Asphalt firm, Massachusetts city reach settlement on plant

Following more than six years of litigation, the town of Westford, Massachusetts, and Newport Materials LLC  have reached a settlement that allows the company to build an asphalt plant in the city. As part of the agreement, the city will receive an estimated benefit of around $8.5 million from Newport.

According to a release issued by the City of Westford, the mitigation package includes the following:

• Extensive neighborhood protection and operational limitations that include restrictions on the future use of the Groton Road property where the asphalt plant will be built;

• a strict limit of no more than 200 vehicles per day;

• reimbursement of the town’s legal fees ($550,000);

• a neighborhood mitigation fund ($200,000);

• a Sport Utility Vehicle for the Police Department;

• twenty miles of roadway paving;

• ten miles of sidewalk construction;

• repaving of 30 tennis/basketball courts; and

• provision of 300 tons of asphalt for 20 years to the Highway Department.

In exchange, Newport will be able to build an asphalt manufacturing plant on the property in accordance with a special permit with about 100 conditions of approval.

As part of the settlement, Newport also will pay for technical consultants to monitor traffic and other conditions of approval.

According to one news report, Richard DeFelice, the president and CEO of Newport, applied for a permit in 2009 to build the asphalt manufacturing plant on Newport’s 115-acre property. The Lowell Sun reports that the land had been used for recycling construction and demolition material.

Following a December 2014 decision by Land Court Judge Alexander Sands that remanded the project back to the town, Westford’s Planning Board denied the special permit for a major commercial permit to the company.

DeFelice appealed the April 2015 denial to Land Court.

The Settlement Agreement and related documents will be filed with Land Court on Oct. 5, 2016.