At a brief March 4 meeting, members of Vassalboro’s Transfer Station Task Force discussed advantages and drawbacks of two different configurations for the Lombard Dam Road facility.
They unanimously prefer what engineer Jeff Senders called a drive through option, which somewhat resembles the current layout, over the rotary option, which proposes a radically different traffic pattern.
Senders, of Senders Science, Engineering and Construction, in Camden, prepared both designs, as task force members requested at their Feb. 5 meeting (see the Feb. 12 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).
Senders also provided cost estimates for each design, emphasizing that they were preliminary. Each included a 20 percent contingency fund, he said. The figures were for the drive through option, $785,000, and for the rotary option, $580,000.
To task force members, the higher cost of the drive through plan was offset by its advantages, particularly in terms of traffic flow. It would allow residents to come in from Lombard Dam Road through a widened entrance (expanded from 25 feet to 38 feet wide) and drive along either side of a covered building, emptying out their trash into hoppers under the building – really a drive alongside, not a drive through, plan.
A major change is that drivers would not need to back up to a hopper. Safety issues involved in backing up vehicles have been a major concern since discussions began some two years ago.
Transfer station manager Adam Daoust and task force member Chris French said the drive through design would also make for easier snow removal than the rotary.
Task force members asked Town Manager Aaron Miller to ask Senders to make some adjustments to the drive through option to make it easier for the haulers who remove the filled waste containers to get in and out. Miller said he will “fine-tune” the design with Senders.
Turning to finances, Miller said there is already a $200,000 reserve fund. In the current fiscal year, no additional funds were recommended, because budget committee members were not enthusiastic about recommending more money without a plan.
Now that they have a plan, task force members proposed presenting a request for $100,000 for the 2026-27 budget. If approved, task force member Douglas Phillips said, they would have close to half of the (currently estimated) cost; and perhaps they could obtain grant funds to cover the rest.
Task force members adjourned without scheduling another meeting.
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by Mary Grow
