proposed waste dump in Acton Maine

[mother of thousands]

I would like to open up a discussion of the proposed waste transfer dump on Milton Mills Rd and Route 109 in Acton, Maine (near Mousam Lake, Acton Fair Grounds, Loon Pond, Acton School) and your feelings on how this will or will not affect quality of life, environment, politics of Acton and surrounds.

[Ellie]

I think the proposal for a waste transfer/dump station is very bad for Acton. The Elementary School is about one mile down the road and the Fair Grounds are right across the street. The transfer/dump station will bring property values down as well as the quality and culture of the town. The Acton area is well known for its lakes and vacation homes. I believe a facility of this sort will completely change Acton, Shapleigh, Springvale, Sanford and Milton Mills NH because of the trucks traveling through these towns. I believe there needs to be some serious attention brought to this matter.

[motherofthousand s]

Ellie wrote:

I think the proposal for a waste transfer/dump station is very bad for Acton. The Elementary School is about one mile down the road and the Fair Grounds are right across the street. The transfer/dump station will bring property values down as well as the quality and culture of the town. The Acton area is well known for its lakes and vacation homes. I believe a facility of this sort will completely change Acton, Shapleigh, Springvale, Sanford and Milton Mills NH because of the trucks traveling through these towns. I believe there needs to be some serious attention brought to this matter.

Thank you for your response. It is important that not only Acton residents but those in nearby Maine and New Hampshire towns keep an eye on this topic. Ellie, you bring many legitimate concerns to the table in your response. I hope your insight will urge others to think and act.

[Rick]

I am completely opposed to any such waste station. Where is this proposed? Is this something that would replace the restauant and store or would this be on the opposite side of the street across from the Fair Grounds? The impact on the lakes from such a station could be disasterous. I am a lake front homeowner and oppose any such action. My problem with the Town of Acton is that we have no voting rights. What's wrong with the current transfer station?

[motherofthousand s]

ACTON (Oct 24): Pat Hannon, owner of Pit Stop Mobil and Big Daddy's BBQ in Acton, met with Acton selectmen Friday, Oct. 20 to discuss the idea of a regional recycling facility on the corner of Route 109 and Milton Mills Road in Acton
According to Nancy Ruma, chair of the Acton Board of Selectmen, the town's waste contract with Maine Energy Recovery Corporation in Biddeford expires in 2010. Currently, she said, the town pays almost $250,000 per year for this service. When it expires, she said the cost could double.
Transfer and recycling operations for Acton residents would be offered free of charge in exchange for being a host community, Hannon said. He said that due to the rising costs of solid waste management, this would be a savings to the town in excess of $250,000 per year.
"The immediate savings could be used to reduce property taxes or fund other needed programs in the town of Acton," he said.
Ruma estimated that an additional $35,000 would be added to the town's tax rolls with the construction of the proposed $3.5 million facility.
Hannon, who owns an environmental engineering company in Massachusetts, has worked with a number of towns - including Taunton, Needham and Milton, Mass.- to improve their solid waste management solutions.
In his experience working with landfills and transfer stations, he said that despite efforts to encourage recycling, "a lot of people still don't recycle." By breaking open the bags and sorting out the recyclables, Hannon said the amount of solid waste could be reduced by up to 40 percent. "And that's good for the environment," he said.
The proposed Twin Ridge Materials Recycling Facility would be located on 11 acres of land that Hannon owns at the intersection of Route 109 and Milton Mills Road, at the former Twin Ridge processing plan. The materials recycling facility would consist of an approximately 40,000 square foot metal building, he said.
"All materials received at the facility will be off loaded inside the processing facility," Hannon said. "All sorting and processing will be done inside the building as well. There will be no storage of materials outside the processing facility," Hannon said.
The regional facility would accept municipal solid waste and construction and demolition debris. Hannon said during the sorting process, the materials would be placed along a conveyor belt. As the waste moves along, personnel trained in the recovery of recyclables would pick the items off the belt and drop them into a chute.
"The recyclables are then directed into a bin below the picking station where they are co-mingled for delivery to a single stream recycling facility for further processing and sale to an end user," Hannon explained.
"The recycling materials are a valuable commodity in today's market," he said, "and with the recycling of plastics, it doesn't take much to save a barrel of oil."
Hannon said he is looking to truck the outgoing materials to Maine Energy and Recovery's burn plant in Biddeford and a solid waste facility in Old Town.
Hannon anticipates approximately 35 trips by 18 wheelers into the facility each day. He said that a designated truck route would be determined, and a traffic impact study would probably be required by the state in the permitting phase.
The facility and project will need approval from the Acton Planning Board, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and possibly other agencies, Hannon said.

