First proposed several years ago due to one resident’s appeals to the, then town. The proposal has re-emerged, and proponents hope that the opposition to the plan is less feverous. Neighbors then, didn’t want to open their back yards up to public use, the already polluted wetlands, at risk, and with drug addicted vagrants living in hermit encampments on the property, there were inherent dangers to the public.
It appears however – this time – the city wants to act on this proposal and create a cut through from DTF to Mellen and Cypress Streets, going as far as encouraging the use of the facility with at least 22 parking spaces.
Several properties between Cedar and Mellen Streets were acquired in the 1970’s with the intention of building a school. The wetlands were to be filled, but the subsequent passage of the Wetlands Protection Act, made that plan an impossibility as the filling of wetlands was prohibited.
In 2015 an adjacent property at 618 Waverly Street was taken by the city in a tax title taking. This property was combined with an adjoining City owned parcel and then reconfigured into 2 parcels 618 and 618R Waverly, with the 618 parcel being sold at auction.
The city had entered into a license with Pao Brazil owner Delio Lopes, for a mere dollar, for the parking of vehicles for a term of three years, which ran from Dec 1, 2019 – Dec 1, 2022. This allowed for the parking of customer vehicles on City land. Pao Brazil was responsible for maintaining the land. It appears, that the area used by the bakery for parking, will be used for the construction of parking for the swamp trail.
The improvements at the Cedar Swamp are reflected in the 2019 Master Plan for the City, and therefore are a priority of this administration to see completed. The Master Plan design includes constructing a park area at the northern end of the Conservation Area near Waverly Street with a boardwalk through the wetlands connecting to the trail system in the southern portion of the Conservation Area near Cypress Street.
Under Spicer, in 2020, preliminary borings were drilled to test the soil structure for the placement of boardwalk pilings, and in these tests, it was found the swamp was contaminated with arsenic, antimony, cadmium, chromium, barium, zinc, mercury, and lead… and several other lesser known toxins.
This finding was kept secret from the public, until in Fall of 2021 when FU broke the news. FU learned about DEP filings made earlier in the spring and obtained emails between then Mayor Spicer and then COO Thatcher Kezer.
FU only figured out that something was up, when temporary and then permanent fencing was put up around the park entrances, and a small area well within the park. The emails below are just a handful of hundreds available via the PDF titled “2021-2126 Cedar Woods-TWK.pdf” or accessible via our FOIA response.
It is our understanding that the contamination was known as early as early April 2020, when the testing was being performed. But no filing was made until early in 2021. Additionally, the public or the neighborhood affected was not alerted until FU alerted them.
Due to the filings to the DEP, on May 21, 2021, deadlines for further filings are now required. A Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment Report is due by May 21, 2024. A Phase III Remedial Action Plan and a Phase IV Remedy Implementation Plan is due by May 21, 2025.
The City is going to use cost benefit analyses to push for the plan to redevelop the Cedar Swamp into a recreational park using the justification below:
“The Phase II Report is a comprehensive assessment of the environmental conditions and risks at the site that is required regardless of the planned use of the property and is mostly independent of the desired future use of the property. The information collected during the Phase II investigation, along with the desired future uses of the property, will guide which remedial alternatives will be included in the Phase III and Phase IV Reports. It is usually more efficient and cost effective to integrate the remediation of the site with the desired improvements of the properties.”
North is to the left on these maps. Click to enlarge them.
