SALISBURY - The haggling over the new state-created dunes at Salisbury Beach Center came to an end yesterday afternoon.

The newly built dune north of the 5 O'Clock Club at the top of Driftway was to be modified last night, Town Manager Neil Harrington said, and the dune at the head of Broadway will be taken care of tonight.

The compromise was reached after representatives from the state departments of Conservation and Recreation and Environmental Protection hammered out an agreement with town officials at the beach yesterday, Harrington said. All the work is to take place in the early evening, after beachgoers leave and when the major heat of the day is gone, he said.

The understanding is everything will be completed in time for Sand and Sea Festival organizers to start setting up Friday morning.

The new dunes were built by the Department of Conservation and Recreation at the request of the Salisbury Conservation Commission. The dunes were created while the state was repairing the severe beach and dune erosion caused by the three-day Partriots Day storm. Well-intentioned, the commissioners felt the dunes would protect the beach center from the flooding that often occurs during ocean and storm events.

Consternation came quickly after they were built on June 8, however, because the dunes restricted access to the beach and for the planned Sand and Sea Festival events. In addition, the new dunes caused flooding in a nearby business when the mound of sand directed high tide waters into the 5 O'Clock Club.

Beach residents and business owners complained loudly last week, and after listening for more than two hours, the Conservation Commission voted to ask the state to remove the dunes.

State Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, said yesterday he's pleased that after all the good work the Department of Conservation and Recreation is doing with its beach repairs, a compromise was reached over this one problem.

"I'm optimistic everything will be resolved in time for a successful Sand and Sea Festival to take place," Baddour said. "The families of the Merrimack Valley will thoroughly enjoy this festival and Salisbury Beach. I will be there."

Spokeswoman Wendy Fox said yesterday preventing the Sand and Sea Festival was never the intention of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

"Everyone is expecting the festival to go off this weekend," Fox said.

Wayne Capolupo, president of the Salisbury Boardwalk Partnership that is running the festival, also understood yesterday that negotiations were in the works to deal with the dune problem by setup time. Ski Doo racing teams and other festival vendors' tents, as well as the Sand and Sea Festival's stage, are to be set up Friday morning so the festival can begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday. According to Harrington, the state's schedule allow that.

Beach property owners and the Salisbury Boardwalk Partnership were so incensed by the creation of new dunes they filed a lawsuit against the state last Wednesday. Last Thursday, Capolupo said he was prepared to withdraw the Salisbury Boardwalk Partnership from the lawsuit as soon as the dune situation was resolved.