For months, the property owners clustered around the town common have watched the new town center sewer system, along with a new water main, snake up Massachusetts Avenue and make its way to the roads and lanes that branch from it in every direction. Like the tunneling of a mutant vole, the work has left a fresh network of asphalt-capped trenches, manholes, and pumps in its wake.
But the end is in sight, according to town officials, and next week the owners of the businesses, homes, and other buildings in the center of town will hear when and how they’ll be able to connect, once the collection system and treatment plant are complete.
—Rick Maiore
The update will be delivered by Town Administrator Tim Bragan, Finance Director Lorraine Leonard, and members of the three-person Sewer Commission on Monday, June 18, at 7 p.m. in Volunteers Hall at the town library.
Sewer Commission member and former Selectman Rick Maiore told the Press that his committee has generated “so much information” that it was time “to package it and present it to town center residents so they can make a decision.” The most important decision for property owners to make, said Maiore, is whether to connect now or later.
The new system will handle wastewater from 84 buildings in the center of town, of which roughly 60 are homes and the rest are businesses, churches, or municipal buildings, including Town Hall and the schools. By offering an alternative to the septic systems used today, the low-pressure collection system and centralized treatment plant will provide relief to homeowners whose current systems are in failure and flexibility to town planners hoping for a more vibrant center of town.
“If we do it right,” Maiore said, “we’ll end up with something very pleasing, very rewarding for the town.”
Work on the system has been underway since last fall, but has taken longer than planned. According to the most recent estimates of project manager Ron Ferraluolo of Ricciardi Brothers, Inc., the town’s contractor, construction is likely to be done by sometime in July or early August. But because the system must be tested and then licensed by state Department of Environmental Protection, Maiore said, the best guess of the Sewer Commission is that property owners will not be able to connect until October.
“It really hasn’t slipped that much when you think about it,” Maiore said. “It’s a matter of weeks,” not “months or years.”
When the system is ready, the Sewer Commission will manage it. Its members, who are appointed by the Board of Selectmen, include Maiore, Kyle Hedrick, who represents town center, and chairman Cindy Russo. Hedrick and Russo were not available for comment this week.
Property owners pay for pumps and connections
Property owners will be responsible for connecting their buildings to the system. Crews will already have run a pipe from a sewer main to a point chosen by the owner. Owners who decide to connect will need to install a so-called “grinder pump”–basically a pump and waste grinder in a tank–and connect it to their house and to the sewer main. In a low-pressure system like Harvard’s, it is those pumps plus a large-capacity pump at the elementary school that will push wastewater through the mains to the treatment plant.
Maiore said the commission expects each pump will cost from $5,000 to $6,000. The total cost, including pump, electrical work, and the digging of a trench for the connection, could run from $8,000 to $12,000, he said, depending on conditions at each site.
Property owners will also pay a betterment fee–a share of the cost of building the new system—which the town has promised property owners will not exceed $18,700 and which, unlike the connection costs, can be financed over 20 years.
Maiore said the Sewer Commission will select the pump to be used and will negotiate a guaranteed price for the model it chooses that assumes the purchase of 50 to 60 pumps by property owners. The town will also approve three to five contractors for residents to hire to do the work. Contractors who wish to participate will have to apply for a “drain layers license” and demonstrate they have the necessary expertise.
More users better for system
Though property owners are not required to connect to the system when it’s done, the commission has good reasons for signing up as many as it can. The system is designed to handle up to 23,000 gallons of wastewater per day, but will not operate efficiently if too few homes and businesses are using it, a condition that has plagued the system that currently serves the library and schools.
Also, the more users there are on the system, the lower the operating cost to the town. According to a 2009 estimate that was used to gain Town Meeting approval, the cost of running the system is expected to be roughly $85,000 in its first year. Without users, the town would pay the entire expense, but as other property owners join the system, they will begin to pay an annual usage fee, a number that will be set by the Sewer Commission later this year.
Finally, with more users, the commission, said Maiore, will be in a better position to judge its performance, and in particular, estimate the actual number of gallons per day that will be required to serve all of the buildings in the sewer district.
One question that haunts the commission is whether there is enough capacity. Once a sufficient number of buildings is connected, Sewer Commission members expect to know with greater certainty whether there is excess capacity for new projects, or not enough.
For property owners, the reasons for hooking up this fall rather than later are less clear. Those whose septic systems have failed will be required to do so. Others are free to postpone their connection. For those who take that latter course, there is always the risk the system will run out of capacity, even though it was designed to accommodate everyone.
“State law does not guarantee you a connection, even if you have paid the betterment fee,” Maiore said. But so far, he said, of the 60 homeowners who have been polled, 32 have said they plan to connect in the first year. Maiore said he expects all of the municipal buildings, except Hildreth House, will connect right away. So will the commercial properties, he said.
Last year, a sewer policy committee appointed by the Board of Selectmen recommended that the Sewer Commission charge property owners an escalating connection fee to motivate them to connect sooner rather than later: $1,000 for a year-one hookup, $2,000 for year two, and $3,000 thereafter. Maiore said that, while the fee is being discussed, the commission is not ready to announce it.
The meeting for property owners next Monday is purely informational, according to Maiore, and is the first of two planned meetings.
“Very early in September, right after Labor Day,” he said, “we will have a second meeting in which we will present the draft rules and regulations for the sewer district. At the tail end of that meeting, we will hold a public hearing on that document,” as required before the commission votes to adopt them.
Property owners need to start thinking about how they will finance the various charges that will come due this fall, Maiore said.
Beyond that, he said, “I would like [town center property owners] to feel good. They’re putting a lot of money into this. I want them to feel that they took a leap of faith and it’s going to work out for them.”
