Date: Fri 25-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-Main-St-Alagna

Full Text:

WPCA Settles On A Route

For Main St Sewer Line

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Peter Alagna told the

Borough Board of Burgesses and Main Street residents Wednesday night that the

WPCA has dropped its plans to place sewer mains behind houses on the east side

of Main Street.

The WPCA also doesn't want to install sewers beaneath the center of the

street, according to the chairman.

Instead, the WPCA will work to install sewer mains beneath grassy areas

between the curbline and the sidewalk on the east side of the street, Mr

Alagna told about 20 people at the Burgesses' meeting in the Main Street

Meeting House.

Mr Alagna's statement marks the latest development in a long-running

contoversy over whether sewer mains should be installed behind the houses,

along the curbline, or beneath Main Street.

Sherry Bermingham of 42 Main Street voiced her opposition to installing sewers

behind the houses.

Installing sewers in backyards would deprive residents of the full use of the

backyards on Main Street, a heavily-travelled thoroughfare where frontyards

are subjected to traffic noise, according to Mrs Bermingham.

Two petitions have been circulated among residents on the sewer placement

topic, she said. One petition opposes sewer placements in backyards and the

other supports placing sewers beneath Main Street, she said.

The west side of the street will be served by a separate sewer line.

Dr Steven Landin of 26 Main Street said he favors placing sewers in front of

the houses.

Last year, the planned sewer placement was shifted from frontyards to

backyards, but after residents realized what having a backyard sewer would do

to their property, they reverted to wanting frontyard sewers, he said.

Carolyn Greene of 50 Main Street said placing sewers benath Main Street would

please most of the residents there. "I think this project, which was delayed

20 years, should be done properly," she said.

Putting sewers in backyards would mean ripping up the backyards of 31

properties, she said.

Mr Alagna said WPCA members always believed that installing sewers along the

curbline was the best route.

After being pressured by residents last year to prevent root damage to the

stately trees along the east side of the street, WPCA members decided to

install the sewers in the backyards, Mr Alagna said.

Although a straw poll of Main Street residents last year indicated that

placing sewwers beneath the street was the best place to put them, WPCA

members said the two alteranatives for placement are the backyards or the

curbline. The state Department of Transportation (DOT) doesn't want sewers

installed beaneath the street for various reasons, including traffic

congestion during construction, safety issues and road degradation according

to the WPCA chairman.

"We've discussed it to death," Mr Alagna said of protracted discusssion on the

sewer placement issue.

WPCA members had hoped that people opposed to backyard sewers would convince

people opposed to frontyard sewers that placing sewers in the frontyards along

the curbline makes for the best sewer route, he said.

The WPCA is open to any suggestions about exactly where curbline sewers should

be placed to avoid tree root damage, he said. The sewer route would jog out

onto the street in certain areas to prevent tree damage.

Burgess James Gaston said the WPCA should push to get sewers installed below

the center of Main Street.

Such activity would involve the application of political pressure, thus

protracting the sewering project, Mr Alagna said.

Mr Gaston said the the WPCA, not the DOT, is the obstacle to get sewers placed

beneath Main Street.

Half of the trees along the east side of the street would be jeopardized by

placing sewers in front of the houses instead of behind them, he said.

Burgess Betsy Kenyon said most people aren't satisfied with the DOT's response

to installing sewers beaneath the center of the street.

Mr Alagna pointed out that natural gas mains exist beaneth Main Street.

"All it takes is for one house to explode and God forbid that's there's anyone

in it," Mr Alagna said. He noted that private contractors may not do

excavation work as carefully as town sewer crews when the private contractors

install sewer hookups to houses.

WPCA members believe damage to trees along Main Street can be minimized with

the careful placement of sewer lines under the supervision of an arborist, Mr

Alagna said. "The WPCA is concerned about the well-being of these trees," he

said.

Mr Alagna provided the Burgesses with a map depicting where sewers would be

placed along the curbline, asking them to provide suggestions on how the plan

it can be improved to protect the trees. Mr Algana suggested that tunnelling

work be done along sensitive sections of the sewer route to avoid damaging

tree roots.

State grant money might be placed in a reserve fund to replace trees damaged

by the sewering project, he said.

Even when precautions are taken, there are risks that trees along sewer lines

would die due to sewer construction work, said Frank Sampson, president of

Fuss and O'Neill, the town's sewering consultants.

Mr Gaston asked that the Burgesses be given $150,000 in escrow funding for a

period of 10 years to replace trees damaged by the sewering.

Mr Alagna said such an escrow account would amount to a "slush fund."

Borough Warden Joan Crick said "The Board of Burgesses is going to very

involved in this (sewer placement) scenario."

"Be assured we are not walking away from this thing," she said.

The town is under a state order to build a $30.4 million sewer system to

rectify longstanding groundwater pollution problems in the Borough, Taunton

Pond North, and Sandy Hook Center.