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Council approves $171,340 from free cash for recycling center design after DEP noncompliance notice
Summary
Framingham City Council voted to appropriate $178,840 from free cash—$171,340 for engineering and environmental consulting on the recycling/transfer station and $7,500 for the Veterans Council—after the Department of Environmental Protection found the site operating as an unpermitted transfer station.
The Framingham City Council on Feb. 25 approved an appropriation from free cash to fund design and consulting work related to the city recycling center after the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a notice of noncompliance.
Councilor King presented the finance committee recommendation to appropriate a total of $178,840: $171,340 for a consulting engineer and environmental services related to the site assessment and permit work for the recycling center, and $7,500 for Veterans Council activities. The motion to appropriate the funds from free cash passed unanimously.
Mayor and staff briefed the council on the DEP action. The mayor recounted the site’s operational history: the city moved away from an incinerator in the 1980s and for decades allowed residents to bring trash to the recycling center and deposit it into rubbish packers. DEP visited the site last summer and determined that the practice constituted an unpermitted transfer station; DEP issued a notice of noncompliance and gave the city a deadline (June 30) to submit a plan and obtain appropriate permitting.
The city will use the consultant work to design a compliant transfer station and prepare permit applications. The mayor said preliminary capital cost estimates for required upgrades are not yet final but suggested they would likely be on the order of “maybe around” $100,000; the city will return to council for any capital appropriation once the study and DEP review identify required work and costs.
Council discussion noted the public‑health and environmental compliance rationale for the work. Councilor White Harvey and others said they had met with the sanitation director and reviewed draft plans to better understand design needs and sanitary requirements.
