Danvers Scraps Plan To Store Contaminated Soil At Pope's Landing

DANVERS, MA -- The city said Tuesday it no longer plans to store arsenic-contaminated soil removed from brown Pond at Pope's Landing. The city will instead store the soil at 7 Canal Street, land the town had purchased as a possible location for its new DPW facility. The decision came less than 24 hours after more than 60 residents who opposed the town's plan to store the waste at an overflow parking lot at Pope's Landing attended a meeting Monday.

The new plan is expected to set the DPW facility project by at least a year. Under the now scrapped plan, soil would have been temporarily stored at Pope's Landing where it would be tested and eventually removed once the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determines where it should be disposed of.

At Monday's meeting, Town Manager Steve Bartha conceded that plan was "the best of bad options." But that didn't sit well with Priscilla Herrick and other residents who live near the proposed site. "The solution isn’t to move it. Find a spot away from people, even if it costs more," Herrick said.

In 2011 the EPA issued a report showing high arsenic levels from a former tannery on the property near Ash and Purchase Streets that is now owned by the town. This past winter the soil was stored at Plains Park on Conant Street, but the town is seeking to move the soil now that spring recreation season has started

Danvers was rejected by the state with its request to store the soil on state-owned property in Danvers.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).