ANDOVER - Planting grass seed is all that's keeping contaminated farm property on Blanchard Street from being the future home of town playing fields.

Selectmen voted unanimously last night to purchase the nearly 13-acre farm at 15 Blanchard St. with $2.1 million already appropriated by Town Meeting.

Consultants hired by the town told board members last night there was very minimal risk in buying the property - despite the presence in the top soil of a banned pesticide at levels that exceed state recommendations.

"I think the board is very confident that it's a great parcel of land," said Selectmen Chairman Brian Major. "This is a phenomenal purchase. We're going to look back on this as one of the best moves we've made for many, many years."

Selectmen initially feared that purchasing the farm would cost the town thousands of dollars in remediation costs, after the pesticide dieldrin - a suspected carcinogen - was found in soil samples taken by the Lowell-based consulting group TRC.

As presently constituted, the farm could be cleared for residential development, TRC representatives said. The presence of dieldrin in the soil does not have to be reported to the state, the consultants told selectmen, because the property has been used for agricultural purposes.

Dieldrin was commonly used from the 1950s to 1970 to control insects on crops like corn, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It has been linked to cancer and was banned outright by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1987. A partial ban was enforced starting in 1974.

Dieldrin can cause convulsions and even death if ingested in large amounts, and through exposure in the air, can cause headaches, dizziness and irritability.

"It's pretty bad stuff when you look at what the EPA says," said Selectmen Alex Vispoli. "There's a reason why it was banned 30 years ago."

Initial soil tests in five different locations at 15 Blanchard St. found dieldrin in only one location. Further tests at 31 locations revealed the pesticide is spread out across a 2.6-acre area, at levels "just above the state's most conservative threshold level," according to TRC Project Manager Thomas Biolsi.

The further testing convinced the consultants that there was minimal risk if the town purchased the farm and used it in the future for either playing fields or a school site.

"There's no evidence that there's been a significant release," said TRC Project Manager Paul Arnold of the dieldrin on the site. "You're below the risk level right now, if you didn't do anything to it."

Consultants also provided the board three possible methods of remediation, which ranged in cost from $50,000 to $400,000. They included covering the contaminated area with six inches of clean soil, paving it over, and removing the contaminated soil - approximately 4,200 cubic yards.

"I'll buy the property, but before anything happens (there) I want discussion on what's going to be done," said Selectmen Ted Teichert on the future possibility for remediation.

Town Counsel Tom Urbelis will begin filling out paper work today with the farm's owners.

If selectmen had voted against purchasing the property, the farm would have likely gone back on the open market, Urbelis said.

The town is in an agreement that expires after today to have exclusive negotiations with the owner, after Andover's right of first refusal on the property expired last month, under a state law governing agricultural land use.

"I rather see the town use it than have houses put in there," said Garabed Dargoonian, 86, who said he's lived adjacent to 15 Blanchard St. his entire life.

"From my perspective, I think we've all done our homework," said Selectmen Jerry Stabile.