Politics & Government

Thursday's State Hospital Meeting Critical to Future of Medfield

Residents are advised to attend Thursday's public meeting with DCAM to support the town's effort to have the state hospital site completely removed of hazardous materials.

Editor’s note: Thursday’s Public Involvement Participation meeting with DCAM will be held in the Chenery Room of Town Hall (second floor) from 7 to 9 p.m.

The has been ; but it is what happens next with the property that will have a lasting impact on the town.

“Whatever is done up there … the state hospital is going to change the whole town,” said Tom Sweeney Jr., member of the Board of Assessors, who was on the State Hospital and State Hospital Preservation Committees in the 80s.

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Determining what happens on the approximately 225-acre property is incumbent upon the extent of cleanup the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) is willing to complete.

The problem? The on the level of remediation needed for the site.

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Locked in a stalemate with the state agency over the extent of cleanup needed for reuse of the property, the town is strongly urging its residents to attend Thursday’s Public Involvement Participation meeting with DCAM.

“It’s imperative the citizens of the Town of Medfield show up on Thursday if they are concerned about the being left in the town on the banks of the Charles River and partially through the area to be redeveloped,” said Medfield resident John Harney, who has been very involved in discussions and meetings about the reuse of the Medfield State Hospital site since retiring from the town's Board of Selectmen in 2000.

Harney outlined some of the dangers the town may face if the hazardous material is not completely removed from the site.

“[The hazardous material will be] impacting ground water and impacting surface water … impacting the Charles River,” he said. “[It will be] a threat to our water supply. If that concerns you, show up on Thursday night and let the state know that this is an intolerable position that they’re taking.”

The position DCAM is taking, according to Board of Selectmen chair Osler “Pete” Peterson is similar to what it .

“DCAM confirmed it will continue with capping the hazardous waste on site and not remove most of the material from the [Construction and Demolition area],” said Peterson. “DCAM will bio-engineer part of the bank of the Charles River, which is something different [from last year’s proposal].”

Last August, the to DCAM for the remediation work it proposed, but the agency to cap oil-contaminated soil along the Charles River this past October.

DCAM said in a statement at the time that it withdrew the application to spend more time “exploring alternative ways to deal with the oil in the riverbed.”

After roughly four months of looking at alternatives, DCAM is set to present another proposal at Thursday’s meeting, which will likely revolve around capping rather than removing the hazardous material – and that doesn’t sit well with people in town.

“I’m pleading with the town to please show up [Thursday] night,” said Medfield Park Commissioner Tom Caragliano. “It will be a very pivotal meeting. … I don’t think [the state is] being fair to us [and] is trying to find an easy way out.”

 John Thompson, chairman of Medfield’s State Hospital Environmental Review Committee asked a logical question when explaining to the town’s selectmen why the state needs to fully remove the hazardous material from the site rather than simply capping it.

“If hazardous waste is dumped over your water supply, is it better to take it out or leave it there ... and monitor it?” Thompson asked.

Caragliano listed numerous concerns the town should have regarding DCAM’s proposal to cap the waste and leave it on site.

“What’s going to happen to our well systems going forward?” Caragliano asked rhetorically. “The state hasn’t checked 200, 300, 400 feet down into the ground. What’s going to happen going forward? We have no way of knowing.”

Caragliano added if the property were privately owned, the state would be requiring a complete cleanup, regardless of cost.

“If we had a facility in town with a private company, say it was Caragliano Enterprises and I polluted to that extent, they would make me dig every molecule out of the ground,” Caragliano said. “State properties, they end up capping, why?”

Caragliano shared his theory.

“The state has about a $20 million cleanup bill facing them [with the state hospital site] and they’re trying to cop out with $3 to $5 million,” he said.

Thompson told the selectmen in February the cost to completely remediate the contaminated C&D area would be roughly $10 to $15 million and from the town’s perspective, the benefit of cleanup outweighs those figures.

“The cost would be in the millions, probably from $10 to $15 million to remove the material and restore the area … but the state put [the waste] there for over 100 years,” Thompson said. “It now partially intersects our water supply.”

Thompson has also expressed the meeting is a critical one for the town if it is going to continue its fight for a complete cleanup of the property and encouraged residents to attend Thursday’s meeting to support the town’s position.

“[This is a] critical meeting to attend and to give [DCAM] the message that we [as a town] are concerned about it and we would like to have it cleaned up to the fullest extent,” Thompson said. “If the public feels it is behind us and wants this [hazardous] material removed, the public should show up. That’s how DCAM hears we really would like more done than a temporary solution to cap the material and leave it in place because there would be no plan to remove it beyond that.”

Harney called capping the hazardous waste an “irresponsible” solution from the state.

"You don't remove a bit of the cancer, you remove all of the cancer," Harney said, referring to DCAM's plan to partially remove and cap the waste in place on site.

And now the town is asking if you agree with that logic and support its position for complete remediation of the property, let the state know Thursday.

“Show up Thursday night,” Caragliano said. “This is very important to the town. We can control our own destiny, so come with your ideas and let’s make the state clean it up.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here