Casella offers “Neighborhood Benefit Programs” to some Alton residents

 September 6, 2006

A letter from Casella Waste Systems offering benefit programs to Alton residents who live near the Juniper Ridge Landfill has resulted in “far fewer” responses than the company expected, according to Casella spokesman Don Meagher. But he maintains that the sole purpose of the offer is to generate good will among those residents who are concerned about the impact the landfill could have on their property.

“Back in the fall of 2003, we had two meetings with some of the people whose property abuts the landfill,” Meagher said. “They discussed their concerns about the landfill being there, the effect they thought it might have on the value of their property. So we decided to offer the same property value protection agreement that we had used in Hampden.”

According to the original agreement letter, Alton residents whose property abuts the landfill are guaranteed the full fair market value if they decide to sell their property while Casella is the operator of the Juniper Ridge Landfill. The agreement also states that those who accept it are not obligated to sell their property to Casella or anyone else.

“But since (we sent out that letter), it’s become clear that there are people whose land doesn’t technically abut the landfill, but who, as the crow flies, are actually closer to it than some residents whose land does technically abut it,” Meagher said. “We felt those people should be included in the agreement.  So we decided to offer the same program to non-abutters. It’s taken this long to do it because we’ve been waiting for the resolution of an appeal that was made last March. Now, in offering the same agreement to non-abutters, we’ve expanded the list of eligible property owners by about 300 percent.”

Property value protection isn’t the only thing that Casella is offering Alton residents with property close to the landfill. The same letter outlines three other available benefit programs. One program would reimburse residents for the amount of property tax they paid to the town.  The other two programs are related to water quality. The first offers affected property owners the fre installation of an in-home water cooler and a regular supply of 5-gallon containers of bottled water that would be delivered to them for as long as they wished.  The second offers water quality testing for those residents who still have doubts about the testing that Casella did on wells on the West Old Town Road, the Stagecoach Road, and on Route 16 in 2004.

Meagher says that he is surprised by the low response to the letter, especially since he has tried to make himself as available as possible to anyone who might have questions or concerns regarding the proposed agreement.

“At the end of the letter, I included a line that encourages property owners to call me up and discuss any questions they might have,” he said.

Casella’s letter to residents of the “Juniper Ridge Neighborhood” comes almost four years after a similar letter was sent to residents of Hampden, where the company operates another landfill. But although that letter offered the same benefit programs to affected property owners, it was actually signed and circulated by town officials. Hampden town manager Susan Lessard says she believes that was the reason there was an almost 100 percent response to the offer.

“In our case, the benefit package offered by Casella was one of the requirements of the legal agreement that we had with them,” Lessard said. “But even though they were required to make the offer, we felt that the town should send out the letters explaining it. We didn’t want people to think that they were being manipulated in any way by Casella. We wanted to take away the stigma and stop the disharmony. We also didn’t want people to feel that if they signed the agreement, they automatically lost the right to complain about the landfill. If they chose to bring legal action, that would be another separate issue, but as far as their every day right to complain about the smell of the landfill or anything else connected with it, that’s still there.”

Casella’s current offer of the same package to Alton residents is a voluntary one. But, Meaghan says, in making the same offer to Alton property owners that they were required to make to Hampden residents, Casella is simply trying to ease any concern people might still have about the landfill.

“There’s nothing wrong with the water,” he said, “but if people are concerned about it, this is our way of recognizing that. We’re trying to take everyone’s worries away.”