Council Puts a Stop to Sewer Project

When nearly three dozen residents showed up at a public hearing last month and spoke out against a sewer proposal for their neighborhood, their complaints fell on deaf ears.

The Water Pollution Control Authority polled the audience - 30 against, 2 in favor - then voted to recommend the project anyway. It would include 95 homes in the area of Woodpond Road, Woodruff Road, Shady Lane, Blueridge Drive, Helm Drive and Ridgeview Drive and cost $2.5 million.

But when the same residents showed up at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, they didn’t have to begin the hour-long litany of objections to the proposed low-pressure, grinder-pump system before Council Chair Jeff Hogan told them he was on their side.

“During the WPCA meeting it became abundantly clear that the vast majority of affected residents are not in favor of moving ahead with the low-pressure sewer system recommended by WPCA,” Hogan said. “I have no desire to pursue this system and hold a referendum on it if the majority of affected residents oppose it.”

His opening comment was met with loud applause, but didn’t stop the dozen speakers who stepped up to the podium from still speaking their minds, saying mostly that the neighborhood needs sewers - particularly for environmental reasons - but that the lower cost low-pressure system is not acceptable.

The system, which requires each home to purchase and maintain a grinder pump (described as a larger version of a garbage disposal). The pump runs on electricity, so cannot be used when the power is out, but is a much less expensive alternative to a traditional gravity system. In the Woodruff area, the slope and rock bed would require extensive blasting to install a gravity system, Town Engineer Russ Arnold has said.

"I agree we need a system... but why is this the only thing being offered to us when the rest of the town has a system they don't worry about when the power goes out?" said Jennifer Egan, a resident of the area.

Some said they were afraid the system would devalue their homes and others worried mechanical failure would cause sewage to back up into homes or contaminate the nearby pond.

The project failed at the November 2011 referendum, which fell at the very end of the power outage resulting from the October snowstorm. Not only was there low turnout at the polls that day, but surprisingly few people voted on the sewer question. Hogan said council members heard that in numerous cases, voters just didn’t see it on the ballot. Because of the low number, the council decided to put the question to another vote.

Public hearings both at WPCA and before the Town Council were held prior to the November referendum. The first round of meetings saw nowhere near the large volume of residents the second has evoked. Reaction to the project at the first WPCA hearing was split.

Town Manager Kathleen Eagen stressed that the council does not have the authority to mandate the type of sewer system it would like to see installed. The WPCA acts as the policy authority on sewers and the council acts as a finance board to authorize funding. That means it cannot change the WPCA's recommendation.

Council members indicated they would work to see a good sewer system installed in the neighborhood.

"I think it’s incumbent upon us and the WPCA to figure out a way to get a resolution to this situation for this neighborhood that gets them good, quality sewers at a reasonable cost and solves the environmental problem," said councilmember Mike Demicco.

Nancy Nickerson agreed.

"I really do believe something needs to be done," Nickerson said. "I certainly will not move this forward but also will not let it go."

To read an account of the June 14 public hearing at the WPCA meeting, click .