Why a property owner is suing Portsmouth over ‘contamination’ of site
New owner of Banfield Road site claims city dumped C&D waste during urban renewal projects in ‘70s
The property on Banfield Road in Portsmouth used to be a landfill. (Deb Cram/Seacoast Online)
The new owners of a Banfield Road property they’re seeking to redevelop have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city, the Portsmouth Housing Authority and others because of alleged contamination on the site.
Banfield Realty LLC claims in federal court documents 375 Banfield Road “had formerly been used as a solid waste landfill, automobile repair shop, car-crushing facility and salvage yard.”
The waste dumped at the site, according to the lawsuit, came in part from “waste building demolition materials deposited there by the city of Portsmouth and/or the Portsmouth Housing Authority in the 1970s during the city’s urban redevelopment (urban renewal project),” according to the lawsuit.
Banfield Realty LLC, through its attorneys, says it’s “working with New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with regard to characterization of the historical contamination and cleanup of the site.”
The previous owners of the property named in the suit are listed as Roeseland Holdings LLC, according to city of Portsmouth records.
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