WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Opinions are mixed among residents near Watertown’s former landfill about a proposal to bring energy-producing plants to the site.
Options to use the land again are few. City council is considering a solar farm on the site. Council member Shane Garrabrant has offered another idea.
“If we could investigate kind of a parallel path and look into the possibility of nuclear power at the site,” he said.
Residents of homes along Water Street, near the former landfill, have mixed opinions about the land’s next use.
Marc Hamrick, who has lived on Water Street for six years, said he has concerns.
“So just overall the devaluing maybe of the property or potential chemicals getting into the soil and just overall not usable land anymore would be a lot of our worries,” Hamrick said.
Other residents did not want to appear on camera. One man who has lived near the old landfill for 30 years said the idea does not bother him much.
A woman who lives not far from the site said she is concerned and will be paying close attention. Another man who has lived on Water Street for eight years said he believes the city can do what it wants with the land.
A woman who has lived in the area for a decade said she is worried about what either project would do to the environment.
At the last city council meeting, council member Doug Osborne agreed with Garrabrant’s idea. Osborne said nuclear power could be something to look into because New York state is making its use a priority.
Osborne said the council will consider residents’ concerns before taking action.
“What I would say to them is we’re going to take…everything into consideration to include their concerns before we take action on anything. Obviously safety is paramount. Whatever the existing character is in that area, obviously we don’t want to have a significant environmental impact on that. This whole process is still in the very, very early stages,” Osborne said.
At the same meeting, council member Ben Shoen questioned whether nuclear power could be put on the site. He said he believes there is not enough usable land to build something there.
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