WESTFIELD – The Twiss Street transfer station expansion project has been moved to the front burner as Health Department officials and Tighe & Bond engineers explore a number of options.
Health Director Joseph Rouse reported last Wednesday to the Health Board that city officials are meeting with Tighe & Bond project engineers on a regular basis to discuss the expansion project after progress on the project had lapsed for more than a year.
That lapse was a major factor in the Health Board’s decision to dismiss the former health director.
The engineering project is intended to gain an increase the Department of Environmental Protection tonnage limit. The current tip limit is 50 tons a day, sufficient for disposal of the household waste from curbside collection.
The city is seeking a “lift” from the current 50-ton limit up to 199 tons a day, which would enable the city to expand services. The proposed expansion of the tip limit could allow local businesses, and possible nearby towns, to use the transfer station, substantially reducing the cost of solid waste disposal. Much of that cost-cutting would be due to lower transportation costs.
The DEP and other state and federal agencies have raised several issues, including more controlled access to the site, an enclosed tipping area and a revised traffic movement pattern within the site.
The enclosed tipping area would reduce wind-blown litter, but more importantly deter the gathering of large birds, seagulls and ravens, an issue raised by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because of the proximity of the approaches to Barnes Regional Airport.
Tighe & Bond is providing design and permitting services to the city to upgrade the existing space, including designs for a building which will enclose the new tipping facility. That work will also include revamping the existing traffic movement pattern within the nine-acre facility.
The improvements have been identified by the state Department of Environmental Protection as part of its review of the city’s petition to increase the tonnage passing through the transfer station.
Rouse said there has been “some” discussion with the Pioneer Valley Railroad to extend a spur into the transfer station. Removing solid waste by rail would substantially reduce truck traffic and could also provide a transportation cost savings for disposal of the city’s trash.
Any increase to the tip limit by the DEP will increase the tonnage which has to be shipped off the site, an operation now totally dependent on truck transport. The volume of truck traffic would only increase if there is not a viable alternative, such as rail.
Rouse said the department is looking to replace the current gatehouse with a prefabricated building that would support a greater use of technology. City residents visiting the transfer station may recognize the current “gatehouse” as the former Santa lodge which was hauled to the Park Square Green annually at Christmas.
Rouse said the proposed prefabricated gatehouse would be wired for communication technology.
“We’d like to install a point of sale system so we can sell transfer station stickers at the gatehouse,” Rouse said to the Board of Health members. “It would be done with credit or debit cards because we have no way to handle cash transactions at the station. Resident would still have to come to City Hall for a cash purchase of a sticker.”
