Happy Earth Day (again)!
My post today earlier today about “living shorelines” may have made you feel all warm and earth-fuzzy. You might even be motivated to take a walk at some open space in town.
Great! Just avoid part of Baron’s South.
Alert “06880” reader/local activist Morley Boyd recently noticed that 1,000 or so yards of construction material — from the recent Senior Center modernization project — have been dumped in the southwest meadow.
Morley Boyd took this photo — and outlined the approximate footprint of the excavated fill at Baron’s South.
It includes, he says, both fill and demolition debris: rusty pipes, sharp metal objects, chunks of concrete and asphalt, plastic garbage bags, shattered plastic containers, rubber tires, bricks and more.
Morley says that trapped, standing water at the rear of the dump area abuts residential property. He sees “considerable evidence” of soil erosion across the top section of raw, unprotected construction rubble and fill.
Debris in the Baron’s South landfill. The Senior Center is on the right. (Photos/Morley Boyd)
He also believes that a number of mature trees were removed from the site, to accommodate what he says is a grade raised by 5 or 6 feet.
Morley wonders why the material was placed there, whether it has been tested, when it will be removed, and where it will go. He has written to town officials, and awaits a response.