The DCAM meeting at the Town House was attended by an overflowing, hot, and angry crowd of what I estimate to be 80-100 residents last night. DCAM was presenting its final analysis of the issues and the clean up options it has chosen, but the meeting quickly got sidetracked from the planned agenda to deal with citizen anger over DCAM failing to totally remove the toxic materials dumped along the river over decades by DMH. The C&D area is about 3.2 acres in size, and the materials are up to fifteen feet deep.
None of what DCAM presented last night was a surprise, as DCAM has been holding meetings with the parties over the past several weeks. Mike, Kris and I heard the same results when we met with the Commissioner two weeks ago. I had already reported on what we were then told at the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday this week, and also the big news that the Commissioner is now willing to sell the Medfield State Hospital to the town. The details of what that would cost and how the payments would be made over time, with a balloon at the time of its development will all come later as we explore that purchase option further with DCAM.
The Medfield Selectmen have taken the position that the toxic materials should be removed up to the gas pipeline, and DCAM last night confirmed its plan to cap and cover most of those materials in place. DCAM did announce that the armored bank in prior plans had been changed to a bio-engineered bank, making for a more natural looking river bank, which was universally praised by those in attendance.
I was interested to see that the cost of the town sought option does not appear to be that different than the DCAM option (see slide 33 on the attached materials, if you can read the fine print), however, the cost were not discussed in any detail last night, so that discussion will have to happen another time. DCAM’s option seems to top out at $3.9 m. versus the town option at $7.4 m., but DCAM’s option requires thirty years at least of monitoring, as cost that bridges a lot of that cost difference. From memory I think the monitoring was going to cost upwards of $1.6 m. Senator Timilty said last night that the state just needs to step up an pay to do the clean up right, whatever it costs, so if the legislature authorizes the monies, we can get it done.
I have attached the DCAM handout materials, for your information and review – https://medfield02052.blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120322-dcam-meeting-meterials.pdf
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