Pollution question rises in Milford ambulance site

Thursday, January 26, 2012

MILFORD – With a little more than six weeks to go before the town votes on a new ambulance building, plans have hit a snag.

Last week “a bit of petroleum” was found on the Cottage Street lot where the facility is planned, Town Administrator Guy Scaife told selectmen Monday night. Lab tests were scheduled to come back Jan. 25.

Plans call for a four-bay building at the 21 Cottage St., and voters will be asked to approve the plan on March 13. Town officials, including Ambulance Director Eric Schelberg, say the new building is badly needed, and selectmen have voted unanimously to support the $2.2 million proposal.

On Monday night they did not seem surprised or fazed by the news about the oil.

“The site served as storage for many decades,” said Scaife, with trucks coming and going.

If there is a problem, he said, the two options are for the landowner to clean up the contamination or for the town to choose a different site.

Choosing a new site is not an alarming prospect, he said, because the Facilities Committee reviewed several sites and could go on to its second or third choice.

“I hope people don’t get hung up on the address,” he said. “That is not a key element.”

Also, the town’s agreement with the landowner gives the town the right to back out of the deal if inspections of the site show it to be unsatisfactory, he said.

On Jan. 20 numerous samples were removed from the property and only one showed a problem, but “if it comes back clean, we still need to have the others tested,” Scaife said.

Selectman Kathy Bauer noted that the warrant article does not mention a site.

The board is inviting all residents to their meeting on Monday to talk about the warrant articles for the March 13 ballot.

The forum starts at 7 p.m. in the selectmen’s meeting room of Town Hall.