Beverly To Hold Public Meeting On Varian Site Contamination

BEVERLY, MA — An update and look at the next steps on the assessment and cleanup of the former Varian site at 150 Sohier Road will be held next week in the dining hall of the Shore Country Day School.

The Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment Addendum will be presented that describes the current understanding of site conditions, including the chemicals that were released, whether those chemicals may have moved into the soil, groundwater, surface water or the air, and how those chemicals may risk human health and the environment.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. for the in-person meeting, which can also be streamed online using Microsoft Teams here. Those in attendance will also be able to talk with project staff one-on-one.

The project team in charge of the assessment will then deliver a presentation on the study at 6:30 p.m. time for questions to follow.

Varian has been charged with cleaning up the hazardous chemical site for 30 years with high levels of groundwater chemicals still detected in some locations on the property.

Varian created a website here to update residents and area businesses on the ongoing status of cleanup efforts.

The Nov. 9 meeting is part of its requirement through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to conduct new testing of the site this summer and report back those results to the city and residents this fall.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)