A long-term problem for Clinton may be finally on the path to a resolution. The Town Council unanimously voted to move forward with an appropriation of $45,000 that will go toward capping the old landfill in town.

For years, the former town landfill located on Old Nod Road has sat vacant. According to Town Manager Karl Kilduff, the 9.2 acres of land was actively used between 1960 and 1979. However, progress may soon come to the site. At a council meeting on May 18, Kilduff told the Town Council that after the town issued a request for proposal seeking a firm to close the landfill, three proposals were submitted and one proposal stood out from the rest.

Under the proposal from Loureiro Engineering Associates, the town would pay $45,000 for soil boring tests. Because contractors generally have to pay to dispose of the type of fill used to cap the landfill, all other costs will be absorbed by Loureiro Engineering Associates. The money will be appropriated from an existing landfill capping account the town.

“Loureiro has had ample experience with this model, securing DEEP permitting approval, and working with municipalities to prepare their landfills for a beneficial re-use,” said Kilduff.

Kilduff elaborated to the Harbor News after the meeting on how the proposed work would be done after the soil boring is completed.

“Assuming the waste and subsurface conditions are favorable, then we would move to the next stage in the project to start a permitting process with the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) to cap the site and prepare it for a beneficial re-use.”

“The model would have the permitting expense and final capping expense absorbed by the contractor with the value of acceptable soils that would be brought to the site to provide a consistent and acceptable cap,” he continued.

Kilduff explained that the proposal by Lourerio was attractive because it allows the site to potentially be redeveloped.

“The proposal was creative and showed innovating thinking that allows the town to find some value in the site, which has sat idle for a number of years. The approach has been used by other communities in the state to cap their landfills as permitted by DEEP. The approach is a significant change in the cost assumptions the town was tracking against since 2014,” said Kilduff.

“An example of a beneficial re-use for the site could be a land lease for a solar farm. There has been interest in the solar market place to use the former landfill site, but the capping of the site was a large hurdle. If solar interest remains, the landfill could generate a revenue stream for the town,” Kilduff hypothesized.

The council unanimously voted to allow Kilduff to move forward with the proposal. Kilduff said that next steps are still being coordinated so that the boring tests could begin.

Since the landfill fell out of use the property has been the subject of occasional proposals and inquiry. The site was studied in hopes of finding a solution for the property most recently in 2014. The site has also been the proposed location of a failed bid to build an ice rink.