Cereal factory cleanup planned, new staff arriving in 2025 in North Quabbin
Published: 01-12-2025 2:01 PM |
Editor’s note: To mark the start of a new year, the Athol Daily News is publishing stories about what Franklin County residents can likely expect to see happening in their communities in 2025.
ORANGE — The town hopes to complete a few hefty projects by the time 2025 comes to a close.
Town Administrator Matthew Fortier said residents can expect the site of the former cereal factory on West River Street to be cleaned up, a needed water tower to be constructed at the Orange Industrial Park, and a second-phase environmental assessment of the closed Orange Armory to be conducted.
The former factory at 16-36 West River St. was reduced to piles of asbestos and brick after three juveniles intentionally burned down it down on June 4, 2022. The blaze sent embers into the air, with some landing on the vacant former blacksmith shop near 24 East River St. and causing such damage that it had to be demolished. The vacant buildings at 58 and 50 South Main St. also sustained damage.
Tarps now cover the debris to contain it. American Environmental Inc. has been contracted for $1.6 million to remove the debris, which Fortier expects to be completed within the next two months. Loaming and seeding will begin once weather permits, likely in March or April.
Fortier said he expects the cleanup efforts to cost about $4 million when all is said and done. He explained a lien in that amount will be placed against it and the town will likely go to land court to acquire the lot from owner KARMACAN LLC. The town could then sell or develop it.
He said the state has earmarked $3.4 million, but the town had already used $392,589 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds prior to receiving that money.
The Orange Selectboard voted unanimously on Wednesday to sign a statement of claim against KARMACAN LLC for $1.03 million. A statement of claim is a summary supporting a case in which one party attempts to right a wrong it suffers from.
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The project to build a water at the Orange Industrial Park will also continue to move forward in 2025, though an exact timeline remains unclear.
Seaman Paper, a pulp and paper company at 151 Governor Dukakis Drive, has reportedly been paying exorbitant insurance premiums due to insufficient water capacity. The company enlisted the help of the town, as officials believe a water tower could incentivize other businesses to move into the industrial park.
Residents voted at a Special Town Meeting in December to accept land from Seaman Paper and to accept or take land from Power Fund Partners to enable the water tower’s construction, and the Selectboard voted unanimously to enter into a $3.6 million contract with Associated Construction Co. in Hartford, Connecticut, for the project.
Fortier also said he expects the soil around the Orange Armory to be tested for contaminants and the town might be eligible for a cleanup grant. The 111-year-old armory at 135 East Main St. has fallen into disrepair, and the Selectboard voted in October 2021 to close it and temporarily relocate the municipal offices based there to the former Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church’s rectory. The board then voted last April to designate the structure as surplus property.
The building and land are valued at approximately $2.1 million, according to a fiscal year 2024 report of assessed land values in Orange that is available on the town website.
According to Preservation Massachusetts Inc., a statewide historic preservation education and advocacy organization, the Orange Armory was named one of Massachusetts’ Most Endangered Historic Resources. The building was dedicated in 1913 as a home for Company E, 2nd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, which served in the Spanish-American War and World War I. In 1975, ownership of the building was transferred to the town.
Fortier said the costs to remodel the building would be prohibitive.
“We’ll have to wait and see what the Selectboard chooses to do,” he said.
Fortier also mentioned residents can expect to see solar panels added to Fisher Hill Elementary School’s roof.
The theme for New Salem as 2025 gets underway is new leadership, both in town government and in the arts.
Matthew Duncan is replacing Brad Foster as the 1794 Meetinghouse’s executive director. Duncan, who lives in Montague, started in his new position on Dec. 3, and Foster stepped down on Jan. 1.
“I’m very excited,” Duncan said, adding that he and his wife started the Good Music Makes Good Neighbors music festival in Montague in 2015. He said he is looking forward to his new job and has already started reaching out to musicians.
Foster, of Shutesbury, said in October that he feels he no longer has the time the nonprofit performing arts center requires. He was appointed to the part-time position 10½ years ago after his predecessor, Mike Ruocco, decided to move on. This came at a time when Foster was looking for an additional revenue stream.
“I’ve been in arts management for a long time and I love that, I love concerts, and I also have other parts of my life,” Foster said in October. “So the idea of doing a part-time job was great.”
Foster said he does not have sufficient time to give the 1794 Meetinghouse the attention it needs because he also teaches and handles accounting and financial management for nonprofit organizations. Executive director duties include securing grants to support the nonprofit, suggesting fundraising ideas and handling marketing material for the performing season.
On the town government side, Jessica Mooring started working as the new town coordinator on Monday. She was appointed to replace the departing Kathy Neal, whose final day is Jan. 17.
Mooring, 27, grew up in Hadley and now lives in Amherst. She was most recently an environmental planner for Portland, Oregon, but left to be closer to family. She took the Portland job after earning a master’s degree in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also got a bachelor’s degree in natural resource conservation.
Neal, a retired attorney, has been town coordinator since July 19, 2021, replacing longtime Town Coordinator Nancy Aldrich, who simultaneously held the same position in Wendell before recently retiring. Neal lives in Sturbridge but said she and her husband will likely move to be closer to their children.
Members of No Assault & Batteries, a citizens group formed in opposition to a now-withdrawn proposal for a 105-megawatt battery storage facility, were encouraged when a battery energy storage bylaw was adopted overwhelmingly in May, but this was rejected by the state Attorney General’s Office for failing to comply with procedural safeguards embedded into state zoning laws. The Wendell Selectboard, however, intends to appeal that decision.
During a Dec. 18 executive session, the Selectboard opted to sign a contract with Springfield-based law firm Doherty Wallace Pillsbury & Murphy PC to appeal the decision.
“Essentially, the Selectboard felt it’s worth the fight,” Town Coordinator Glenn Johnson-Mussad said at the time. “They felt it’s worthwhile to press the issue and felt obligated to ensure the protection of Wendell residents from lithium-ion batteries.”
Johnson-Mussad said the appeal is one of the town’s key priorities as 2025 begins.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.