State tells county health department to clean up former dump

By BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 01, 2001)

Carmel - A former dump used by Putnam County nearly 25 years ago must be cleaned up, state officials told the county health department this month.

"In general, we are researching our files and looking at these old landfills under a current microscope," Paul John, a solid waste engineer with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said yesterday.

The review and April 17 inspection were part of a broader assessment of closed landfills in the Hudson Valley, he said. It was also prompted by Carmel residents who contacted the agency with environmental concerns about the site off Route 6.

The 18-acre former landfill is close to land Carmel has agreed to sell to a developer who plans to build a luxury hotel and conference center. The town also is considering donating nine acres just northeast of the former landfill to build a new YMCA.

Violations were not issued after the inspection two weeks ago. The county was instructed to remove hundreds of abandoned tires on the 18 acres, evaluate an unidentified orange liquid streaming though the property and test roughly five nearby drinking wells, John said.

The county has until June 20 to comply.

"We are concerned also," Putnam County Health Commissioner Bruce Foley said yesterday. "We will take care of what needs to be done."

The county, he said, cleaned the site appropriately when it closed in 1976. It was used as a landfill for household garbage for less than a year, said Foley, who accompanied state officials during the inspection.

By next week, samples of the orange-colored liquid will be collected by DEC and health department representatives. A private lab will test the substance to determine if removal is warranted, said a DEC spokesman.

The former landfill being investigated is just north of Old Route 6 in Carmel. It is adjacent to property where developer Paul Camarda wants to build a hotel complex. Camarda won approval to purchase 19 acres of town-owned land along Route 6, just northeast of the former dump.

Residents opposed to the land sale had raised questions about possible environmental hazards on the adjacent property. Some contacted the DEC in December, asking the agency to review the site.

"It's prudent to look at it again," Camarda said yesterday. "But the county has a solid environmental record."

He said he planned to update environmental studies of his 68 acres and the 19 which he will acquire from the town.

The DEC plans to look at other former dump sites in Putnam County, but would not specify which ones.