What would a town center sewer district look like? And what would it cost?
Those were just a few of the questions explored by Harvard residents, who gathered at the Oak Hill Road home of Carlene Phillips to talk about a possible town center sewer system. The evening was moderated by members of the Town Center Sewer Action Committee, who organized two informal coffees this week to hear feedback from town residents and field questions.
Committee members Wade Holtzman and Carrie Frasier opened the meeting by clarifying the committee’s job.
“Our job is to present a plan for a town center sewer to the selectmen by the first of the year, and then the plan will go to the town for a vote, so we can do something,” Holtzman said. He added, “At this point, we’re exploring all options. We’re starting with the scenarios that are the simplest and the cheapest, but we’re also looking at ‘the whole hog’ scenario, too. We’re going to explore everything and present what we think is the best, most cost-effective, idea.”
The residents attending the meeting were unanimous in their opinion that there is an immediate and serious need for a town center sewer. The five municipal properties in the town center—the old library, Town Hall, the fire house, the Hildreth House, and Bromfield House—all currently have ancient systems that are inadequate for their current use.
Other town center properties are suffering, too. The Unitarian Church is unable to expand its Fellowship Building because of inadequate septic capacity. The Congregational Church is also limited in its ability to upgrade its facilities. The Harvard Inn on Fairbank Street, site of some of the town’s limited affordable housing, has a septic system that is currently in failure with limited options for remediation.
And the newly-opened General Store has its problems, too. Owner Adam Horowitz described the store’s system as “ancient” and “fragile.”
“Even with just one hot dog stand and making coffee,” he said, “we’re at risk of having that system fail every day.”
Horowitz added that the store in its current configuration is “unsustainable.” It is currently operating only at one-third capacity, he said, which makes it financially impossible to maintain.
“Our intention was to invest up front to demonstrate our commitment and to show what could be,” he said. “That’s why we stepped up in the beginning. But without a town sewer, the building isn’t viable. We just don’t have a choice at the end of the day.”
On considering the status of town center buildings, Oak Hill Road resident Susan Barber echoed the sentiments of many as she envisioned the future.
“How sad it would be,” she said, “to have a town center that was dead.”
Horowitz agreed. “The municipal buildings belong to the residents of the town,” he said, “If we don’t address the sewer problem, then we have failed as residents.”
With agreement on all sides that a town center sewer would be a good thing, conversation turned to dollars and cents. A sewer project is always an expensive proposition, acknowledged Holtzman and Frasier, so their job as committee members is to explore the most cost-effective and efficient ways of getting the job done.
One option currently under consideration is to utilize the current system at the school. While the system is able to process up to 18,000 gallons per day, the school uses only about 6,000 gallons, which leaves an excess of approximately 12,000 gallons. The committee is exploring whether this quantity would be adequate to serve the needs of the municipal buildings while also allowing for possible future growth of the school. By using the existing setup, the town could bypass significant costs associated with building a brand-new system.
Another option in cutting costs to taxpayers would be to allow town center property owners and homeowners to hook into the system. By agreeing to hook in, these stakeholders would take on a significant burden of the costs associated with creating the system.
Holtzman noted that having homeowners tie into the septic would provide an additional benefit. Municipal buildings operate only during business hours, and such irregular usage causes the septic system to work less efficiently. One resident noted that town employees are currently “feeding” dog food to the school’s septic system during the summers in order to keep it operating smoothly. Conversely, regular homeowner “contributions” to the town sewer system would help it to operate at maximum efficiency.
Meeting attendees, many of whom happened to be town center residents, agreed that town center homes are in dire need of a town center sewer. Most of the homes in the town center are situated on small parcels of land, so when a septic system fails, there is little or no space to put in a new system. Some residents have been forced to partner with neighbors to build shared systems. Others have put in mounded systems, which, agreed residents, are not only unsightly but also create environmental problems of their own. Fairbank Street resident Hellie Swartwood described her concern for how the mounded systems create a dangerous domino effect, increasing runoff onto neighbors’ lands and in turn causing new drainage problems.
Residents and committee members alike acknowledged that there were still many questions to address before any proposal was ready to put before residents at a Town Meeting. They discussed the importance of making sure that any data they used in creating models for a system were accurate and trustworthy, making provisions to prevent overdevelopment in the town center sewer district; and ensuring that all town residents felt that the distribution of cost for any project was fair and appropriate.
While all meeting attendees agreed on the necessity of examining all risks associated with pursuing a town center sewer project, they also agreed that an even bigger risk would be to do nothing at all.
“The cost of doing nothing,” said Holtzman, “is going to be very expensive.”
