The big issue for landfill neighbors is ‘quality of life’

With their business and home located at the entrance to the West Old Town Landfill on Route 16 in Alton, Rosalita and Lyman Feero Sr. have many concerns – both environmental and emotional.

“The biggie for everybody here is the quality of life,” Rosalita Feero said Tuesday. “We’ve lost it and we’re going to lose it even more.”

Trucks from Georgia-Pacific Corp. drive past the Feeros’ home all day to go in and out of the landfill, she said, many times waking up the couple when bright headlights shine through their bedroom window.

“It hurts me when I look into my husband’s eyes and think about this property being worth nothing,” Rosalita Feero said.

Her husband, Lyman Feero, was born in the upstairs bedroom of the couple’s home more than 60 years ago. Now married for 37 years, they bought the original Feero family homestead from Lyman’s mother after she was no longer able to care for it herself. Lyman’s brother George lives across the street, and the couple’s son lives just down the road. For more than 15 years, the couple worked in the forestry business, and now Rosalita owns a quilting business located on the couple’s property.

“The emotion that’s tied up here from four or five generations is high, and we don’t want to move,” Rosalita Feero said.

“We put all of our savings into this building,” Rosalita said as she looked around her quilting shop. She said she’s worried that customers won’t want to buy her fabric if it smells like the landfill, or that she won’t be able to open the windows during summer quilting classes because of the dust being kicked up by passing trucks.

All of the nearby families have been in the area for generations, and they also are worried about what the future will bring, Rosalita said.

“If [Georgia-Pacific] thinks that this is going to save them, they’re crazy,” she said. “They’re going to go down the tubes with the rest of the mills in the state.”

The Feeros feel they have not been informed adequately about the landfill deal. They have not been contacted by Casella Waste Systems, according to Rosalita, and, the last she knew, the Maine Department of Transportation had not considered the impact of heavy truck traffic on Route 16.

Don Meagher of Casella said this week that all residents with property abutting the landfill site had been sent letters on the sale and the amendment application by certified mail. Meagher said he had a receipt documenting the Feeros’ notification.

“I wish there was something magic I could say that would change it all,” Rosalita said.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in this community that wants to deny anyone a job,” she said. “We certainly understand putting food on the table … but there’s no guarantee.”