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Construction of the municipal sewer system may continue if selectmen agree to a Phase 3 for the project. |
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Sewer expansion pitch brings up growth factors
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — Selectmen were pleasantly surprised last week when the wastewater team overseeing the municipal sewer system said a 20- to 25-percent cut in water rates — currently the highest in the state — might be possible for sewer users beginning in November.
But there were some fairly significant strings attached to continued rate relief, strings that have opened a potentially far-reaching conversation on what Provincetown is going to look like on a year-round basis going forward. At the same time, town officials are struggling to understand and manage a sewer system that since it went on-line in 2003 has expanded like kudzu, the Southern vine that grows over almost any fixed object in its path, including trees, telephone poles and, if unchecked, houses.
“When it comes to the sewer, nothing makes sense to me despite how long I’ve been around,” said Selectman Mary-Jo Avellar, a sewer user and long-time critic of the system. “Bad engineering. Bad information. This has been a nightmare from the beginning. This sewer system needs to be redesigned, refinanced, re-everything.”
But others, including board of selectmen chair Michele Couture, believe the sewer system could be the economic engine that powers badly needed growth in town. As a result, the town has an opportunity to begin a long-range planning process that has not been possible over the last 14 months, as a new board of selectmen and new town manager have grappled with transition issues stemming from the departure of long-time Town Manager Keith Bergman. What should the town focus on: expanding the sewer system to allow new, sustainable year-round businesses, including a potential redevelopment of Fisherman’s Wharf; or keep the capacity where it is so as not to overtax the region’s natural resources and sewer users’ wallets?
One-shot deal
When the sewer system was first designed in 2001 it was intended to be a one-shot deal allowing an estimated 350 properties — mostly downtown businesses — to comply with a 1995 state law setting new requirements for on-site septic systems. Since then, however, Phase One has led to Phase Two, with a total of 709 property owners signed up to connect at a total construction cost of approximately $22.7 million.
And last week an apparent Phase Three was introduced to selectmen by the wastewater team. It proposed an expansion of the sewer system that would allow more properties to connect, thereby stimulating economic development. But it would also require expanding the wastewater treatment plant itself, the building on Route 6 that processes the effluent that comes out of the homes and businesses connected to the sewer.
It was clear from the proposal that the wastewater team was tying future rate reductions to a plant expansion, which would cost between $1 million and $5 million, according to the department of public works director, David Guertin.
“We had no permission to do anything other than optimize [the sewer system] and push for rate relief,” Guertin said about what he expected to be doing once Phase Two construction was completed. “But then Ted Malone came knocking on our door.”
New request
Malone, a for-profit affordable housing developer, is proposing to build a 38-unit residential housing project at the corner of Route 6 and Race Point Road. While there is enough land surrounding the development to install a Title 5 on-site septic system, Malone told the DPW he would be interested in connecting to the sewer system, which currently does not extend to that neighborhood.
Adding 38 new property owners to the system would raise additional revenue that could help lower rates to all sewer users. But the problem is that the wastewater treatment plant isn’t large enough to handle Malone’s project, much less any other economic expansion that might come down the line, including a hoped-for redevelopment of Fisherman’s Wharf into a 350-slip recreational marina.
A town-sponsored affordable housing development at 90 Shank Painter Road and volume reserved for existing properties eventually needing to hook onto the system will use up all but about 15,000 gallons of the 575,000 gallon per day existing capacity at the plant.
“Without optimization, we don’t have rate relief,” Couture said last week in response to the Phase Three exploration proposal. “The goal for me is to have rate relief.”
That relief, however, will cost money. Phase Three, expanding the treatment plant from its current 575,000 gallon per day capacity to 750,000 gallons per day, will cost between $1 million and $5 million depending on the technology used, according to the DPW’s Guertin. That cost would be paid by new property owners connecting to the system. As a result, the wastewater team needs to know how many would agree to hook up before it can proceed.
That is one reason behind the 20- to 25-percent water rate cut dangled in front of selectmen and users last week. The wastewater team is hoping lower rates will entice additional property owners to sign up, increasing revenue to the wastewater enterprise fund, making future rate cuts possible and raising revenue for a Phase Three.
And the wastewater team is thinking even further ahead, contemplating expanding the capacity at the wastewater treatment plant to one million gallons per day (GPD).
“If the town decides to move forward with optimization planning that would allow the plant to handle one million GPD of Title 5 design flow, this will provide for most, if not all, of the town’s wastewater needs for a long time,” John Goodrich, the town’s wastewater facilitator, wrote in a report to selectmen last week. “The sewer system would then be able to handle two-thirds of the town’s Title 5 design flows, and approximately double the flow that was originally planned for the Phase 1 sewer system. In addition, as we have seen with Phase 2, more flow will mean more rate relief.”
“If we have to make capital expenditures, I’m worried that rate reduction won’t materialize,” Selectman Avellar said this week. “I was surprised we were having a Phase Three. I never thought a Phase Three was something we were going to have.”
Future growth
But future economic growth, which many in town consider desirable – particularly more year-round businesses – is largely going to be controlled by the capacity of the sewer system. More businesses have applied for permits to expand their businesses than there are gallons available under the current growth management bylaw. That is one reason selectmen began a discussion last week to possibly change the bylaw to make sewer gallon allocation more flexible.
“We have the potential to use one million gallons [of sewer capacity]. We need to know what that means,” Couture said earlier this week. “Is it simply adding people on? Is it the economic development part of the puzzle that would fit into Phase Three? That’s the question.”
Selectmen took a step towards answering that question last week when they voted 4-1,with Avellar voting no, to spend $80,000 to send a letter to residents asking if they would consider hooking up to the system under the new water rates. The $80,000 would also go towards assessing what it would take to expand the wastewater treatment plant to handle 750,000 gallons per day of flow.
“[Economic] growth can be accommodated if we’re willing to invest in the future,” wastewater facilitator Goodrich said at a planning board meeting last week, where possible changes to the growth management bylaw were discussed. “The town needs to invest in its infrastructure to make growth possible going forward.”
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
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Jul 24th, 2008