ANDOVER - A Chandler Road farmer is threatening to sue the town after wetlands on his land near the Ledge Road landfill were contaminated with arsenic.
Robert Park Sr., 79, of 141 Chandler Road, said he will consider filing a lawsuit against the town if officials do not come to terms on a settlement.
Park said he operates a small pig farm on 65 acres of land between Interstate 93 and the former town dump. Town Meeting appropriated $7.4 million to recap the landfill last year.
The state-mandated project is on hold as town-hired engineers assess the extent and severity of arsenic contamination on nearby wetlands.
Home to open-pit trash burning during the 1920s through 1950s, the 26-acre Ledge Road landfill closed in 1973. Playing fields were built atop the landfill after it was capped in the 1980s.
The southern portion of the landfill is used as a public works storage yard.
Its western border is lined with a wetland system where a tributary runs to Fish Brook, a town drinking water source that flows into the Merrimack River.
"Arsenic contamination is not migrating in measurable concentrations to Fish Brook or the subsequent Water Treatment Plant intake located at the end of Fish Brook," town-hired engineers wrote in a report released last month that also detailed soil samples taken in August from Park's property.
Contamination levels in the samples ranged from 3.5 to 10 milligrams of arsenic per kilogram of soil.
"It's a mess," said Park, who bought his farm in 1955. "The water's discolored."
Town Manager Reginald "Buzz" Stapczynski said the town received a letter on Oct. 19 from Park's lawyer requesting settlement talks. Calls to the law firm were not returned for this story.
Stapczynski said possible solutions include the town paying for arsenic remediation or purchasing contaminated land from Park.
"We're looking at all our options," said Stapczynski. "We're doing some preliminary work to determine (land) values and the extent of the contamination on his property and the extent of what we need to do."
