DEP signs off on Saugus landfill closure; project complete

SAUGUS – Town Manager Andrew Bisignani received another shot of good news regarding the Main Street landfill closure: the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has also signed off on the closure making it officially a done deal.Bisignani said he received a copy of the Certification of Closure for the Main Street Landfill, issued by the MADEP from Camp Dresser and McKee (CDM), which oversaw the project.”This signifies the completion of the Main Street Landfill Closure Project and its compliance with all MADEP requirements,” wrote CDM Project Manager Daniel Guglielmi in a letter to Bisignani.The letter came on the heels of a favorable report on the landfill’s enterprise account. Selectman Stephen Horlick requested an audit last year after he discovered what he believed to be a shortfall in the account. According to the report, there was no fiscal misconduct and everything balanced out as it should have.Bisignani said both reports, the fiscal audit as well as the notice from MADEP on actual closure, came as a huge relief in that it is one more project that can be considered completed.The town began the closure proceedings for the landfill in 2002. Clean fill from the Big Dig project in Boston was delivered from April 2003 to January 2005 to shape and cap what has become a small mountain behind the Department of Public Works building. As it moves into the post-closure phase, Guglielmi said annual environmental monitoring and maintenance will be required to make sure the integrity of the landfill is preserved.”In accordance with MADEP Solid Waste regulation 310 CMR 19.142, this period ‘shall extend for a minimum of 30 years,’ unless otherwise approved,” Guglielmi wrote.Town Moderator Robert Long said the results of the landfill audit didn’t surprise him and he, too, was relieved by the fact that MADEP signed off on the project.Long said if there was any fault with the landfill he thought it was with the prediction of how the closure would play out rather than with the end product.The project was started under former Town Manager Stephen Angelo, who at one point thought the town would install playing fields on top of the closed landfill. That plan was quickly nixed but there has been some exploration by at least two separate groups about the possibility of installing windmills or solar heating panels atop the mesa-like landfill.”Often the best laid plans never come true,” Long said. “It’s closed, it’s over and done. At least we were able to keep open an area for recycling and composting.”