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02/24/2021 07:00 AMIt’s a sorry sight indeed. Sitting on the corner of Montowese and Meadow streets is the Atlantic Wire graveyard, once described as one of the worst-polluted sites in our state. The property owner and developer are battling out their differences in court. Meanwhile, the public is left with demolition debris piles consisting of concrete brick and other unknown substances, the land is covered with overgrown brush and the fences are falling down.
In late fall of 2019, an epidemiologist for the Connecticut Department of Public Health noted that if windblown “fugitive dust,” from the debris piles migrates off site, it is against Department of Energy & Environmental Protection regulations and the piles should be covered. Following that correspondence, the RTM Democrats wrote the first selectman requesting the piles be covered due to a potential health hazard to Branford residents. The piles were not covered.
A citizen’s petition was filed by more than 50 residents who complained about the debris piles and the unknown content of the piles. The petition was heard by the RTM Administrative Services Committee. The committee unanimously approved a motion to request the first selectman to ask the owner to cover the piles. Instead, the piles were hydro-seeded. At the December 2020 RTM meeting, a motion was adopted to, once again, request the owner to cover the piles. At a January 2021 Board of Selectmen meeting, the first selectman reported that the owner will not cover the piles.
Here we are in 2021, more than a year later; we do not have test results, the piles remain uncovered, hydro-seeding did nothing, and Branford residents are still wondering about unknown and/or potential health hazards in the remaining piles. We remained concerned. The residents of Branford deserve better.
Tracy Everson
Tom Brockeet
Branford
Tracy Everson (D) serves as a 5th District RTM representative; Tom Brockett (D) serves as a 7th District RTM representative.