Tuesday, March 10, 2009

2 + 2 = 50 for Crow Lane

Hi there,

So let's put 2 and 2 together and see what we come up with, shall we?

I heard yesterday morning that the mayor was going to be calling and/or talking to City Councillors and landfill ad hoc advisory committee members about his decision - whatever it is - about the landfill.

Then he was going to send some kind of letter to the City Council (you know, the one that met last night in City Hall).

So yesterday came and went with apparently no letter and definitely no phone calls (at least not to the ad hoc committee).

The mayor was not at City Hall for the City Council meeting, which is unusual.

So last night I hear that yesterday, Everett and Wood Waste signed a consent agreement and today I got a copy of said agreement. It's pretty pathetic, as far as agreements go, but it does smack of "let's do this meaningless thing while we wait for Newburyport to open the landfill and 8 weeks from now we'll revisit the thing and make it way more meaningful."

So I call someone else, who told me that the letters from Moak went out to the City Council yesterday, via U.S. mail.

Maybe they are registered letters?

So in this case, 2 plus 2 equals 50. That would be tons/week of C&D debris going somewhere until more can come here ... in about 8 weeks, maybe?

I called the mayor, but so far he has not called me back.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

CITY OF EVERETT BOARD OF HEALTH

AND

WOOD WASTE OF BOSTON, INC.

AGREEMENT


This agreement made this ____ day of March, 2009 by and between the City of Everett, a municipal corporation duly organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and located at 484 Broadway, Everett, Massachusetts 02149, acting by and through its Board of Health, hereinafter referred to as the “Board of Health,” and Wood Waste of Boston, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation having a usual place of business at 80-87 Boston Street, Everett, Massachusetts 02149 (hereinafter referred to as “Wood Waste”).

WHEREAS, Wood Waste operates a transfer facility (the “Facility”) in the City of Everett regulated by the Department of Environmental Protection (the “Department”); by agreement dated October 21, 2002 and a site assignment by the Board of Health on July 2000; and

WHEREAS, the Facility is licensed to store and process construction and demolition (“C&D”) material; and

WHEREAS, C&D material is approved by the Department as shaping and grading material for the final closure of landfills; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Health has received numerous complaints beginning when the piles exceed the twelve foot requirement in relation to odor and dust emanating the Facility; and

WHEREAS, the material at the Facility is designated for placement at a landfill in Newburyport (the “Landfill”); and

WHEREAS, the City of Newburyport has not authorized the increased amount of C&D material to be placed at the Landfill which has resulted in the piles of C&D material remaining at the Facility for a longer period of time than intended; and

WHEREAS, there is litigation pending in Suffolk Superior Court that is intended to resolve the question of the placement of the materials located at Wood Waste at the Landfill; and

WHEREAS, the parties desire to avoid the time and expense associated with litigation.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the following mutual agreements, the parties hereto agree as follows:

1) Wood Waste will continue to disperse odor-controlling agents at the Facility to keep H2S levels below industry guidance and will maintain personnel at the site to monitor odors from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Wood Waste will spray the piles daily to maintain dust control. The Board of Health will be provided with a schedule prior to the execution of this Agreement as to when the spraying will be conducted. Odor misting machines will be set up on the perimeter and will be disbursed as necessary in addition to the daily scheduled spraying. Street sweeping and water truck spraying will take place at least once per day and as needed to reduce dust. The Board of Health or its designee(s) are authorized to monitor the site at any given time to ensure the measures are being taken to control said odor and dust issues.

2) Wood Waste also agrees to monitor the air quality at the facility daily and will inform the Board of Health as to when the air quality monitoring is to be conducted. The Board of Health is authorized to be present at the testing.

3) Wood Waste agrees to process all new C&D material coming into the Facility and to ship same out on a weekly basis so that the piles will not expand.

4) Wood Waste agrees, upon execution of this agreement, to begin removing C & D materials, which are already on site and shall ship these C & D materials off-site so as to reduce the pile heights to twelve feet at a rate of no less than fifty (50) tons per week. Copies of the receipts of tonnage will be provided to the City each week.

5) Wood Waste and the City agree that at the conclusion of eight weeks, the parties will meet to discuss if fifty (50) tons per week will be increased. At no time will the minimum tonnage fall below fifty (50) tons per week.

6) Wood Waste agrees to comply with an agreement the Department regarding removing the piles if the agreement with the Department requires an amount of tonnage that exceeds the amount of tonnage per week in this agreement.

7) Wood Waste represents that the Department approved a site plan for construction of a new enclosed facility at the current Wood Waste site. Wood Waste has purchased land at 111 Boston Street (Adams Furniture) to modify its enclosed facility plans for a more environmentally friendly and efficient facility.

8) No later than March 13, 2009, Wood Waste agrees that it will submit the necessary plans of the new facility apply to the City for required approvals of the Boston Street/Route 16 Facility modifications for an enclosed facility to be constructed.

9) Upon receipt of approvals or recommended changes or conditions from the City, Wood Waste will submit the required applications and documents within (10) days to the Department.

10) The Board of Health is authorized to monitor the piles so that it is regulated in the manner set forth above to determine compliance with this Agreement.

11) The Board of Health agrees that it will not issue any orders under the provisions of any statutory or regulatory authority provided that Wood Waste is in compliance with this Agreement in relation to odor and dust issues specifically enumerated in this Agreement.

12) Prior to taking any steps to enforce this Agreement, the parties agree that they will give the alleged breaching party at least seven (7) days notice to cure said breach. If the breach continues, the Board, acting through the City Solicitor, may exercise its enforcement discretion and seek penalties in the Middlesex Superior Court up to the fullest extent of the law.

13) This Agreement shall be governed by, construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and ordinances of the City of Everett and the parties hereto submit to the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts courts for the adjudication of disputes arising out of this Agreement.

14) This agreement will terminate and shall be effective until a) the piles on the current Wood Waste facility are not exceeding twelve feet in height and b) the final applications and plans for the enclosed facility are submitted to the Department.

15) This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall constitute an original.

Signed on this ____ day of ____ 2009.

CITY OF EVERETT WOOD WASTE OF BOSTON, INC.
BOARD OF HEALTH

Anonymous said...

(5) How can the city increase the amount of waste to a site that is regulated by the DEP?

Gillian Swart said...

Because if our mayor opens the landfill up through an administrative consent order, there will be a specification of how much debris can be brought in.

And I believe New Ventures has filed an amendment with DEP to up the amount, in any case.