Published Friday, December 6, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
Wheatland soon will be able to claim the former Taylor dump site as its own.
Mayor Tom Stanton said borough council passed the Wheatland Conservation Authority ordinance on Wednesday.
Once the state authorizes the ordinance, PennDOT will turn the land over to Wheatland, Stanton said.
Wheatland Conservation Authority is a five-member group that will manage the Taylor dump property. The group consists of Stanton and residents Ray Foster, Shirley Mae Riley, Tom Lewis and Given Valimont. They plan to meet in two weeks to discuss the 40-acre property.
The former Taylor dump site is located along the Shenango River at the southern end of Church Street, west of the Wheatland Tube Co. plant.
The ownership of the site is disputed by the Alvin Taylor estate and the John Maneely Co., parent company of Wheatland Tube. Both sides are willing to turn over their rights to the borough, just so long as they aren't responsible for any taxes.
Mercer County, Farrell Area School District and Wheatland will have to exonerate the taxes.
"This will have to be done through court proceedings," Stanton said.
The dump site was an unpermitted landfill from 1959 into the 1970s. It contains municipal and industrial wastes.
The state had the site cleaned up in 1999. The waste, some of which is hazardous to humans, was consolidated on 10 acres and covered with topsoil. Grass was planted and has since grown.
The site is directly next to the Wheatland-Farrell Little League fields, which is one reason Stanton said they wanted to take it over.
"If nobody did anything with it, it would affect the ball field and Little League," he said. "We didn't want it going back to being a dump. We want it back to where nature intended."
Stanton said he would like to stabilize the riverbank, clean up debris left from the 1985 tornado and maybe create a walking path at the south end of Church Street, west of the Wheatland Tube plant.
One definite plan is to plant trees and other vegetation native to Pennsylvania, including lilac bushes and nut trees.
"It won't be too difficult to get grants for money to help out on the projects," Stanton said.
The mayor said he hopes to involve young people in some of the projects.
"We're going at it very slow,' he said. "I think it'll be three to six months before we have the actual possession."