Wayland building committee confronts costly soil hauling at Council on Aging site

WAYLAND — March 26, 2024 — Wayland building committee braces for costly soil removal at Council on Aging site. The Permanent Municipal Building Committee learned March 26 that one 500-cubic-yard segment of stockpiled soil at the Community Center project tested above reportable limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, with PFAS results due April 6. Disposal costs were estimated at roughly $200 per cubic yard, potentially adding hundreds of thousands to a project with $422,000 in remaining contingency against a $12.52 million estimated total. Members said the town should put Raytheon, which conducted prior cleanup, on notice if PFAS is confirmed, calling the contamination a likely artifact of a previously discovered underground tank. The pile was being covered "out of an overabundance of precautions," and the site's RAM plan will be revised from 200 to roughly 1,000 cubic yards.