HARTFORD — Officials from the Department of Environmental Protection and Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments met with selectmen at the salt/sand shed site on Guerney Road on Tuesday to determine if the area is suitable for use as the transfer station.

The present transfer station is on Marble Road and according to Selectman Lee Holman, the roads to the station can be almost impassable in bad weather. “That’s why we have curbside pickup. The many roads leading to Marble Road are not passable many times in the winter.”

The present site has about 60 acres, but access is very difficult, Holman said.

Holman added that when the transfer station is moved to the site with easier access there are no plans to change the curbside pickup.

“We are putting the new one where it will work best for us,” he said.

There are also plans to put a Swap Shop at the new site that will recycle items out of the waste stream.

DEP Environmental Specialist Linda Butler said though the property behind the sand/salt shed slopes down into wetland, selectmen agreed that the filling would stop short of the wetland.

In order to use the space, hundreds of tons of rocks will have to be pushed over the 10-foot bank. The rocks and some gravel came from the excavation of Ricker Hill Road, which was paved this summer. Rocks from old rock walls had been pushed into the road over the years and in order to properly pave, the rocks had to be removed.

There are 4.2 acres at the sand/salt shed site and Holman said plans would have to be made to allow for dump trucks to access the station without interfering with sand trucks in the winter.

Butler said the boundary lines would have to be established so the new facility would not be too close to an abutting home.

From left, Hartford Selectman Jack Plumley, Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments environmental engineer Ferg Lea, state environmental specialist Linda Butler and Hartford Selectman Lee Holman check out the proposed site for the transfer station.