Residents turn out for information on local clean-up

Members of the Skaneateles community had a chance to speak their minds Wednesday May 13 during the first hamlet meeting since 2005.
The informal setting was held at American Legion Post 317 in Skaneateles Falls where residents were joined by local officials as well as representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Department of Health and the district’s own Assemblyman Will Barclay.
Supervisor Phil Tierney told a small but eager group that he was anxious to hear their feedback on town issues.
“I’d like to acknowledge Bill Pavlus, my predecessor, who started some of these hamlet meetings,” Tierney said.
However, Pavlus would not take credit for the initial meetings when he was supervisor because it was an idea brought to him from residents at the time.
Tierney said that whoever came up with the idea, “it was a good one.”
With four items on the agenda for feedback purposes, the community was asked how they felt about assessments and taxes.
“Everybody’s happy with the taxes,” Tierney said when no one spoke, and he received a group-wide “no” as a response.
According to Tierney, the town has hired a new assessor, Ron Miller, whereas the assessor was previously an elected position. Some residents may have met with Miller, and, depending on the situation, have had a good or bad experience, Tierney said.
“I met with Mr. Miller and he was very congenial,” said Deborah Durr of Mottville. “I give a plus to Mr. Miller and the rest of the tax department.”
In respect to performance of government services at the town, state and federal level, residents again got quiet and the board moved on to discussion about the closing of the Honeywell facility on Visions Drive, just up the street from where the meeting took place.
According to Tierney, the town has received another notice of layoffs and appears to be getting down to the core employees. Questions were asked regarding the sale of the facility.
“I guess it’s up to Honeywell if they want to sell,” Barclay said.
There also is no indication at this point as to the impact on the tax base once the facility is completely shut down.
After discussing some concerns residents have for things happening in their own back yards — such as clean up of certain properties in the neighborhoods and what is going to happen with deteriorated and run down buildings — the board moved on to the one item many residents seemed to turn out to learn more about.
State DEC project engineer John Grathwol provided information on the cleanup of the Stauffer Management and Astra Zeneca Pharmaceutical site, a clean up effort that has going on for too long according to some community members.
Grathwol said that although the state doesn’t work at light speed, there has been quite a bit of progress at the site in terms of soil remediation and closing of ponds and lagoons. More than 500,000 tons of contaminated soil has been removed from the site.
A report on the site is currently in DEC review, in which the state department reviews what has been done and what else needs to be completed in order for the site to be considered a Class 4, meaning it has reached total remediation.
“The state cannot ask Stauffer to do anything the state wouldn’t do,” Grathwol said. “It can’t ask them to spend $1 billion when the state can’t spend $20 million.”
According to Grathwol, Stauffer Management has been very diligent in working to clean up the site, along with the DEC, which has taken several ground water and soil samples in the areas both within the facility’s boundaries and in the surrounding areas.
The site at one time was listed as one of the top 50 most contaminated sites and it has since been removed from the list.
However, due to a mistake in permitting, a section of the property did not receive a record closure. Because of it, Stauffer recognized the problem and took action to take more measures to remediate, Grathwol said.
“If it’s been approved by the DEC, how can you tell them to do more?” Pavlus questioned.
According to Grathwol, there are certain areas from the previous investigation into the site that need more remediation. The fenced in area on Jordan Road in Skaneateles Falls is mostly what is left in the clean up process.
There is no indication that any chemicals have in the past or are currently migrating across the road from the site, he said.
Residents expressed concern for what might go on the site once the remediation is complete. According to Grathwol, that decision would be up to Stauffer and the town.
There is a groundwater treatment facility there, and questions about changing it over to a sanitary sewage treatment facility were asked.
“The insides are different than the sanitary sewers,” Grathwol said, adding that it’s possible the building could house a sewage facility, but the parts inside would have to be changed out.
Grathwol said he believes more than 90 percent of the project is completed.
“It’s my opinion that a lot of this is done,” he said.
Richard Jones, a public health specialist with the Department of Health, also spoke during the meeting and focused much of his attention on the Charlie Major Nature Trail, which had come under the scrutiny of state departments when arsenic was found along the trail.
“Arsenic was the primary contaminant. In some areas we did find some lead,” Jones said.
The lead was found on private property. The health department’s main concern was the level of arsenic and they are not sure where it came from.
However, the trail once was an old railroad bed and in the early days of train travel, coal would be tossed out as the train made its way down the tracks. Arsenic has been found along rail beds in many other locations and seems associated with almost every rail bed in the country, Jones said.
Arsenic levels can also be attributed to railroad ties, natural breakdown of the materials used to construct the railroad and also infestation control.
To care for the Charlie Major Nature Trail, the health department, DEC and the town are collaborating to reduce exposure by putting down a barrier.
“Arsenic is not volatile. It’s not going to come up through the ground. It’s not going to turn into a vapor,” Jones said, adding that there are routes of exposure, which is how people would come in contact with the arsenic.
The idea is to “sever that route of exposure” by putting down a layer of stone dust or other material to keep people from coming in contact with the contaminant. Tierney said Highway Superintendent Jim Card is already planning to implement the maintenance of the trail into the duties of the highway department.
The board has not announced when the next hamlet meeting will take place.

CATEGORY: Government
TAGS: Stauffer, environment, hamlet, meeting, DEC, health department
EDITION: Skaneateles Press

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