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SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

December 7, 2012

Judge sticks with ruling on Salem transfer station

By Bethany BraySTAFF WRITER

---- SALEM A Superior Court judge has stuck with his original ruling against the citys hopes to

reconstruct and expand the transfer station on Swampscott Road.

This fall, Essex County Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead threw out a 2009 ruling by the Salem Board

of Health, which approved an agreement between the city and its trash hauler, Northside Carting, to redevelop

the site.

The city and Northside Carting later filed a motion for reconsideration.

This week, Whitehead stood by the decision he made in September to throw out the ruling. If the city were to

make another move, it would be to take an appeal to the state Appeals Court, said Carl Goodman, the lawyer

for the plaintiffs.

That was the second bite of the apple, and the same result (happened), Goodman said. From our perspective

its a victory for public health. ... Its my hope that rather than belaboring this issue, the various political figures in

town get together to come up with a beneficial use for that parcel.

Mayor Kim Driscoll was traveling yesterday and could not be reached for comment.

In past interviews, she has called Northside Cartings proposed redevelopment of the site a solution, because the

North Andover-based company would pay for cleanup for which the city would otherwise be on the hook.

Goodman represents a group of residents who live in the immediate vicinity of the transfer site, he said. The main

plaintiff is Arthur Theophilopoulos, owner of Young World Academy, a day care center and preschool.

Northside Carting has leased the Swampscott Road site and operated a trash facility there since 2002.

The city-owned property has been a trash facility since the 1960s. The city faces pressure from the Department

of Environmental Protection, which determined the site was not properly capped and needs more than $1 million

in cleanup work.

Northside Carting had proposed to buy the property from the city, complete the DEP-mandated cleanup and

build a new facility that would allow the company to increase the average daily amount of material trucked to the

site from 100 to 400 tons.

The transfer station currently handles construction and demolition debris. Northside Cartings redevelopment

proposal would have allowed municipal waste from area communities to be trucked in.

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The plaintiffs, headed by Theophilopoulos, raised concerns about the expansions impact on the neighborhood,

including increased truck traffic. They filed their first appeal in March 2010.

This proposal was, in our opinion, both not in the interest of public health, and not in the best interest of the

neighborhood, Goodman said.

Goodman and attorneys for the city and Northside Carting made oral arguments regarding the motion for

reconsideration a couple of weeks ago, Goodman said. Whitehead made his decision on Dec. 4.

This weeks ruling means that whatever takes place at that site will have to be done through a proper, lawful

procedure, Goodman said. Hopefully, that means it will be something thats appropriate for the neighborhood

and consistent with the requirements of Massachusetts law.

Several city councilors were also against Northside Cartings proposal. Any sale of property would have to be

approved by the City Council.

Driscoll has been working on the transfer station issue almost since taking office in 2006. The city faces heavy

potential fines for the long delay cleaning up this polluted property, which was the city incinerator from 1963 to

1968.

Bethany Bray can be reached at bbray@salemnews.com and on Twitter @SalemNewsBB.