Yesterday, I wrote about the Town’s efforts to revise zoning in the Industrial Park zone to encourage commercial development. Today, I’m focusing on the initiative that Select Board members see as the other piece of the puzzle for attracting businesses to Route 9.
The Wastewater Study Committee has been digging into cost-effective ways to provide wastewater treatment to properties in the highway corridor. Here is an update on their efforts.
The details below are mainly from recent updates made at Select Board meetings and packet materials.
Select Board member Al Hamilton has spearheaded the Select Board’s work and chairs the committee created this past winter at his urging. He has pointed to lack of wastewater access as a major hurdle for attracting businesses to Southborough.
Financial Update
Last month, the Town applied for a $400,000 state grant to for engineering services to help assess potential sites for wastewater treatment and disposal. Town officials sounded optimistic about the funding chances. Applications stressed that Southborough is the only community on Route 9 between Goshen and Boston that lacks access to municipal wastewater.
According to the state’s website, the pending round of One Stop Grant awards will be announced by the end of September.
If the grant comes through, the state would expect Southborough to pitch in to cover 25% of costs. While that’s potentially $100K from taxpayers, Hamilton said it can be partially be covered by in-kind contributions. (Presumably, dedicated hours by Town staff contributing to the effort.)
If the funding comes through, expect the Select Board to bring an Article to the Fall Special Town Meeting to approve covering Southborough’s costs.
The study is just a small aspect of the financial commitment for creating a Wastewater system. In his July 1st update, Hamilton said that for the next few months the committee will focus on figuring out how Southborough would pay for a project. Grants are one possibility.
They are also studying creation of a DIF (District Improvement Financing) Overlay where a portion of new growth tax revenue could be collected for a special fund for financing a project. He posited the Town could created that within this year to get started.
Select Board member Kathy Cook worried that the concept of using new growth to fund a project to stimulate new growth would be a “chicken and the egg” problem. Hamilton explained that if the Town created an overlay zone (for example 1,000 feet on either side of Route 9), that there would be some activity in that area over the next five years. A portion of that new growth tax would be a start. He pointed out that work done in the EMC parcel would be part of that.
The committee will be having conversations with MWRA (Massachusetts Water
Resources Authority) and the Clean Water Trust to help them better understand the financing options.
Potential, but unlikely, pipeline connection
Speaking of the MWRA. . . In January, Hamilton told the Select Board that the working group had reached out about the possibility of connecting to MWRA’s wastewater pipeline that leads to the Deer Island Treatment Plant.1 He said that was unlikely. Since many of the systems connected include stormwater, they are already dealing with “peak loading” issues.
But in the July 1st update, Hamilton said the the committee hasn’t completely given up on the possibility. They are meeting with State Senator James Eldridge who they hope can help “open the door”. He didn’t mention the possibility of connecting to the Westborough system, but that had also been previously mentioned as unlikely.
Potential sites
Since the more likely scenario is that the Town is on its own, the committee has spent a lot of time looking at potential locations for a treatment plant and disposal site in town. A plant, expected to treat about half a million gallons per day, would require 1.5 to 3 acres. Another 5 to 15 acres is required for disposal of the treated discharge, which doesn’t have to be located on the same site.
One area being considered is the Dept of Public Works property on Cordaville Road. According to DPW Chief Bill Cundiff, there is some room between the Transfer Station hopper and the recycling area to fit a treatment plant. Hamilton said fitting it in “would be cozy”. He believed that if the property is used, the Transfer Station would require “substantial refiguration.
The treatment plant would have some odor (especially on warm days), though Hamilton wasn’t sure how far away the impact would be. But that is why they are seeking an area that isn’t too close to residences.
Early on the committee honed in on a potential location between the lanes of 495 that is large enough to handle treatment and disposal. They see the location as ideal, given the buffer between the highway and homes. He described it as ideal, since the highway creates a buffer from residences. But it would come with an additional cost for pumping wastewater uphill to the site. A few weeks ago, Hamilton updated that they have discussed the site with MassDOT and it is under consideration.
Once treated, the “effluent” water that needs to be discharged shouldn’t smell (or be toxic).
The committee had been pursuing the concept of using the water to irrigate the Southborough Golf Club. The idea was that during the time of year when the course doesn’t need watering (or needs less) the excess would be discharged into infrastructure buried under the golf course.
That idea was just shot down by the Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT), which hold the golf course’s Conservation Restriction (CR).
In May, the committee previewed the concept to the Conservation Commission and SVT. In late June, SVT issued a memo opposing the plan. The problems extend beyond needing to be convinced the effluent is safe for the use.
The CR Manager analyzed the legal agreement and found language they interpret as prohibiting many details (and potentially all aspects if the golf course ever ceased to operate in the future). The memo sums up:
Given that the proposed work includes a large sub-surface infrastructure (leach field) that would be receiving effluent from locations not approved in II1.C.(S), it would not entirely fit within [the area designated for allowed septic], the CR prohibits underground structures. . . , and is not incidental to the operation of the golf course or public enjoyment
Based on the analysis above, we cannot approve this project.
IF the proposal was simply to change the irrigation water source then I think we could approve that once we have a better understanding of the safeguards to ensure the effluent won’t harm the environment or people. However, if the course becomes inactive at some point in the future. . . the effluent would need to be discharged elsewhere
In his update to the Select Board this week, Hamilton lamented the “draconian prohibitions” in the CR. He said it served as “a cautionary tale about writing these sorts of instruments”.
It appeared that he was referring to any permanent use restrictions for Town properties (both conservation and preservation), since he followed “As a personal aside, I think it’s arrogant to try for one generation to try and impose its views on another.”
Hamilton didn’t specify other parcels the committee is considering. But he said that they have been discussing privately owned parcels as possibilities. Those conversations have been in closed Executive Sessions. (State law allows the public meeting exemptions to avoid a “detrimental effect on the Town’s negotiating position”.)
