Southington Hires Landscaper For Old Superfund Site

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Town officials only had one bid to take care of landscaping at an old federal superfund site in town, so it unanimously voted 8-0 to accept their bid earlier this month.

As a result, the Southington Town Council July 11 hired SM Landscaping and Lawn Care out of Plantsville to take care of lawn maintenance at the 11.8-acre old Southington landfill site.

Southington Public Works Director Annette Turnquist said the town had hired SM before for prior lawn maintenance and snow removal work, but the town's public works now handles those duties.

They don't, however, handle landscaping and lawn maintenance at the superfund site off Old Turnpike Road, Turnquist said at the July 11 council meeting.

As result, SM will handle lawn care for about $350 per cutting and SM visits would be determined by town public works staff, Turnquist said.

"That's a very good price," Turnquist said in response to a council question on the cost. "Even though it was one bid, it was a decent price."

Councilman Tom Lombardi did lament the lack of any other firms looking to do the work.

"It's a little disappointing that we only had one bidder," he said.

The site was an operational landfill from 1920 to 1967, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Upon its closure in the late 1960s, much of the site was sold for residential and commercial development.

But in the 1970s, environmental issues linked to what was dumped there, including various types of chemicals, creeped up and prompted federal and state officials to intervene.

By 1984, the EPA made the site a Superfund site and mandated its cleanup and remediation.

Over time, contaminants were taken out, the landfill was capped and by 2018, the site was no longer a superfund site, according to the EPA.

The town, however, still has to monitor the site and, occasionally, oversee any upkeep there.

For the federal EPA report on the old Southington landfill site, click on this link.

For a State of Connecticut report on the site, click on this link.

For the minutes of the July 11 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.