Dedham Officials: We Wouldn't Want To Live Near Striar Property

DEDHAM, MA — Four of the five parks and recreation commissioners admitted Tuesday to residents they wouldn't want to live near the Striar property — which is being contracted out to landscaping companies for storage, material crushing, and sifting. The work at the town-owned woodlands behind Capen Lane has led to residents complaining of noise, poor air quality from dust, and too many trees being knocked down.

The parks commission has managed the property since 2001, and has allowed the Department of Public Works to store fill at the property for several years without any issues from neighbors. Starting in 2016, the commission approved allowing private companies to contract the land for storage and some construction work, bringing in revenue to the commission, which has since been moved to Dedham's general fund after Monday's town meeting.

The once one-acre construction site is now about 3.8 acres, and over the last several months, construction work has intensified causing problems for those neighboring the property. Several neighbors said they were upset no one was notified prior to the contracts being approved.

"Somewhere when it went from 1 acre to 3.8 acres of land, we should have let neighbors know when we went over that first acre," Commissioner Chair Jon Briggs said.

The commission highlighted several actions they started or plan on taking to mitigate some of the issues abutters have raised. Briggs said one of the large blue crushing machines is no longer at the site and another machine was removed, which the commission hopes will limit some of the noise at the property. Also with the site now exceeding an acre, the town is required to apply for a stormwater pollution prevention plan permit, given the site's proximity to wetlands. The commission said its also ramping up the use of chemicals on some of the dirt piles to keep dust from coming into the neighborhood. Dirt piles will also be moved farther back.

Several residents have complained of bad air quality since the construction intensified at Striar. One resident said its gotten so bad, she can't sit outside on her front porch anymore.

"I’ve been pretty much a prisoner of my home...," Karen Palumbo said, who suffers from asthma."I can't open my windows. I can't even work in my gardens." Karen Palumbo said regarding the dust and air quality.

She asked if any air quality testing had been done; the commission said there hasn't been any, but the commission is going to do whatever the town's conservation commission tells it to in addition to the permits and moving back the dirt piles.

"This is something we’re not taking lightly, we know it affects you," Briggs said.

Palumbo went on to ask each member of the commission if they would be okay living near Striar under these conditions. Four of five of the commissioners said no. The only one who said yes was Chuck Dello Iacono, who said he lived across the street from the middle school when it was demolished.

"You're more than 1,000 feet away from where the construction is going on," he said. "I was about 300 feet away when the middle school construction was going on."

Several residents interjected arguing it wasn't relevant to Palumbo's question, but Dello Iacono argued it was because its a buffer zone that can be compared.

The conservation commission meets at 7 p.m., Thursday to give recommendations regarding construction at the Striar property.