ILLEGAL DUMP GETTING CLEANED

0 Comments | Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass., Jun 25, 2010 | by Maribeth Conway

NORWELL

An illegal dump at the Norwell Highway Department yard is finally getting cleaned up this month after 10 years of complaints from neighbors.

Since early June, 18-wheel trucks have been hauling 30 to 40 truckloads of construction and road debris out of the yard’s Main Street entrance each work day, removing more than 9,000 cubic yards of guardrails, culverts and asphalt, which sat within feet of wetlands.

The junk pile reached up to 30 feet high and was bordered by wetlands on three sides.

Norwell’s Wildcat Creek runs alongside the 32 acres of land and flows into Third Herring Brook.

Neighbor Don Mauch saw trees dying around his property and feared the dump would further encroach on wetlands. His family also worried about the runoff into the creek.

“We’re thrilled; we worked so hard to get this done. Norwell is the winner,” Mauch said.

Mauch first approached the conservation commission in December 1999, a few months after he moved into his Main Street home.

Despite his complaint over the dumping ground, the pile seemed to grow, Mauch said. He didn’t let up and in December 2004, he got the commission’s backing.

The commission demanded an explanation from the highway department and stated that no further dumping was to take place until the situation was sorted out.

In August 2005, after a reminder notice from the commission, two extensions and a visit from a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection official, the highway department offered a plan for cleanup – removal of the debris, revegetation and the placement of a 200-foot buffer for Wildcat Creek.

The next step was finding the money
junk removal