Marblehead Transfer Station Plan Starts With Traffic Homework

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Wednesday's joint meeting of the Marblehead Board of Health and the Transfer Station Facility Committee set the stage for the planning phase of the $1.65 million transfer station overhaul but did little to address neighbors' concerns about the traffic impact of a new access point to the station.

The meeting, which was more about scheduling than debate on the station, included a directive to those on the committees to read a 109-page traffic study and two-page addendum on how the access changes will affect the residents of Green Street, Arnold Terrace and Woodfin Terrace neighborhoods.

The findings of that traffic study will presumably be discussed at the next meeting.

"We do have a very large report that we need to review and that will allow us to move on the next phase," Marblehead Director of Public Health Andrew Petty said. "Really the first thing is going to be the traffic study and then we can move on to the design.

"The entrance and egress is dictated by the traffic study and this committee has to make a recommendation to the Board which direction they think traffic should flow onto the site."

While the traffic study appears to indicate the infrastructure in the Green Street area can handle the added trucks, residents have expressed concerned about the pollution and quality-of-life issues that come with trucks idling outside of their homes early in the mornings and throughout the day.

"There will be more diesel traffic heading into the station to use the yard waste dump in spring and summer, and that increased traffic will coincide with precisely the time of year when abutting residents would be choosing to leave their windows open," Arnold Terrace resident David Lieberman said in a letter to the Board of Health that was provided to Patch and that was read aloud at Wednesday's meeting.

Petty said that while there is no timetable for approving the designing and beginning construction, he noted there is a cost increase that comes with the longer it takes to complete the project.

"I would say our biggest concern is escalation at this point," Petty said. "There's a 9 percent increase in escalation for construction every year and we only have limited funds. We need to get this through the traffic study, get that agreed to and then get to work on the design.

"The longer we wait the more money it's going to cost us."

The Marblehead Board of Health in April pulled two town meeting warrants requesting a $6 million override to fund a new transfer station in favor of exploring the "Plan B" proposal that could cost about a quarter of that total but will redirect traffic to the alternative access points on Green Street and Arnold Terrace.

The second proposal, it was said at the time, would cost about $1.5 million and would not require a town meeting vote for a tax override at a time when the schools were pursuing a $3 million general override — which then overwelmingly failed a townwide vote in June — and warning that the town is facing a general override in 2023 to address what have been called systemic financial issues.

(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.)