BIDDEFORD — It took months of negotiations to reach a deal for the city to purchase the Maine Energy Recovery Company waste incinerator, but before the sale is finalized, both the city and Casella have more work to do.

On July 31, city council voted to purchase the waste incineration facility and plans to close it next year. City Manager John Bubier signed the purchase-and-sale agreement on the city’s behalf within a day or two of the council vote.

Under the agreement, the city will pay Maine Energy’s parent company, Casella Waste Systems, based in Rutland, Vt., $6.65 million over 20 years, at no interest.

The sale’s closing is scheduled to be on or before Nov. 15.

Operations at the incinerator would cease within six months of the closing. Casella would tear down the facility within a year of the sale. Only the smoke stack, which would be capped, would remain.

The city would take ownership of the site and may develop it as it sees fit.

The city has hired Cedere Associates, LLC to conduct environmental studies at the site. If problems are uncovered, the terms of the sale could change, according to Bubier.

Storm water management, oil spills from underground tanks, chemical spills and electrical transformers are some of the potential contaminants that could be investigated, said Environmental Code Officer Brian Phinney.

However, he said, “I don’t see anything significant at the site that was unknown.”

While the work that the city must do is fairly straightforward, Casella has a more complicated road to travel as it moves on from the Maine Energy plant.

Casella must get a license amendment to allow trash from Biddeford and 13 other Maine communities, which is currently disposed of at Maine Energy, to be brought to an alternate site. Casella is planning to bring the waste to the state-owned landfill Juniper Ridge, located in Old Town, which the company already operates.

To allow this change, Casella must apply to the Department of Environmental Protection to amend its existing landfill license to allow them to accept additional waste ”“ above their current licensed amount ”“ at Juniper Ridge, DEP spokeswoman Samantha DePoy-Warren said in an email.

Casella has not yet applied to amend its license, she said.

The company plans to file the application within 30 days, said Casella spokesman Joe Fusco.

The DEP could also require a public hearing to be held on the license amendment.

“Given that this would be an issue of significant statewide public interest and impact, Commissioner Patricia Aho has determined that a public hearing would be appropriate as part of the department’s thorough, thoughtful and transparent licensing process,” wrote DePoy-Warren.

There may be some objections at a public hearing, she said, as a number of people in communities surrounding Old Town oppose making changes at the Juniper Ridge landfill.

To keep track of what’s happening in Augusta, the city, in partnership with the City of Saco, has hired the law firm of Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios.

The firm will notify Biddeford and Saco officials if anything happens in the state capital they should know about, said Bubier, and represent their interests.

The cities hired the firm for a combined $7,500 monthly retainer, he said.

In addition to environmental work at the Biddeford site, and securing the necessary license to bring waste to the Juniper Ridge landfill, a transfer station in Westbrook must be built.

The necessary permissions from the Town of Westbrook have been secured, but a minor modification from the DEP is required, said DePoy-Warren.

The site has already been prepped, said Phinney, but construction of the transfer station by Casella won’t be conducted until the Maine Energy sale is completed. If the sale goes through as scheduled, Casella will have several months to construct the transfer station, said Phinney, which should be adequate time.

Paying for the purchase is another consideration.

Recently, the state approved changes to the city’s tax increment finance, or TIF, fund program, said Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson, allowing it to be used for approximately half the annual payment to Casella, about $150,000.

Funds from TIFs can be used to pay for infrastructure and some other municipal improvements. Additional funds for the payment to Casella will come from lease payments from cell phone companies that lease space on the incinerator stack, which will remain for an indeterminate time. However, Sprint has already indicated it plans to remove its equipment from the stack, so some of that revenue will be lost.

But another company could step forward to lease that space, said Bubier.

Once vacant, Stevenson said he expects new development at the incinerator site, as well as increased investment in the mill district and the downtown. This would help offset some of the lost tax revenue ”“ more than $800,000 annually ”“ once Maine Energy ceases operation, he said.

While some developers have expressed interest in investing, nothing definite has transpired, said Stevenson.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.