"I'm writing to inform you about what is going on with the Salem Transfer Station located on Swampscott Road, You may or may not be aware that the City of Salem is attempting to sell/gift the 8 acres of city land to North Shore Carting (hereinafter "NSC").
NSC currently leases the property from Salem for 12,500/year. Today they can take in up to 100 tons of construction waste per day. Historically, the annual tonnage has been steadily decreasing and was last reported to the DEP at less than 25 tons/day on average. The garbage and debris is transferred from smaller trucks into larger trucks and then transported to a NSC’s trash facility such as the one in Andover, MA.
If NSC is successful in acquiring-the property, they plan on tearing down the current facility and building a new transfer station.
The bad news is:
-That they plan on increasing the daily tonnage of waste to 400-500 tons.
-There will be no filtration of the air in and around this facility NSC claims it will be cost prohibitive
-The type of material processed here will soon include household garbage and other odorous wastes.
-There is no simple solution to the soon to be increased traffic conditions
If NSC is successful in acquiring the property, we as residents will face the following:
-Decreased Property Value by tens of thousand of dollars
-Potential of up to 2 million pounds of waste daily through Salem neighborhoods, from surrounding cities and towns
-Bottleneck Intersections, Increasing Traffic and Safety Issues (100+ trucks per day on Swampscott Road)
-Emission of polluting and potentially cancer causing particulates and unpleasant odors up to a mile or greater
-Disruption of wells, water and the underground eco-systems
As we currently stand, the Salem Board of Health put on a dog and pony show and ok'd the increase of material from 100/day to up to 500/day. The deal is not yet completed as the Mayor still needs to get the okay from the City Counselors before selling or transferring any property. Instead of waiting for the Mayor to turn our community into a giant trash hub for the north shore, a group of residents have filed an appeal in Salem Superior Court. Civil action # 2010-00574-A
This appeal will take time and money. This issue affects us all and we should share in the costs of fighting the City, A one time donation, or a smaller monthly donation, will go a long way toward helping us with this fight. Spending a few dollars today is a small price to pay to keep the trash out of our community and preserve our property values. If interested in donating, one can use the website stopthegarbagenow.com or please make checks out to Attorney Carl Goodman. Checks can be dropped off to me directly or mailed to:
Stop the Garbage Now
P.O. Box 363
Salem, MA 01970
If you wish to learn more about this issue and join the fight, log on to stopthegarbagenow.com "
The Salem Transfer Station is inventoried with MHC.
ReplyDeleteDoes this trigger section 106 to preserve the structure?