Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Superintendent Nick Nicholson, along with the Town’s administration, had hoped to receive a state grant to partially fund the extension proposed for sewer service on North Street and into the Industrial Business Park. When that didn’t come through, it was back to the drawing board.

The estimates to bring sewer service north on North Street and then east into the industrial park were “cost prohibitive,” as Nicholson put it during the January 6 Water and Sewer Commissioners meeting. With that option off the table, potential customers in the business park sought other avenues.

The Bay Club abuts the business park, so discussions have been underway between those business owners and the management team at Bay Club to see if it is feasible to connect to their private sewer lines. The Bay Club owns the entire infrastructure associated with the subdivision, but is connected to public water and sewer via private pipes.

Homeowners on North Street, who would have been approached about connecting to public sewer service, will not be part of any plan forged between the industrial businesses and the Bay Club. Nicholson said those properties will be part of a separate plan yet to be crafted.

The commissioners also met with Mattapoisett resident Ron Sylvia regarding the Cove Street sewer project. Sylvia had been making the rounds of various Town boards trying to find out how an empty, unbuildable lot on Cove Street (situated on a barrier beach) was showing up on engineering plans for a sewer stub. After meeting with the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission, he was directed to meet with the Water Commissioners.

Prior to the evening’s meeting, Nicholson had read aloud for the record a letter he received from Bob Rogers, chairman of the Conservation Commission, questioning the plan of record that seemed to be in conflict with the engineering plans.

After Nicholson and the commissioners reviewed the plans, the error was found.

“It should not have been done,” said Blair Bailey, attorney for the commission. “It’s going away.”

The bid plans will reflect only the 28 house lots on Cove Street and not any unbuildable lots. Sylvia was satisfied and thanked the commissioners for their responsiveness.

Nicholson told the commissioners that NSTAR has a five-year vegetation removal plan in their easements. Of particular concern was the possibility that herbicides would be used during NSTAR’s aggressive defoliation activities.

With easements going through Mattapoisett’s river valley and watershed areas, Nicholson proposed sending a letter to the utility company asking for their cooperation and consideration in this matter. The group agreed and will ask the other affected towns to be part of that communication.

Nicholson also announced that OSD, LLC will be hired to conduct a study of ‘inflow infiltration.’ The study will find those hot spots where stormwater, sump pump discharges, and other unwanted water sources are entering the sanitary treatment process. Once they are identified, a remedy to eliminate them will be developed.

Such increased water flow into the sewer system consumes resources and adds unnecessary costs. The cost for this study is $47,000 and will be funded by monies previously approved by Town Meeting.

On this cold winter’s night, the thought of swimming pools was far from everyone’s mind except the Water Commissioners.

They are developing, as part of their policy updates, a plan that will allow homeowners to fill their pools, calling it “one per year, per dwelling” for no fee. The homeowner will need to call ahead for a meter reading before and after completing the fill. The fill will be calculated and deducted from water bills. The savings to the resident will average around $160.

Continuing on the theme of developing new policies, the commission will be looking at requiring external grease traps for commercial and institutional facilities.

Noting that grease entering the sewer lines causes a great deal of harm to the system, they concurred that forward-moving external grease traps made sense. The mechanism for enforcing the requirement for external traps will have to be created – possibly falling to the Building Department – while maintenance responsibility will fall to the Sewer Department.

“The goal is to keep the system clean,” Nicholson said.

Also being reviewed are new forms that would establish a sewer bank, wait list policy, connection requests, and a leak policy. The leak policy will allow the customer 10 days to repair the problem once it is discovered.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Commissioners is scheduled for January 20 at 6:00 pm in the department’s offices located at 19 County Road.

By Marilou Newell

What a difference a few days made on January 5 for the Mattapoisett Planning Board.

At the December 29 special public hearing, the Planning Board had a rather frustrating exchange with Mattapoisett Highway Surveyor Barry Denham regarding Brandt Point Village.

At that meeting Denham said, “I wasted my time again!” He had been driving home the point that road construction had begun on Phase II of the subdivision in clear violation of the permit and the board’s conditions.

The board had received a letter from the subdivision’s attorney, John Williams (also a partner in the project), which stated no road construction had begun on Phase II and that a culvert was being installed for a turtle crossing.

Planning Board member John Mathieu asked on December 29, “Let’s say it is road construction, what is the issue?”

“The issue is we need inspections at every stage!” insisted Denham.

After Denham left that meeting, the board members decided that they would require the developer of Phase I to pave all side roads currently at the site, requested as-built plans for the culvert, and decided to engage the Town’s engineering firm to develop a checklist for the developer that clearly states when inspections are to be done throughout the road construction process.

At the January 5 meeting, though, the board took a decidedly stronger approach with the developer.

Acting Chairman Ron Merlo had called the developer’s engineer Al Loomis of McKenzie Engineering and requested specifications for the culvert that had already been installed and termed a “turtle crossing.” Attorney Williams had sent a letter to the Planning Board in advance of the December 29 meeting stating that no roadway construction had begun, only the installation of a turtle crossing.

“It’s been going on over a month now,” stated Denham on January 5. He said that truckloads of fill had been delivered to the site, 400 feet had been grubbed, and that the turtle tunnel was really an engineered bridge that had not been inspected.

“In my opinion, road construction (on Phase II) has begun,” Merlo concurred. “My goal is to establish a line of communication with the developer, [and] find out what types of soils and analysis have been used.”

“This is the third time that construction started before formal meetings have taken place,” said Denham. “Twice on this job and once on Appaloosa.”

Merlo said it was clear to him that the developer had failed to make the necessary effort to set up meetings to discuss the project and request inspections with the Highway and Sewer Departments.

“I’d like to send a letter to Williams to step up his game…,” said Merlo.

Mathieu wanted to give the developer a checklist with set milestones for requesting inspections.

“It is a two-phase subdivision … the market didn’t allow it to happen all at once…,” stated Mathieu. “Right now, the thing is not producing tax revenue for the Town…. I want them to finish this thing.” He said he did not want to put any roadblocks in place that would hinder the developer in completing the work.

This enraged Mattapoisett resident Paul Osenkowski, a vocal opponent to the project since the beginning. He angrily asserted that the developer was not following the rules and is causing problems for the neighbors in the area.

“I request a cease and desist order,” said a more calmed Osenkowski.

Merlo asked the board members to vote on whether or not to send a letter to Williams, putting him on notice that he needed to appear before the board and explain the work that has taken place at the site. Merlo also asked that the wording include the cessation of roadwork until Williams came forward. The board agreed to send the letter and to contact Loomis again for any additional information he may offer on inspections done at the site by a qualified engineer.

Also during the meeting, the aforementioned Appaloosa subdivision situated off River Road was on the agenda.

Brian Grady of G.A.F. Engineering was present to explain that he was awaiting comments from the Town’s engineering firm, Field Engineering, on the materials G.A.F. had submitted on the project. That information included engineering plans, watershed maps, and drainage calculations.

Grady confirmed that recent percolation testing demonstrated that the two lots were in conformance with Board of Health requirements. He was granted a continuation until the next regular meeting.

Earlier in the evening, the board approved a Form A (application for endorsement of plan believed not to require approval) for David Nicolosi of Deerfield Road to subdivide a five-acre parcel to his neighbor, Veronica Brockwell of 13 Randall Road, for horse pastures. The board voted to accept the request.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board is scheduled for February 2 at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room.

By Marilou Newell