Facebook page aims to save I-95 Saugus sand pile

SAUGUS – A Saugus woman started a Facebook page to help save the old I-95 road bed that?s become a fixture in East Saugus.Dawn Gaffney started “Save Rumney Marsh Leave the I95 Saugus Sandpile Alone” to rally neighbors and let them know about a plan to remove sand to restore Winthrop Beach.?I live on the marsh and we walk our dog every day, and the kids play up there all the time and we?d hate to see it go,” said Gaffney, whose backyard is made up of Rumney Marsh. “I?d like to see it kept the way it is. There?s deer up there, coyotes there and bunnies.”The Department of Conservation and Recreation has been meeting with the Saugus Conservation Commission since the summer to work out a plan to remove 350,000 cubic yards of sand from the roadbed, which was supposed to be part of a proposed I-95 extension in the 1970s.However, since the project was abandoned nearly 40 years ago, residents have grown attached to the sand pile, which they say acts as a barrier from Wheelabrator and Route 107 traffic.?A lot of neighbors agree,” said Gaffney. “Route 107 is noisy. Who wants to look at Wheelabrator with the stacks? When they move the earth around up there you can smell it.”Gaffney said neighbors in the area also use the sand pile for everything from hiking and playing with their dogs to hunting.So far the page has received 61 “likes” as supporters have posted photos and videos from the sand pile.?There are a lot of people that go up there; I watch them all day through my window,” she said. “The state says they?re going to make a nice park for us, but who knows if they?re going to run out of money? I just don?t see it as an answer. We enjoy it the way it is. It?s part of the neighborhood. I don?t want to see it gone.”The DCR will once again go before the Conservation Commission tonight, and Gaffney is hoping neighbors will pack the Town Hall Annex.Selectmen Chairman Michael Serino has been monitoring the project since the DCR proposed it last year. Serino said lawyers for the DCR and the town are looking at a 1989 care and control agreement to see who actually controls the land.The agreement, which is between Saugus and the state, states the roadbed “was found to be an effective flood tide protection barrier for adjoining communities.” It further states that following removal of sand for a Revere Beach restoration project, the state “further proposed to manage the embankment and associated marshland as a natural reservation similar to the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation.”Serino said if the town has any standing in the sand pile, then the neighbors wouldn?t want to see it removed. But if the town has no standing, Serino said the current proposal, which is to remove sand along the Eastern Avenue side of the pile, is the best option.?If the town doesn?t have any standing in regards to the care and control agreement, which after reading it I don?t think they have, then I think it?s the best project we can get for the neighborhood and most importantly the restoration of the marsh, which will increase flood capacity in the neighborhood,” said Serino.Tonight?s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Annex at 25 Main St.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].