By Joe Stewart

TL Edwards, an Avon-based asphalt supplier, has initiated operations at its new gravel pit at 775 South Street near Wampum Corner. Owned by Terry Edwards in Avon, the property has not yet been reassessed for tax purposes.

With this new operation, Wrentham now has three gravel operations. The SM Lorusso quarry at 78 Elysium Street is owned by Bird Corp. in Dallas and provides about $75K of tax revenue to Wrentham, and the Aggregate Industries operation at 400 Green Street is owned by Aggregate Industries in Dundee, MI and provides about $110K in tax revenue to Wrentham. Nearby in Plainville, the Lorusso gravel pit at 30-40 Cross Street is owned by Plainville Corp. and provides about $70K of tax revenue to Plainville. 

TL Edwards, a family-run business incorporated in 1969, operates an asphalt facility in Avon that utilizes both virgin gravel and MADOT-approved recycled process materials as an environmentally friendly alternative, while also managing its own quarry in Stoughton to ensure quality control.  Beyond asphalt and aggregate, the company operates a retail yard in Plymouth, offering a wide range of materials for residential and commercial projects, including loam, sand, mulch, cobblestones, and granite.

According to public records, Wrentham acquired the 18-acre property through a tax taking from the estate of Carmella Marra in October of 2003 to satisfy outstanding property taxes.  Edwards acquired the land at auction from the Town of Wrentham for $3.2M in June of 2023.  During the intervening two decades, Wrentham performed repeated environmental cleanups.  The cleanups were funded both by town expenditures authorized by Town Meeting and by securing grants, both state and Federal, including a $200K Brownfield Remediation grant from the US EPA in 2008.

Wrentham also appointed a committee, the Marra Property Reuse Committee, also known as 775 South Street Advisory Committee, to assess what to do with the property. The committee was composed of Ravi Nadkarni, Everett Skinner Jr., Edward Goddard, and Sandra Adams. It provided its feedback to the Select Board in 2011.  

Goddard served as the committee’s chair and recalled that the committee discussed many reuse options, including building a new elementary school, building veteran housing, selling for gravel extraction, selling for housing development, leasing for use as a hotel, and retaining as open space.

By March of 2020, following successful completion of multiple environmental cleanups totaling more than $250K, Wrentham received releases from the Department of Environmental Protection and the US Environmental Protection Agency, enabling the town to proceed with making a decision about what to do with the property.

Following purchase of the property in 2023, Edwards sought permits to develop the property. At a Conservation Commission hearing in March of 2024, Jude Gauvin, P.E. of OHI Engineering, said they plan to create three ponds to capture stormwater with a 100-year storm capacity, six catch basins along South Street, and a privacy berm which will keep water from leaving the project site onto South Street.

At a Planning Boarding hearing in May of 2024, Gauvin summarized the gravel operation, indicating that about 730,000 cubic yards of gravel would be removed over four years and that at its peak, about 100 trucks per day would transport the gravel along 1A, with more than 85% expected to travel south on 1A to I-495.

During public comment, concerns were raised about dust control and water runoff as well as traffic. Gauvin explained that spraying and stabilizing the slopes would help minimize dust and that discussions had taken place with public safety about police details, and a traffic management plan would be sent to the State.  

In a subsequent Planning Board hearing, Gauvin noted that comments from another firm, Beals & Thomas, which performed a peer review of the plans, had been addressed--most of the comments related to drainage. At the September 2024 Planning Board hearing, the Board agreed to a “tree planting” waiver so long as the owner pursues residential development following gravel extraction.  

And, at an October 2024 Conservation Commission meeting, the Commission’s Agent, Darryl Luce, reported that he had checked the newly installed erosion control measures and that operations would be starting soon.

Mike King, Wrentham Town Manager, shared that proceeds from the sale were allocated at the November 2023 Town Meeting to the feasibility study for major renovation or replacement of the Roderick Elementary School ($1.1M) and design of the Public Works/Land Use Building Facility ($800,000). The remaining funds, approximately $1.5M, have been placed into the Capital Stabilization Fund, essentially a savings account for future capital expenses. King highlighted that this sale enabled the town to move ahead with projects important to the town without impacting tax payers.