[motherofthousand s]

The above article regarding the transfer station was referenced from keepmecurrent.com October 2007

[motherofthousand s]

keepmecurrent.com
ACTON (March 5, 2008): The man behind plans to establish a solid waste transfer facility on Route 109 in Acton says the town's planning board is overstepping the bounds of the local zoning ordinance by asking him to submit the same materials to them that he submits to the state Department of Environmental Protection
Patrick Hannon said in an e-mail last week that he has retained legal counsel and will take the matter to court, if necessary.
"I do not expect to get an approval from the planning board," Hannon wrote. "Many members of the planning board have already reached a conclusion and are just going through the motions leading to a denial.... I am confident that their continued conflicts and lack of action are working in my favor when this matter gets to the court system."
Hannon was scheduled to meet with the planning board and independent consultant Randy Tome of the engineering firm Woodard & Curran in Portland on Feb. 27, but the workshop was canceled due to inclement weather and has yet to be rescheduled.
In a letter to Acton Planning Board Chairman Chip Venell dated Feb. 27, Christian Chandler of the law firm Curtis, Thaxter, Stevens, Broder & Micoleau, Attorneys at Law in Portland called the list of materials the engineer suggested the town ask for "irrelevant to the determination that needs to be made by the Acton Planning Board."
Tome, who was hired by the town to conduct a peer review of Hannon's project at Hannon's expense, told planners at a Feb. 7 meeting the materials submitted to the town would not pass state muster. Tome recommended the town ask for the same detailed site plan, facility design and traffic study, among other things, required by the state environmental agency when it considers Hannon's application for an operating permit.
He included a disclaimer saying it would be up to the town's attorney to determine whether the move was within the bounds of the local zoning ordinance.
Town Attorney Durward Parkinson of the law firm Bergen & Parkinson in Kennebunk told the planning board in December that he believes the town's zoning ordinance allows the board to ask for whatever is "reasonably necessary" for them to make an informed decision on Hannon's conditional use application for solid waste transfer facility in a general purpose zone.
Hannon's attorney disagreed and cited a decision made by the Maine Supreme Court in the recent (2000) case of Sawyer Environment v. Town of Hampden.

[dave]

I would like to see the business plan presented to investors or the bank financing the project right next to the plan submitted to the town and EPA to see if the business plan really works with as few as 18 trucks. Nothing about this dump proposal or Hannon's three other projects in town appears to be on the level.

[Lydia]

I would think it would be advantageous to the town of Acton to have a facility such as this owned by a person living in the town, or at least the State. Operating a business such as this, long distance, would be difficult to handle successfully I would think. Mr. Hannon's other business ventures in Acton and neighboring towns have not been highly successful to my knowledge (Pit Stop has recently closed and gas is no longer sold). I'm sure Mr. Hannon's intentions are good, but it's tough to run a tight ship long distance.

[one of the cooks]

You all talk without any knowledge, Hannon does live in Town and his businesses are ALL on the level, he closed the gas station because of labor issues!, get a life!

[HANNON SUCKS]

He'll fire you soon enough I'm sure. Hannon's a jerk, and alway's will be and better keep better track of his things in the future.

[Bad Deal]

To see the quality of character of this man one only needs to look at his past business dealings in MA. He cares nothing for the town or the people in it.

[ACTON MAINER]

Hannon closed because one goes to his businesses the store first and the restaurant next who wants to support man who is going to ruin this town with a rat infested dump he cant run a store and no one goes to his rstaurant how is he think he can run a transfer station

[Local voter]

Mr.Hannon will fight the town in court like he did in Shapleigh. Money is not a deterent to him. I live within a mile of the proposed Dump and I don't like it. 35 18 wheelers a day is about one every 45 minutes by your houses right? WRONG! Every truck must go back also so it's really 70 times a day or about one every 20 minutes! Hows that sound?