TOWN OF WHEATFIELD, N.Y. (WIVB)- Plans to build a fence around a Wheatfield landfill are moving forward. The former Niagara Sanitation Landfill held industrial waste, including waste from Love Canal. The Love Canal waste has been removed and incinerated out of state.
Town of Wheatfield leaders and people living near the landfill have been pushing for years to build a fence around the site. It will prevent ATV’s and dirt bikes from driving through the property, churning up the soil.
They’ve had to wait for state approval to move forward because the DEC is currently in control of the landfill.
Governor Cuomo announced this week $75,000 of state money has been approved for the project and the DEC is now helping clear the site ahead of construction. The Town will pick up the remaining cost.
The six foot high chain link fence has a price tag of $152,000 right now but there is still a state bidding process ahead.
Town Supervisor Bob Cliffe told News 4 the design is almost completed.
“You’re dealing with a fence that is going around a landfill that has known hazardous chemicals, known hazardous wastes so you can’t just dig a hole and put a fence post in,” said Cliffe. “Every piece of dirt that you dig up out of the ground has to be put in a barrel and stored, so all of that has to be worked out.”
Cliffe said he wants work to start on the fence this summer and be completed this year.
At town board meetings in the past, neighbors have complained not enough was done to keep people away from the landfill.
The DEC determined in 2014, while there has been no off-site contamination, the landfill itself does have hazardous concentrations of lead and PCB’s.
The town plans to unveil the finalized specifications for the fence at the May 1 Wheatfield Town Board meeting.
