Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-Main

Full Text:

WPCA Redirects Sewer Line To Main St Frontyards

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

After lengthy discussion, Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) members

have voted to install sewer lines in front of the houses along the east side

of Main Street, ostensibly settling a long-running controversy.

The WPCA's action on August 31 formalizes an announcement made on August 23 by

WPCA Chairman Peter Alagna to the Borough Board of Burgesses that sewers will

be installed in front of the houses.

Until the August 31 vote, the WPCA's formal position had been that sewers

would be installed behind the houses.

Mr Alagna explained he made the August 23 announcement on sewer placement to

the Burgesses because he had sensed an "implicit concurrence" among WPCA

members during recent weeks that placing the sewers in front of the houses

makes for a better and more practical sewer route than putting them behind the

houses.

Whether the sewer line should be placed behind the houses, in front of them,

or beneath the center of Main Street has been a topic of hot discussion during

recent weeks as members of different groups have pressed WPCA members to get

the sewers installed in the location which they believe would be least

injurious to their properties. A separate sewer line will serve the west side

of the street.

Early in the August 31 WPCA meeting, William Lavery of 10 Main Street told

WPCA members "I am unalterably opposed to a sewer placement in my backyard."

Because Main Street is such a noisy, hectic place, Main Street residents seek

peace and quiet in their backyards, he said, noting he doesn't want a sewer

running through his backyard.

Perspective

WPCA member Richard Zang sought to put the sewer placement issue in

perspective for the about 40 people at the session.

Last year, the WPCA wanted to place sewer lines for the east side of Main

Street in the frontyards of houses there, he said. But the Borough Board of

Burgesses approached the WPCA, expressing concern that such construction work

would damage the roots of the stately trees lining the street, he added. To

prevent such tree root damage, the WPCA early this year opted to have the

sewers installed in the backyards, he noted.

Until the vote on August 31 to install the sewers in front of the houses, the

WPCA's official position had been they should be installed behind the houses,

Mr Zang said.

Barbara Elmer of 24 Main Street said the sewer line should be installed

beneath Main Street, not in frontyards there. Mrs Elmer presented WPCA members

with a petition bearing the names of 22 property owners on the east side of

Main Street who want the sewer installed beneath the street.

Mr Alagna, however, said that the petition is invalid because it doesn't meet

the terms of an informal agreement made between the WPCA and residents who

oppose sewers being placed in their backyards. That agreement made earlier

this summer involved a petition being circulated seeking support among

residents for installing the sewers in frontyards, not beneath Main Street, Mr

Alagna said.

The protracted process of the WPCA hearing public comments on where to place

the sewer for the east side of Main Street has run its course, Mr Alagna said.

Where to place the sewers now becomes a decision for the WPCA, he said.

"Allow us to do our job," Mr Alagna said.

Mr Alagna, however, later told audience members that the WPCA wouldn't be

acting August 31 on where to place the sewers.

"I don't feel we should be acting on it tonight...We don't want to shove it

(sewer decision) down anybody's throat," he said, noting, though, that the

WPCA's inclination is to install sewers in the frontyards.

Mr Alagna said installing a sewer line for the east side of Main Street

beneath the middle of the street isn't a viable option for various reasons. Mr

Alagna has said the state Department of Transportation (DOT) opposes

installing sewers beneath Main Street due to construction complexitities and

future road degradation. Main Street is state Route 25.

Later at the August 31 session, Mr Alagna then said he wanted to continue

talking to people who live on the east side of Main Street concerning the best

route for sewers to serve their properties.

Motion Made

Mr Zang, however, made a motion that sewers be installed in front of the

houses with construction restrictions being specified to minimize the risk of

damaging the trees there. The sewers generally would be placed beneath the

turf lying bewtween the curbline and the sidewalk on the east side of the

street. The sewer lines would jog out onto the street, where necesary, to

avoid damaging tree roots.

Mr Zang said "We welcome the chance to go back to the frontyard (sewer route)

again."

After WPCA members voted to install the sewers in the frontyards, Shirley

Miller of 46 Main Street asked WPCA members to explicitly state their position

on the matter so there would be no future misunderstanding about where the

WPCA will place the sewers.

WPCA members emphatically told her the sewers will be installed in front of

the houses, after which she left the meeting apparently satisfied with the

WPCA's action.

The town is building a $30.4 million sewer system to comply with the terms of

a state order to rectify longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by

failing septic systems in the Borough, Taunton Pond North and Sandy Hook

Center.