Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Brownfields topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Somerville highlights $28 million in brownfield remediation funding, eyes solar on capped landfill
Summary
Borough officials and a state brownfields liaison said Somerville leveraged roughly $28 million in remediation grants to transform former landfill and wetland sites, showcased a new ARCGIS story map, and said a planned solar cap is pending approvals.
Somerville officials and a state brownfields liaison on Feb. 17 described years of remediation work that they say has turned contaminated landfill parcels into usable neighborhoods and open space and could soon host solar panels.
Ron Wankowski, the department liaison who has worked with Somerville since 2008, said the Brownfield Development Area (BDA) program helped the borough access "around $28 million for about 10–11 sites within the BDA," money he characterized as grant funding used for investigation and cleanup. He called the project "truly a success story" and credited community steering committees and years of planning for the results.
Mayor Brian Gallagher and council members praised the work as a long-term partnership with state agencies. Gallagher thanked Wankowski and his team for persistent support: "Ron, thank you for 18 years of continued success for Somerville," he said, noting the landfill's transformation into apartments, townhomes and restored green space.
Wankowski described technical steps taken at several sites, including a multimillion-dollar "green seam" stream reconstruction that he said cost approximately $12.5 million and the use of an engineered geosynthetic cap on portions of the landfill. He also showed an ARCGIS story map and short videos illustrating before-and-after conditions and said some parcels already have new housing built on remediated lots.
Officials said the BDA designation matters for grantability: BDA communities can access up to $5 million per year from the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation program versus $3 million for non-BDA municipalities, which officials said helps large landfill projects reach completion sooner.
Looking ahead, speakers said the borough hopes to finish landfill capping and install a solar farm on capped parcels once final approvals are secured. Council members also discussed needing roughly $1.5 million to add boardwalks and trail improvements through remediated wetlands and said they were seeking additional funding sources after the county declined to provide that support.
The presentation concluded with council praise for long-term public engagement efforts that officials said helped build the redevelopment vision and shorten later approval processes. The borough posted the ARCGIS story map and the project videos online for public viewing.
