Addressing concerns raised by the Board of Health, General Store owner Adam Horowitz and attorney Ruth Silman successfully made their case at the board’s March 10 meeting to move the Harvard Press into the store’s third floor—but only for 30 days. The concession by the health board came as member Lorin Johnson asked for more time to educate himself on the regulations and documentation that Nashoba Associated Boards of Health sanitarian Ira Grossman says prohibit the move. The Press moved into the building on Saturday, March 14.
Charged with interpreting Title 5 regulations and the precise wording of the 1971 permit that is the latest granted to the General Store’s site, Grossman took what he called “the bureaucrat’s point of view.”
“The issue for me is the statutory end—the current code requirements,” Grossman said, emphasizing that the approved septic capacity on the 1971 septic upgrade permit was equivalent to a single-family house. The Clothes Corner, a clothing shop in the building at the time, was authorized by the permit for three to eight employees, he said.
Moving another business to the 971-square-foot third floor would increase septic needs, said Grossman. “I can’t approve,” he said. “You’re moving in a separate business not germane to the General Store.” Strictly speaking, he said, the store’s history isn’t relevant; only the permit is.
“We have remained extremely vigilant, not transgressing any restrictions,” Horowitz told the board. “This will allow us to move forward and reach out to an important community activity in a difficult environment. We are very responsible citizens.”
Horowitz said the rationale behind the move was one of financial expediency during this economic downturn. Having started out as an advisor to the newspaper and recently taking an equity position in the Press, he said it’s “a logical step” to move the newspaper into his building, where it would pay no rent.
Horowitz introduced Joyce Garrick, the previous owner of the General Store, and said that prior to her husband’s death, the third floor had seven people working there (Harvard Camera), with six people on the second floor (Harvard Camera), and a first-floor minimum of seven people (the retail space and Harvard Pharmacy).
At one point in the building’s history, Horowitz said, “There were eight people in the basement—the Harvard Post. The press has a history.”
“With current code requirements, and me being the bureaucrat that I am, I have to go with the strict [wording],” said Grossman.
Horowitz hired Ross Associates to look at each floor’s square footage and the anticipated septic flows for retail and office space according to Title 5, the state law regulating septic systems. He calculated two employees in the store area at any one time, and said that he and Press co-owner Worth Robbins had estimated that the newspaper would contribute 100 man hours per week at the building, “way under the capacity for the system.”
“I’m not averse to the Press using that space,” said health board Chairman Tom Philippou. “I’m not convinced that it’s a substantially different use. That’s my personal view.”
As for wellhead and zoning issues that Grossman had raised as concerns in an earlier letter to Horowitz, attorney Silman tried to set the record straight on the Department of Environmental Protection’s Interim Wellhead Protection Area (IWPA) that Grossman believes includes the General Store. She said that town wells on Pond Road are included, but that one on Bolton Road is not and “will be officially abandoned soon.” Silman and Grossman quickly realized they were using different maps and would meet to clarify the situation. Discrepancies also became apparent regarding the permitted minutes-per-square-inch for septic flow, and Silman asked if there had been a fire or flood to cause a gap in records. Grossman assured her that “nothing had been lost.”
The Press’s occupancy at the General Store will again be on the board’s agenda at its March 24 meeting at 7:15 p.m
