Thursday, July 22, 1999 Older Editions

Paint plant passes

By Rebecca Lipchitz

While the Board of Selectmen considered the chemistry involved in paint manufacturing harmless enough to issue a permit for it Monday night, residents who disagree say they got burned.

Before a crowd of irate residents, who frequently interrupted the proceedings and spoke so loudly that some selectmen could not hear one another, board members approved a license for California Products Corp. to store flammable products at its proposed manufacturing plant off Dascomb Road. The permit includes several conditions added by the board, including a provision that gives the Andover Board of Health authority to stop operations if they feel the plant is not in compliance with health regulations and poses a threat to public health.

But more than 150 Andover and Tewksbury residents had come to demand that the board deny the permit, which will allow the company to construct a new building for manufacturing, offices and distribution at 146 Dascomb Road, on the border of Andover and Tewksbury.

Selectmen voted 4-1 to approve the permit. The dissenting vote from Selectmen Larry Larsen brought applause and cheers from residents, who clamored for a chance to speak about their concerns with the paint plant.

While residents had already had two chances to speak on the issue, at a public hearing convened six weeks ago and then reopened two weeks later, residents were incensed that Chairman John Hess would not reopen the hearing yet again.

Selectmen had first reviewed the permit application June 7 before a room full of residents opposed to the issue. At the residents' request, selectmen asked for more information about the hazards of the chemicals involved in the permit, and continued the public hearing to June 21. Selectmen closed the hearing at the end of that meeting. Monday's agenda item was to discuss the issue and vote on the permit, not to hear more from interested parties.

But resident Jodi Germano Cataldo of Partridge Hill Road, one of those who shouted at board members, said later that the more reading she did about chemicals, the more dangerous it seemed. She says she doesn't think the Fire Department in Andover is prepared to handle a chemical fire that could start at such a plant.

"What happens when it gets into the air? You can say nothing is going to happen but it just takes one time," she says.

She says she believes Andover has enough chemicals and contaminated land already, and wants to see areas cleaned up before more chemicals are allowed in town.

Cataldo says her outburst at Monday's meeting was unusual for her.

"I've lived in town 24 years and I never complained about anything," she says.

Resident Don DeNovellis asked Hess to inform him of a way to appeal the decision. Hess said he would get back to him with an answer in two or three days. DeNovellis says he and many other residents plan to appeal the decision, if there is a way.

"I wanted the motion defeated. A large number of people find a paint manufacturing and storage facility near a lot of private homes to be undesirable," he says.

When residents complained that they were not notified of public hearings, Hess says that the law required the town to notify residents within 300 feet of the site, but the nearest residence is within 1,200 feet.

Bad behavior

At the meeting, residents were clearly outraged at the board's refusal to reopen the public meeting. So they spoke anyway, interrupting, yelling over discussions, booing and hissing.

Residents say they were ill-informed of the permit proceedings, and that selectmen did not hear their concerns nor did they represent them by voting to approve the permit.

"You are not my voice," repeated resident Bonnie Unger, over a murmur in the crowd while Selectman Brian Major read the motion to approve the permit.

Selectman Chairman John Hess banged the gavel several times to quiet the meeting, many times unsuccessfully.

Cataldo interrupted the board's discussion several times until Hess warned her that he would have her removed from the meeting if necessary.

"Do you want to be removed from the meeting?" Hess asked her after she had interrupted them several times.

"Why? Would that be convenient for you?" she responded.

Andover police officer Bob Cronin, who was at the meeting to discuss a separate agenda item, says he the crowd was so rowdy he thought he might have had to take action, but waited for the word from selectmen, none of whom requested help.

Do the right thing

Selectmen say they're not happy that the company must use chemicals in its business, but they believe the plant would pose no serious threat to the environment or residents in the area.

Selectman Mary French says she considers herself an environmentalist, and would rather not see any more chemicals in Andover. "But that's not the world we live in," she says.

She adds that the area was specifically rezoned last year from one form of industrial area to an industrial area which provides for manufacturing.

According to the Town Warrant of 1998, the area was rezoned to make it more like the areas around it, and to help create manufacturing jobs in Andover.

Selectman Lori Becker says she felt it was her job as an elected official to make an informed decision rather than simply react to emotional outcries.

"I know more about xylene now than I ever thought I would," she says.

Selectman Brian Major, who moved approval of the permit, says that through touring the facility he found their operations to be clean and well-organized.

"I was impressed with their operations and safety proceedings," he says. "I see no reason not to invite them to be a neighbor in our community," he says.

Fire Chief Harold Wright says he also toured the facility to assess the company's look, smell, and impact on the surrounding neighborhood, and found their operation to be safer than that of many companies already operating in Andover, he says.

Wright also supports the selectmen's decision in the wake of reports that many long-time residents of town now on fixed incomes can no longer afford to live here.

"Selectmen also speak for the seniors, who need some (financial) relief. My hat's off to them. I know it took courage," he says.

Health Director Everett Penney says he made no recommendation to selectmen on the permit, but raised concerns about it early in the process.

"I think selectmen have attended to issues that were raised. (Safety) to a great extent is a function of how responsible the company is with their environmental requirements," he says.

Wright says the fact that the company is employee-owned gives it a vested interest in keeping the environment clean.

Before the motion was made, Hess asked the board members if they needed any additional information about the permit. The question was followed several tense seconds of silence before Major began explaining his reasons for moving to approve the permit. Representatives of California Products Corp. were seated in the audience, but no questions were asked of them.

Larsen says he voted against issuing the permit because the public did not want it.

"I think people are sick of feeling like they are not listened to," he says.

What's next

Since the company's building would be on the border of Andover and Tewksbury, both towns must approve its plans. Tewksbury selectmen approved the permit store flammables, and the building was approved by the planning boards in both Andover and Tewksbury, and by the conservation commissions in both towns, but the Tewksbury ConsCom may reconsider its vote.

Since the company applied for a notice of project change with the Office of Environmental Affairs, the Tewksbury ConsCom may require a new hearing. It will hold a public meeting August 11 to discuss the possibility of reconsidering the decision, according to Sean Sullivan, head of planning and conservation in Tewksbury.

The meeting is not scheduled to be a public hearing, and public comment will be at the discretion of the ConsCom chairman, Sullivan says. If the board votes to reconsider, then a new public hearing will be held, he says.

California Products has yet to obtain a building permit from Andover, or a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection says Joe DeAngelis, executive vice president of California Products Corp.