Peabody council decides to move forward with pond cleanup plans

PEABODY – City Councilors joined forces with members of the Friends of Peabody Lakes last week to take one giant step toward cleaning up both Crystal Lake and Elginwood Pond.”We have two choices,” said Assistant Director of Community Development Blair Haney, offering that either the city move forward at the current project cost of $2.5 million, or continue to look at ways to complete the task at a much lower price.The Council unanimously decided that the city has waited long enough and the best bet was to move forward. In their decision, councilors asked Mayor Michael Bonfanti to borrow a total of $1.8 million in conjunction with using $700,000 currently available from the state and including $300,000 in Community Preservation Act funds.Efforts to remove weeds and sediment from both ponds officially began in 1997 when permits were put in place. Since then, the city has spent roughly $100,000 in state aid to conduct various studies on the two bodies of water and discover which clean-up method would work best, meanwhile conditions at both bodies of water worsened.”So, there has been 17 years of progress,” quipped Councilor Dave Gravel. “I would have thought all the studies would have been completed by now, but I guess not.”The plan now is to use hydraulic dredging with a belt press dewatering technique. If everything is in order and the funding is provided, Haney said the project has the potential to be finished in two years.”Given that this has been so many years in the making and has only a 2-year plan?we as a committee should set a goal to have things done by,” said Gravel, urging those involved to set a deadline for each aspect of the project or else it may never get done. “It’d be like saying, maybe we should go to the moon someday.”Councilor Barry Sinewitz expressed his doubts that Bonfanti would ever agree to bond for the large amount of money, given the state of the local, state and federal economy. He said the chances would be “slim to none.”Councilor Michael Garabedian, however, remained optimistic.”I know there are other priorities, but this is also a priority,” he said. “There’s no sense in waiting. We know it needs to be done.”