Medfield Residents Concerned of Hazardous Waste, Pollution at Medfield State Hospital Site

The Medfield State Hospital has been closed for eight years but there have been “health hazards” on the site for “decades,” according to Medfield resident John Harney.

Harney, a former Medfield selectman, has lived in town for 46 years and has been very involved in discussions and meetings about the reuse of the Medfield State Hospital site.

At the June 7 Board of Selectmen meeting, Harney expressed his concerns about the site to DCAM Commissioner Carole Corneilson, who attended the meeting for a Q&A discussion with the selectmen about the former state hospital property.

Corneilson told the selectmen she felt DCAM had done the bulk of the clean up needed at the site and assured that DCAM was “committed to an adequate clean up” of the pollution found.

When the floor opened up for public comment, Harney was first to speak.

“I don’t think DCAM has been doing all that must be done,” Harney said to Corneilson regarding the pollution at the site.

Harney said DCAM has been asked on more than one occasion to look at the fields that have been identified with pollution and to look at the “old sewer beds along the Charles River.”

Tests have shown VOCs in the Charles River landfill site and SHERC chairman John Thompson said that has “not been dealt with.” Another concern Harney expressed to Corneilson was the condition of the buildings on the property and the health hazards those buildings have become.

“DCAM needs to go into the buildings,” Harney said. “That’s important because there’s a large neighborhood up there and there can be air-born asbestos. The health hazards that are up there have been there for decades.”

Corneilson agreed with Harney, saying she thinks DCAM “certainly needs to take a look a the buildings.”

Bill Massaro, Medfield resident and abutter for 35 years to the state hospital property was “encouraged” to hear Corneilson’s support of looking at the current shape of the buildings but emphasized Harney’s point about the health risks those facilities impose.

“It is very disconcerting if you were to walk the property and read the signs that are on the buildings when they were closed as a result of the 1998 order,” Massaro said. “Essentially it said: ‘Do not enter’ warnings; ‘serious health risks’; ‘warning, contamination,’ and others of that nature.”

Massaro said the condition of the buildings made him wonder what kind of health hazards could be coming into the neighborhood of “about 200 homes” and that is a concern.

“To see holes in roofs, windows missing, certainly not in every building but in the majority of the buildings and you have to wonder, given the nature of the asbestos and lead paint that was found in buildings condemned uninhabitable and development of serious mold issues, what kind of asbestos could be [coming] through the neighborhood,” he said. “We’re concerned of hazard and health risks from the property getting to the neighborhood.”

Corneilson said DCAM has spent $10 million on investigation and mitigation of the pollution and clean-up issues at the state hospital site but that doesn't mean the issues have been addressed.

“That doesn’t mean we have handled everything that needs to be handled,” she said.

Corneilson said the issues and concerns brought up during the June 7 discussion would be “looked at" and communicated wit the selectmen.

The commissioner did raise a concern of her own regarding the health hazards at the site and the amount of foot traffic the property gets from people.

“I know that various people in town, so I’ve been told, are in and out of the property and there are actually a couple of farms on the property,” she said. “We’re concerned should they be on the property at all with the unknowns out there.”

Selectman chair Osler “Pete” Peterson responded to Corneilson’s concern.

“The town is very appreciative of the fact that [former DCAM] Commissioner [Dave] Perini allowed [the site] to be opened,” he said. “It was closed when they were making Martin Scorsese’s movie, ‘Shutter Island’ and then it didn’t get reopened after that but Mr. Perini got that back for the town. He was holding quarterly meetings just to update the town on the status and was asked at one of the meeting to open it back up and he did. The farmer rents the property.”

The town’s concerns regarding clean up of pollution at the state hospital site were drafted by Town Administrator Michael Sullivan and Town Counsel Mark Cerel and presented to Corneilson.

Town’s Concerns Regarding Clean-Up of Pollution:

• Charles River landfill site still needs to be fully addressed and the town understands additional tests are being made to assess the extent of pollution and the best way to abate it. Given its proximity to a public water supply, the town hopes that this will include adequate assurances of protection of this valuable water resource. Corneilson responded to the town’s concern saying she “will look into it” and assured the town of “an adequate cleanup.”
• Clean up on some areas of the sites may take many years. Will development of the site proceed simultaneously with this clean-up and how will coordination between DCAM, DCR and the selected private developer on clean up be handled? Corneilson said it “depends on toxicity of find” at the site.
• Given the accelerated deterioration of the Odyssey House and its location adjacent to public recreational fields, would DCAM be willing to include the demolition of this building in its clean up of the site? Corneilson said it would be “a consideration” and would have to look into that before she could answer.

DCAM will work on its final phase of the clean up this summer and is expected to file its final report of its findings and the status of the site at summer’s end, which could be late August or early September.