Negotiations Continue in Stonybrook Road Settlements

At Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting, the board voted to close the meeting and adjourned to Sasso's office to meet with the Board of Health, Health Director Wayne Attridge and Town legal counsel Lisa Mead to discuss the on-going negotiations with property owners on Stonybrook Road about the contamination that has been caused by the town's landfill.

The negotiations are to reach an agreement with the property owners to compensate them for the contamination or to purchase the tainted properties entirely.

After the two-hour meeting, the participants declined comment.

"There is nothing I can tell you," Attridge said. "I would like to, but I can't."

Some action is expected within two weeks. The timetable is short because of the need to present the amount of the agreed payments to the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectmen in advance of a Town Meeting in May.

Attridge last week told the Board of Health that about 50 percent of the homeowners are in agreement with the town regarding proposed payment for their contaminated property. He predicted the negotiations could get 75 percent of the homeowners to agree. But he said it was unlikely that the negotiations would reach agreement with 100 percent of the homeowners. At least one homeowner would not agree to the town's proposed payment without going to court, he said.

Last year, the town agreed to purchase the 18,430-square-foot lot on Stonybrook Road, owned by Jeff and Kate Dinsmore, for $899,955. That proposed purchase was rejected along with nine other proposals in the override election last June.