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Neighbors deliver petition asking city to halt fill at former Blissline Road sedimentation pond
Summary
Residents near Easton's Pond told the City Council they have documented daily dump-truck hauling into a former sedimentation lagoon and asked the city to produce permits, testing and contracts and to stop work until environmental status is shown.
John Walker and neighbors from the Blissline Road area told the City Council that trucks have been bringing large volumes of fill into the former sedimentation pond at the old water treatment facility near Easton's Pond and asked the city to stop the work until documentation is provided.
"There are at least 10 dump trucks a day coming," Walker said, and he told councilors the material appears to come from utility bell-holes, manholes and trenches dug around the city. Walker and neighbors, identifying themselves as the Friends of Easton Pond, presented a petition asking the city to provide permits, engineering and testing results, and contracts with any contractors or state and federal officials involved.
The petition asks the city to cease backfilling activities at the site until evidence that the work is permitted and lawful is provided and to "remediate" and restore the property if documents cannot be produced. The council moved to accept the petition and asked that the original copy be brought to the city clerk for the record.
Neighbors said the site has been returning to wetlands since the water plant went offline in March 1991 and that recent work appears to be transforming the area. Walker estimated "hundreds of truckloads" and "thousands of yards" of material have been deposited and said residents have not seen permits or public notices from the city or state agencies.
At the meeting, residents asked the city to clarify whether work is permitted by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management or the Coastal Resources Management Council and to provide test results showing the environmental status of the material being placed in the pond area.
The council's formal action at the meeting was limited to accepting the petition for the public record and routing it to the city clerk; no permit determinations or enforcement actions were announced at the meeting.
