LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 27 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
Woodworkers carve out new niche
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May 11 – 17, 2017 ]
Vanegas Named Purcellville’s Interim Town Manager BY NORMAN K. STYER
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
A covered venting well is one of the last visible traces of the Hidden Lane Landfill in Sterling. A source of groundwater contamination for decades, the site is moving closer to an environmental cleanup and possible redevelopment.
Loudoun’s Superfund Site Headed for Cleanup BY RENSS GREENE
A
closed landfill that contaminated drinking water in surrounding neighborhoods and made the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of most contaminated sites in the nation will finally be cleaned up. The 25-acre Hidden Lane landfill opened in 1971, mainly as a dump site for construction debris. It had a rocky history, with the county government challenging the landfill’s owners, Philip Smith and Albert Moran, in court many times. Large fires erupted at the landfill more than once. In 1985, the landfill shut down for good. Its impact, however, lingered on. In 1989, swirling concerns about the
landfill’s contamination of groundwater were confirmed when a common degreaser, trichloroethylene, was found in well water at homes in nearby Broad Run Farms. Wells serving 22 homes tested positive for the chemical, with 16 above safe drinking levels. Homeowners were advised to install carbon filters to make their water safe to drink. In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency added the 150-acre area around the landfill to its Superfund list of the country’s most contaminated sites. The agency has also been monitoring the plume of contamination underground with monitoring wells. Today, the landfill—north of Rt. 7 between Broad Run Farms and CountrySide and bordering the Potomac River— sits vacant, looking more like a park than
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an environmental hazard. That will begin to change under an agreement filed in Federal District Court last week. The order creates a mechanism for the landowners to repay the still unknown cost of the cleanup and sets the stage for the eventual development of the land. The landfill lies in the Algonkian District, which has been represented by Supervisor Suzanne M. Volpe (R) since 2011. “When I first ran, I had known about the Hidden Lane landfill, and I told the folks there that I was going to push as hard as I could,” Volpe said. She said whatever happens on the property, “number one, of course is to protect the LANDFILL >> 35
The Purcellville Town Council on Tuesday continued its administrative shakeup, tapping Public Works Director Alex Vanegas to serve as interim town manag er. The action came two weeks after Town Manager Robert W. Lohr Jr. announced that he would step down from his post, effective June 30, after 24 years of service. Lohr announced his retirement during a contentious April 25 Town Council meeting, where many members of the public and a few councilmembers criticized the council majority, saying he was being forced out. On Tuesday night, the council interviewed Vanegas and Assistant Town Manager Danny Davis for an hour each during a closed session meeting. Following an additional half hour of closed-door talks, the council emerged and voted unanimously to appoint Vanegas to the post. “You have given us a difficult decision to make at 11:30,” Mayor Kwasi Fraser said before the vote. He thanked both Davis and Vanegas for “stepping up in this time of transition and change.” Vanegas’ job will be to work with Lohr to ensure a smooth transition and then to manage the day-to-day operations of town departments. The council is expected to engage an executive search firm to help identify and recruit candidates to replace Lohr on a permanent basis. “My philosophy of leadership is to always take a team approach to addressing the needs of the community,” he said. During his time with the council, Vanegas said he VANEGAS >> 20
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