Wheatland Mayor Tom Stanton has pushed for borough council to act on his plan to take over the former Taylor estate dump site.

Council President David Cusick said council should act soon and put the issue to rest.

But it doesn't look like council's decision will make the mayor happy.

The state has asked the borough to take over ownership of the site at the south end of Church Street, west of Wheatland Tube, and the parties that are involved in an ownership dispute over it -- the Alvin Taylor estate and the John Maneely Co., parent company of Wheatland Tube -- have agreed to turn over their rights to the borough.

The estate and Maneely each contend that the other owns the property, and ownership has been the subject of an ongoing court battle.

Council has even taken a necessary step in agreeing to give up $4,050 in back taxes owed to the borough.

But council will likely balk at Stanton's plan over the borough's potential liability.

The 40-acre property was an unpermitted landfill from 1959 into the '70s. Municipal and industrial wastes were dumped there.

The state had the site cleaned up in 1999, and the waste, some of which is hazardous to humans, was consolidated on 10 acres and covered with topsoil.

Stanton believes the property is safe, but some council members don't agree.

"I'm just flat out afraid of it," Councilman Don Stinedurf said Monday.

"The liability problem bothers me," added Councilwoman Lorraine Jones.

Ms. Jones noted that Stanton, who did not attend Monday's meeting, wants to remove debris and plant trees, and possibly create a walking path.

"You can't dig there to plant trees," Ms. Stinedurf said of state guidelines for maintaining the site. "I don't want the borough to buy properties that we can't do anything with."

Borough street department workers have said they will refuse to go on the site, Cusick said.

Ms. Jones said many borough residents likely will feel the same way.

"You can't make people go there," she said. "If it's that clean, let someone else buy it and pay the taxes."

Council asked solicitor William Madden his thoughts on the borough's liability.

"I'd have to want the park awfully bad before I'd get into that," he said.

Stinedurf said there was some worry that someone would want to open a new dump at the site. Madden said the borough cannot use its zoning ordinance to prohibit landfills, but the site probably is too small to be of interest to landfill operators, and state regulations are very strict about how landfills are run.

Cusick said council has passed the issue on from month to month and wants to put it to rest.

"Wednesday night, let's get it behind us," he said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at jpinchot@sharon-herald.com