COURTESY PHOTO
Wheelabrator Saugus.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — Alliance for Health & the Environment, a coalition of environmental organizations and public officials, has requested a Special Town Meeting for Monday, Feb. 6 to amend bylaws related to ash landfills.
The group is opposed to the expansion of Wheelabrator Saugus, an energy-from-waste facility that provides disposal of up to 1,500 tons per day of waste from 10 Massachusetts communities.
https://newitemlive.wpengine.com/news/saugus-weighing-special-meeting/
Chairwoman Debra Panetta said calling the meeting is “purely an administrative obligation of the Board of Selectmen under Mass General Law.”
“It is the obligation of the Board of Selectmen to call a Special Town Meeting if we receive 200 signatures,” she said. “There were 451 certified signatures sent to the Board of Selectmen. I checked to make sure they were certified.”
The Alliance requested the board call a meeting to address three articles. If approved by Town Meeting, definitions will be added to the town’s zoning bylaws for “ash,” “landfill” and “ash landfill.” An addition would be made to the Environmental Performance Standards section that restricts the elevation of a landfill to 50 feet above mean sea level.
“No new landfill or new ash landfill shall be established in or adjacent to an Area of Critical Environmental Concern and no existing landfill or ash landfill shall be expanded in or adjacent to an Area of Critical Environmental Concern.”
The third article would alter the Table of Use Regulations under Zoning By-Laws, Article V, Section 5.6, by adding the principal use “landfill/ash landfill” as a line item under Wholesale Transportation and Industrial.
“It kind of bothers me we have to have a Special Town Meeting for this when three months later we’re going to have a regular Town Meeting,” said Town Meeting member Bill Brown. “Why not put it on the warrant for regular Town Meeting?”
Having an additional meeting is an extra cost for taxpayers, Brown said.
“I think the health of the residents of Saugus trumps that,” said Town Meeting member Brian Costin. “One of the highest structures in Saugus is an ash pile — that’s terrible. Here in Saugus that’s what we have to be proud of — the height of the ash pile.”
The Alliance, founded in May 2016, focuses on raising awareness about impacts of waste incineration and associated ash disposal activities, reducing pollution associated with waste incineration and ash disposal, and promoting environmental justice for communities impacted by waste incineration and ash disposal, according to its website.
This isn’t the first time the issue has gone before Town Meeting. In 2003, the town attempted to restrict the height of the ash pile and other landfills to 40 feet. But the court overturned the decision in 2005, calling it an “impermissible attempt to regulate a solid waste disposal facility.”
“We were certain that that amendment was outside of the law,” said James Connolly, Wheelabrator vice president of environmental health and safety. “Massachusetts land court confirmed that amendment was unlawful. These amendments are really counterproductive.”
Connolly said he hoped the town would “avoid a lengthy and unnecessary repeat.”
Panetta, who was a Town Meeting member at that time, said she believes the reason the court did not rule in the town’s favor was because the article set a 40-foot limitation when state regulations allowed 50.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.