WILTON — Asbestos at the former Wilton Tannery is being removed this week and an underground oil tank is expected to be out by Monday, Town Manager Rhonda Irish told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday.

This fall, the town received approximately $37,000 more from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development to cover the tank and asbestos removal, she said.

Cleanup of the site is being done with the intention of preparing it for other commercial uses.

Total cleanup money awarded includes the initial $200,000 federal Environmental Protection Agency grant received last fall, the $150,000 received this summer and the $37,000, for a total of $387,000.

In other business, recreation director Frank Donald reported that some snags or legal issues have slowed  progress on the purchase and creation of a parking lot at Bass Park.

Although not elaborating on what the issues were, Donald told the board that work can move forward now.

With a recent anonymous donation, the town was planning to purchase land between the park and Route 2 to build a parking area and trail. Donald had hoped the town’s highway department crew could have gone in and started the work before winter. He wasn’t sure if they would have time now, he said.

Donald, Irish and others recently toured some trails in Minot that Irish was involved with while she was town manager there.

Public Works Director John Welch reported paving projects for this year have been completed, including Cross and Church streets, 2,000 feet of Fenderson Hill Road and 1,000 feet of Swett Road.

“The Road Committee has met recently to consider next summer’s road projects. High Street is the biggest project for next summer, while smaller projects are getting looked over to see which, if any, we can address,” Welch said in his report.

The town’s new 2013 Western Star tandem axle truck was delivered at the end of October. Welch said he believes it will become “the workhorse of the fleet and serve the town well for many years.”

For the Sewer Department, Clayton Putnam, superintendent for the water and wastewater departments, reported that the pump station work at the Tannery Road Station is expected to be done by Dec. 13. This is the last pump station receiving work under Phase 1 of the sewer department rehabilitation project.

The town’s plan for the Wilson Pond Dam project has been rescheduled to next summer with hopes the state Department of Environmental Protection will approve the work over the winter, he said.

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