The Peterborough Conservation Commission voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the Select Board accept a $110,000 purchase offer from New Hampshire Ball Bearings for the South Municipal Well site.
NHBB offered to buy the town-owned property for $95,000 above its assessed value following more than three decades of unsuccessful efforts to clean the contaminated well.
Constructed in 1952, the well supplied drinking water to Peterborough residents for 30 years until the N.H. Department of Environmental Services identified NHBB as the source of contamination in 1982. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated the location a Superfund site in 1984. NHBB has since worked with federal and state regulators on remediation efforts.
Under the proposed purchase agreement, the town would release NHBB from past claims and financial obligations related to lost drinking water access, regional water shortages, and lost municipal utility revenue. Peterborough would also agree not to pump water from the site for 99 years.
Once acquired by NHBB, the land would be placed under a conservation restriction, and the town would begin collecting property taxes on the parcel.
In its recommendation letter, the commission noted that severe contamination makes future use of the well for drinking water unrealistic. Town counsel recommended accepting the deal, which gives NHBB direct ownership and management of containment while requiring regular cleanup updates to the town.
Commission Vice Chair Robert “Woody” Wood acknowledged environmental concerns but noted the long-term damage to the aquifer is already done.
“It relieves them of any possible future liability from the town, even though that’ll never, never, ever be used as a water supply well again,” Wood said.
Under RSA 41:14-a, municipal property transfers require advisory input from the planning board, conservation commission, and heritage commission prior to Select Board approval.
The Select Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed sale during its meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Intent to cut
Currently, the conservation commission does not have access to intent-to-cut notices and therefore has no opportunity to provide input before or after the select board signs them.
Swift Corwin, a member of the commission, explained that two years ago, the notices were shared when they were filed, allowing the commission to review the documents for conservation easements, unmanaged forest land, and wetlands.
“It’s an opportunity for us to chime in and say to the landowner, ‘Look, you have this intent to cut, and your land is an unmanaged forest, you need to make a change,’” he said.
The select board has 15 days to sign an intent-to-cut notice after it’s submitted; then it goes to the state. While this is a short turnaround, the commission would like to review the lots before the notices are signed.
With Corwin’s experience as a consulting forester and owner of Calhoun and Corwin Forestry, he explained the state wants notices to go through the system quickly to avoid delaying the timber business.
While a lot of this work is for show or based on technicalities, including the rule against cutting trees in an unmanaged forest, Corwin said, if no one reviews the property for these key issues at the local level, the state won’t act on these protections until a neighbor complains.
“We have had a role in the past, and it can be an important role,” Corwin said to the commission.
For now, the commission plans to start discussing this issue with Gretchen Rae, business manager for the Department of Public Works and Assessing Town Clerk for Peterborough.