CUMBERLAND – Representatives from the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative are inviting the public to a meeting on reimagining at the town’s former polluted riverfront site.
Mayor Jeff Mutter, frustrated by years of getting nowhere on an agreement for the town to take over a portion of the Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site and have it turned into some form of park, says town representatives will not be present at the July 13 forum.
John Marsland, president of the Blackstone River Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone, told The Local Insider that once cleaned up, the site will be an asset to the community for passive recreation.
“No one is willing to take ownership for this to happen,” he said. “It could end up being fenced off with no public access.”
Mutter, however, says he’s been blown away in a very bad way at the way that negotiations with various parties have gone since 2021. He said he ended up giving some concessions that he’s not proud of to this day, but even that wasn’t enough for the Environmental Protection Agency and others.
According to the mayor, the town of Cumberland is effectively being asked to assume ownership of the former Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site behind the Stop & Shop plaza on the Blackstone River with no guarantee that anything will be done to convert it into a park space. That’s a deal no one in their right mind would accept based on the maintenance and other costs the town will incur by accepting the property as its own, he said.
New Pond Park on the old polluted site has long been planned as a southern version of one of the town’s beautiful northern parks, a replacement of sorts for the former park taken away from across from Town Hall, said Mutter. Cumberland and its leaders and residents have spent significant time and money on this effort, he said, which would also fulfill the DEM’s requirement that a new park space be created to replace the one lost.
The town has remained for its part committed to this concept and has participated in long and meandering but good-faith negotiations on the site’s future, said Mutter, but that commitment has not been reciprocated by other parties. He said he and other officials have done everything in their power to make this happen, but have been unable to.
Last November, this writer reported on renewed optimism from the mayor about New Pond Park’s prospects following a major mistake on a site survey commissioned on behalf parties responsible for contaminating this area of the Blackstone River and New Pond.
Mutter said he doesn’t know what the July 13 meeting will entail, and the forum isn’t being held at the town’s request. He was emphatic that town representatives will not be attending. He said they’ve been told by the EPA that this is simply a progress report on the site, while others have said that it has something to do with the reuse of the site.
The mayor explained that part of the Nunes Parcel of the Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site was originally taken by tax sale, and to exercise a right of redemption, someone must pay the taxes owed. Neither the town nor the EPA and responsible parties on the pollution want to see a fence put up and the newly capped area closed off to the public once ongoing improvements are completed, he said. That’s why there are renderings going back to June of 2021 from the BETA Group showing the desire to achieve a public betterment.
The mayor said they have done everything they can since 2021 to make sure the site is something that the public can enjoy, “and we have come back disappointed.”
“We have negotiated in good faith, and it has not been enough, and in my own personal opinion, it has not been reciprocated,” he said.
After a while, said Mutter, he started thinking maybe the issue was with him, so he brought others into the process. They’ve been left with nothing but disappointment and feelings of betrayal despite their best intentions, he said.
“We’re a good five years into this project,” he said. “For them to want us to take ownership and hope they would deliver something is unacceptable.”
He made concessions to accept less, said Mutter, and was disappointed in himself for doing so, but it came from a strong desire to see something beneficial happen along the waterfront. A lot could happen to honor the river and create a valuable resource for residents in the southern end of town, he emphasized, but he will not agree to a scenario where the town invests all of this time and money only to hope for the future.
He compared what’s transpired to, in some ways, “negotiating with terrorists” who do not seem to have the town’s good in mind.
According to the announcement for the July 13 event, all are welcome to join the public meeting “to help re-imagine what the Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site may look like.”
“The Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site spans multiple properties along the Blackstone River in Cumberland and Lincoln, Rhode Island, including the Peterson/Puritan facility, J.M. Mills Landfill, an unnamed island, and the Nunes Parcel,” it reads. “Together, these sites comprise (more than) 50 acres called “Operational Unit 2” or ‘OU2,’ a federally designated “Superfund” site. Superfund is a program of EPA that is responsible for cleaning up some of the nation’s most contaminated land in order to protect public health and the environment and make a positive, lasting difference in communities.”
The area’s industrial uses date back to the 1950s through 1970s, and was added to the National Priorities List for clean-up in 1983 after contaminants were detected in nearby public wells in the town of Lincoln, it adds.
“In 2015, a multi-million dollar cleanup began in earnest and is currently under way, slated for completion in 2028. The restoration includes consolidating contaminated materials and capping them to prevent human and ecological exposure, stabilizing riverbanks, restoring disturbed habitats, and conducting long-term monitoring to avoid future potential exposure. Once complete, the land could be used for passive public recreation, river access, or other potential uses,” states the release.
“However, the future ownership of the site is unclear. The Blackstone River Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone and the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative are looking to gather public input to determine what kinds of public recreation or other land use are important to the local communities in order to inform that future stewardship.”
It adds, “Come to American Legion Post 14 on Monday, July 13, at 6 p.m. to share your input. Learn about the site’s possibilities, ask questions, and explore how other superfund sites have become recreational havens. Do you want to see a connection to the Blackstone bikeway? Creation of an overlook trail? Accessible pathways? A playground? Let us know. This information will help inform the next steps taken at the site, in partnership with EPA.”
All are welcome, say organizers. A light dinner will be provided. Registration is encouraged, but not required. For those who can’t attend, they will still welcome feedback and thoughts here. Learn more here.
Note: This story will be edited as additional comments come in.
