This newly built concrete wall will be home to yard waste this spring in Cumberland. Compost and brush, along with sand and salt storage, are moving to the town-owned parcel, bordered by the Town Forest and Tuttle Road. Alex Lear / The Forecaster
CUMBERLAND — As of the final week of 2019, the town had relocated about a third of its compost and brush from the Public Works facility on Drowne Road over to town-owned land bordered by the Town Forest and Tuttle Road.
A new building for salt and shed storage, to replace two operated by Public Works, is to be built in July or August.
Nancy Hussey, whose Drowne Road home is 50 yards from the sheds, was one of many residents in the Village Green neighborhood who had pushed for those operations to be relocated. She summed up her feelings on the matter Dec. 27 with one word: “FINALLY, in all capital letters,” she said.
After six winters dealing with operations that many Village Green residents have considered offensive to their ears, eyes and noses – and which they said the town, developers and realtors told them years ago would soon be moved – Hussey said she is “ecstatic” by the relocations.
“On behalf of all Village Greeners … we thank the town for forging ahead to get this project completed,” she said.
The town shut down its compost and brush operations at Public Works on Nov. 30, Town Manager Bill Shane said Dec. 27. The Maine Department of Transportation requires all material to be gone by the end of January; Shane expected that would be accomplished early this month. The new compost and brush facility could open in April.
The Town Council in August voted to relocate the sand and salt operations to the town-owned parcel. The structure will be tucked between the Town Forest and the town’s compost and brush pads.
The shed will sit on less than 4 acres toward the back of the parcel, about 2,000 feet from Tuttle Road. A landscaped berm is being created between the town uses and the few Tuttle Road homes that abut the town property.
The project is funded as part of a bond of up to $7 million. About $500,000 of the bond goes toward building the new sand and salt shed, while another $275,000 will fund the new compost pad, as well as $75,000 for the berm. Building a gravel road into the site from Tuttle Road costs about $250,000, which came from Cumberland tax increment financing funds.
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