MANCHESTER — The town now owns three houses built on contaminated Pine Street land once used as a burn dump — and is looking to sell them by the end of the week.
The town purchased the last of the houses — 158 Pine St. — on Oct. 9 for $650,000 from Stephen and Victoria Lauber as part of a state-mandated cleanup of the sites. Now, the town is selling the houses at 156, 158 and 160 Pine St. through a sealed bid process. The sealed bids are due by 10 a.m. Thursday, and will be publicly opened and read aloud at that time, Town Administrator Wayne Melville said yesterday.
As of yesterday, the town hasn't received any bids for the houses, which all sit on property that served as a burn dump in the 1950s. Melville said he only expects bids for the house located at 156 Pine St., a large yellow house bought by the town for $858,000 in July.
Any or all of the properties will come with some strings attached. The bids are being accepted for the houses only, with town maintaining control of the land, and the homes will have to be removed by the buyers within 45 days of the sale, according to Melville. There is no minimum bid listed because of the cost associated with moving a house. Winning bidders will receive their respective houses when the announcement is made Thursday.
Melville said bidders will also have to own a lot in Manchester to move the house at 156 Pine, because it can't be transported along Route 128 since the height of the highway's overpass essentially blocks access to other towns.
"The buyer will need to put in the Manchester Village area," Melville said. "It is a big house, and it can't go the other way."
"Our main goal is to avoid the cost of tearing the houses down," said Melville. "We don't want to own them over the winter."
Melville said there are still sheds, garages, fences, walkways and items left in the houses that could be sold. If the houses aren't sold, the town will have to determine what to do with the items before the houses are torn down.
"We are looking to get rid of whatever we can at no cost," Melville said of clearing the properties. "Whatever is left we will have to tear down."
He said selectmen have previously talked about letting local Scout troops hold a rummage sale with all the items left behind in the houses as a fundraiser.
The town has been ordered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to clean up the three properties, where high levels of lead, arsenic, chromium and cadmium have been found in the soil and sometimes even on the surface.
In April, Town Meeting approved spending $2.4 million to purchase the homes and pay for testing and preliminary engineering after the mandate. The town recently signed a 11âÑ2-year contract with engineering firm Woodard & Curran valued at $84,800. The firm also oversees Manchester's water operations.
Earlier this month, Melville said the town has already spent nearly $119,000 on assessments and soil samples on top of $26,000 in legal expenses related to the Pine Street properties and the state mandate since April 2008.
After the structures are moved or torn down, the town will move forward with a cleaning process known as "capping," said Woodard & Curran engineer Peter Nangeroni at Town Meeting in April.
Capping the site would involve placing 2 feet of fill on top of the existing, polluted earth. The cap would require maintenance and use of the land would be limited in the future; it could be used for hiking trails or a recreational field but not for residential purposes.
Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, X3447, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
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