responsible for contributing to, ignoring or covering up this calamity will be held accountable. This is not a no fault accident (double negative made for dramatic purpose). There are multiple organizations within our Town government that could and should lead this effort. What is most likely to occur is a repetition of the circumstances that allowed this dump to exist for decades and the third Act of this drama will never play out. Fear and avoidance of what will be discovered continues to paralyze any action. Without a reckoning the message is clear, you can betray the trust granted to you as a public official in a significant way and not face consequences.