Voters approved spending $7.4 million to recap the former town landfill at Ledge Road, part of which is now home to Deyermond Field, the town's Little League complex.
Residents can expect to vote on a plan at Town Meeting next year to build new playing fields off Blanchard Street, where the town purchased a 13-acre farm in May 2007 and plans to move the fields when the landfill is recapped.
"Our commitment to the Little League is to not leave them without facilities," said Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski.
The 21-acre landfill recapping project will be eligible for a low-interest state loan as a result of the April 30 vote. Under the loan program, the town will pay $1 million less in interest, according to Public Works Director Jack Petkus. The deadline for the town to apply for the loan is June 28, Petkus said.
Petkus said the town used the same type of state loan to pay for recent upgrades at the water treatment plant.
"It's a good program," Petkus told Town Meeting. "It's a big savings."
Under state Department of Environmental Protection orders, the town will recap the entire former landfill at once. Previous plans had the recapping project proceeding in stages, which added to the overall cost, Petkus said.
The actual capping of the landfill could begin next year, Petkus said.
"We're in design right now," said Petkus. "As soon as we get a design for the cap we'll present that to DEP."
Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski said the overall cost of the landfill recapping project should come out to be roughly $10 million, including the recent $7.4 million appropriation and two prior approved amounts totalling nearly $3 million.
The money appropriated at Town Meeting also will cover the continued monitoring of arsenic found in the ground adjacent to the landfill, east of Interstate 93 and just north of Route 495.
Given the presence of arsenic near the landfill, Samos Lane resident Bob Marshall questioned if the approved appropriation would be enough to complete the project, which both Stapczynski and Petkus have maintained is the expectation.
"I don't think $7.4 million is a cap. I think it's only the beginning," said Marshall. "This could be another Big Dig.
"We're going to be doing more work. It's open-ended."
Petkus told Town Meeting voters Deyermond Field is safe and that the ongoing arsenic investigation has revealed the majority of contaminated property is on the Pettingel Reservation, owned by the Andover Village Improvement Society. Contamination has also been detected on a nearby farm owned by Andover resident Robert Park Sr.
Stapczynski said that other than the Park farm and AVIS-owned conservation land, there are no other properties that he is aware of in the vicinity of the landfill contaminated with arsenic.
Stapczynski said a letter will be sent to landfill abutters this month disclosing the arsenic contamination and how the town and state expect to proceed in the future. More fencing will be installed at Deyermond Field to block access to the landfill and signage, and gates will be used to identify the contaminated area adjacent to the former town dump.
Petkus said what the town does in regard to the arsenic will ultimately be determined by MassDEP.
"There's a lot of things that can happen out there," said Petkus. "Exactly what they're going to require, we don't know."
Cap may not resolve arsenic issue
Petkus said possibilities include fencing off the contaminated area, excavating the contaminated sediment and depositing it under a new landfill cap, or installing an onsite collection basin for the arsenic.
Petkus also told Town Meeting that a new cap may not prevent arsenic from travelling in the ground and could even increase the rate of which it is travelling.
"What's good news is it's locked in the sediment," said Petkus of the arsenic. "The fields right now are safe. It's only in the off-site areas that we are having this problem."
As for the future of playing fields on Blanchard Street, Selectman Brian Major said preliminary work by an architect indicates there will be enough room for several baseball and softball fields, and rectangular fields on the former farm.
"This would be a permanent solution," said Major, noting the town may still explore building on the property in the long-term. "At least for the foreseeable future, the fields will have a permanent home."
Petkus said Deyermond Field could be taken off-line in two years, but Stapczynski said that would be the earliest possible time frame for the removal of the Little League complex off Chandler Road.
