Town boots contractor from rotary staging spot amid license issues

Town officials are telling a contractor to kick rocks for allegedly breaking an agreement that let crews use municipal land near the Acton rotary to store dirt and debris.

Officials are also revisiting how they initially granted the license — and acknowledge that even if the contractor followed the rules, the town might have green-lighted dumping debris too close to a wetland.

Acton-based MIG Corp. secured a license from the town in November 2022 to use part of 1175 Elm Street.

The spot sits behind the Gulf station at the rotary and was an open field. MIG has been using the Acton plot as a staging area for soil and other materials from a state construction project at Kelley’s Corner near Acton-Boxborough High School.

Deputy Town Manager Megan Zammuto told The Acton Bridge that officials identified problems after a citizen complained to the state. Town Manager Kerry Lafleur said in a written statement that MIG violated its deal by expanding beyond the permitted area and encroaching on a 100-foot wetland buffer zone.

“We do recognize that the terms of the license have unfortunately not been adhered to,” Zammuto told the Select Board when she announced issues with the contractor last month.

The town’s MIG point person, Chris Keefe, didn’t respond to multiple calls from The Bridge. When a reporter visited the contractor’s office, a receptionist said Keefe was headed into a meeting and unavailable for an interview.

New map

MIG’s agreement estimated that the Kelley’s Corner overhaul would wrap up this month. The area still bustled during a recent visit, and Acton Town Manager John Mangiaratti said work will continue into the spring. He said MIG will stay on as part of the project.

MIG will have to finish its work without the Acton staging lot. Town officials had given the firm until November 15 to leave. The 2022 agreement already requires MIG to restore the area to its original condition. Days after the November 15 deadline, large dirt piles and heavy equipment were still on the property.

Lafleur said other contractors previously used the same spot for temporary staging.

State law requires special approval for work within wetland buffer zones. In 2022, officials said, a review showed the permitted area was in the clear. A new map suggests that wasn’t the case.

The map, released in response to Bridge questions, shows the permitted area overlapped with part of a 100-foot buffer zone and a 50-foot zone around a well, which Zammuto described as a monitoring well.

Officials have tabbed the same property as their preferred spot for a new Nagog Pond water treatment plant. Public Works Director Alan Cathcart told The Bridge that staff worked with the Natural Resources Commission on early designs.

He said they are now focusing on other projects to allow “some of the dust to settle” around MCI-Acton prison redevelopment and MassDOT’s planned rotary rework, which could shuffle Nagog plans.

Changes ahead

Crews operated construction equipment at the rotary site earlier this month. Concrete blocks lay in one pile, and ragged dirt piles loomed over Route 2.

Despite new revelations, Lafleur said the 2022 MIG license process “was consistent with available GIS data and applicable town procedures at the time.”

The NRC will oversee site restoration, she said. Town officials said they’ll require a surveyed plan for any future requests to use the land in question. Applicants will, “at a minimum,” need an NRC determination of applicability.