Marblehead still seeking contaminated property purchase agreement

MARBLEHEAD – With Town Meeting less than three weeks away, there is still no purchase agreement in sight on the landfill-contaminated property of Jeff Dinsmore, 57 Stony Brook Road.Director of Public Health Wayne Attridge told the Board of Health Tuesday night that purchase agreements have been given to three of the four contaminated properties the town has identified – 52, 55 and 56 Stony Brook Road for the owners’ signatures.The town is seeking $1.8 million at Town Meeting for the purchase and clean-up of two parcels, a vacant lot at 56 Stony Brook Road and a portion of a house lot at 55 Stony Brook Road, and an easement at 52 Stony Brook Road. The land-takings at 55 and 56 Stony Brook Road would become public land once the clean-up is finished.Attridge said he expected Town Administrator Tony Sasso and Town Counsel Lisa Mead to take the lead on the legal aspects of those articles at Town Meeting and Board of Health member Michelle Gottlieb volunteered to speak on behalf of the board.The town’s request for $1.2 million to purchase the home of Jeff Dinsmore at 57 Stony Brook Road and clean up the property may be headed for eminent domain, however.Dinsmore said two weeks ago that he was surprised to hear the town’s figures, which included an estimated $970,000 for the purchase of his home.The purchase passed at last year’s Town Meeting, with Dinsmore’s support, but failed in a debt exclusion override election a month later. Attridge said he did not expect the homeowner to speak this year.Meanwhile, the Capital Planning Committee is ready to endorse the Solid Waste Facility Committee’s proposed $15.1 million transfer station and landfill cap. Attridge toured the site with committee members last weekend.Committee Chairman Victor Wild spoke in favor of last year’s $22 million proposal, which also passed at Town Meeting but failed in an override election.The Solid Waste Facility Committee is preparing a Power Point presentation and one-page summary for their proposal, which is also supported by the Finance Committee.Town officials point out that if the town fails to cap its 60-year-old landfill, the subject of a 2004 state order, the town will face fines of $625,000 the first year and $730,000 after that until the state takes Marblehead to court and forces the town to cap the landfill.