While Boston’s decision to end its fight with Wynn was huge news in Everett for all corners of the City, a surprise addition touted as a gift to Charlestown was perhaps a great olive branch to the City of Everett – eliminating the long-disdained Boston Water & Sewer Commission (BWSC) Sludge Plant sitting right at the entrance to Lower Broadway.
The sludge plant was a highly-contentious issue in 2006 and 2007 when Boston quietly proposed to relocate the plant from Frontage Road in downtown Boston to the Everett/Charlestown waterfront. Bitter meetings were waged, but in the end, the BWSC won and located the facility right at the entrance to Everett – an entrance that Mayor Carlo DeMaria has wanted to be the face of Everett.
Having that kind of use there, however, has made it difficult to tout an up-and-coming waterfront. The mayor, along with many Everett residents, have long looked upon that situation as highly unfair to a city like Everett that was trying to re-brand itself using Lower Broadway.
This week, the mayor said he was glad to see Mayor Martin Walsh and Steve Wynn unexpectedly turn a negative use into something positive – such as the proposed parkland.
“I applaud Mayor Walsh and Steve Wynn for opening up the waterfront in Everett and Charlestown to the public,” said the mayor. “By removing a sludge plant and creating parkland, truck traffic will be reduced, our beautiful waterfront will be accessible and Everett and Charlestown will be soon be connected by parklands.”
Neither Mayor Walsh nor Wynn Everett folks were immediately available for comment on the possible removal of the facility.
The agreement calls for Boston and Wynn to look into the possibility of relocating the plant and replacing it with parklands. The MWRA windmill, however, will not be moved from its abutting property, which also houses a critical pump station.
The sludge plant is designed to handle 130 tons per day of materials that include catch basin cleanings, sewer cleanings and trench excavation from Boston construction projects.
The Boston Water & Sewer Commission Sludge Plant – seen here next to the windmill in the distance from the shore of the Wynn Everett project – could be removed and replaced with parklands according to the newly-inked Boston Surrounding Community Agreement with Wynn. The plant was once the subject of an intense
community fight, which the community lost. It was moved from Dorchester in 2007.