Stony Brook Road Project Moves Forward

The town's unanimously approved a motion Wednesday night that paved the way for a decontamination project on Stony Brook Road.

In short order, board members granted an eight-month taking easement on a property at 52 Stony Brook Road that has been partially contaminated by the nearby town landfill.

Despite voicing sympathy for homeowners who will be inconvenienced by the project, board members said the removal of contaminants was simply something that had to be done.

Although Town Counsel Lisa Mead told board members the decontamination project should be done by the end of December, she requested that the taking extend into the end of April to ensure that replacement planting could be completed in the spring. 

The Board of Health will go before the town's Conservation Commission on Sept. 8 to ask permission to do work near adjacent wetlands.

Director of Public Health Wayne Attridge urged members to approve the motion, saying the town would pay dearly if the project was delayed.

"This has been a lot of work by two boards, the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Health and I think we have the train moving now and I wouldn’t like to see a delay," Attridge said. "I think it would be financially catastrophic if the town delayed this."

In a Special Town Election in June, local residents approved the spending of $18 million to cap the landfill and replace the town's 54-year-old trash transfer station.