Chapter 40B Water, Sewer Issues Debated

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Water – both drinking water and stormwater – was the main topic of discussion at the Manchester-By-The-Sea Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on Wednesday night. 

The meeting was part of the continuing Chapter 40B hearing, where developer Geoffrey Engler is seeking a comprehensive permit for a 136-unit apartment complex, to be known as The Sanctuary at Manchester-by-the-Sea, off School Street. 

Although not discussed at the meeting, Engler submitted a development budget for the project earlier this month.  That document shows the project will cost $85.8 million to build, including $1.6 million to acquire the land, $8 million to prepare the site and $54.6 million to construct the building.  The additional costs are listed as “soft costs” and range from fees for permits to various fees involved in the 40B process.  It would also include $5.1 million as Engler’s fee for the project. 

ZBA Chair Sarah Mellish began the meeting by reminding the public that under the Chapter 40B guidelines, the ZBA cannot consider additional services, such as the number of children that would be added to the town’s schools, as part of its deliberations. 

Connecting the project to the town’s water and sewer was first on the agenda.  Carlton Quinn, a civil engineer with Allen & Quinn Associates, said an analysis of the town’s current water and sewer lines found that the new project would have no impact on the town’s pipes. 

David Formato, a civil engineer with Onsite Engineering, explained that a directional drill with be used to drill under Route 128 within the cloverleaf on the south side of the highway to the cloverleaf on the north side.  Both water and sewer pipes will run under the highway, allowing the project to connect to the town’s water and sewer lines. 

Formato added that separate drills would be done for the water and sewer, and that the work under the highway would take “a few weeks.” 

The town’s capacity for adding water and sewer connections became a bone of contention.  ZBA member Kathyrn Howe as well as several members of the public asked about the town’s ability to handle the additional sewer flow from the project. 

DPW Director Chuck Dam repeatedly assured the board that the town has the capacity to handle the additional flow.  He said the town is mandated to keep its sewer under 720,000 gallons a day.  On average, the town uses less than 625,000 gallons a day.  The 232 bedrooms in the project are expected to add about 25,000 gallons a day.  

ZBA member Jim Diedrich said people had told him that locals were denied a connection to the sewer in preference to this project. 

Dam said that wasn’t true.  He said anyone in town who lives within the current sewer system can connect to the system at this time.  They need to begin the process by filling out a permit.  

“Ever since I’ve been here (since 2018), anybody that has wanted to connect, that is within the existing collecting system, has been allowed to connect,” said Dam.  

In response to another question from Howe, Dam explained that the developer covers all the costs of the work to connect the project to the town’s water and sewer lines.  But once the project is completed, the pipes in the street will be turned over to the town right up to the connections with the water and sewer pumps at the base of the project. 

The next topic was the Environmental Peer Review.  Stacy Minihane of Beals & Thomas said that the wildlife in the surrounding area was not likely to be adversely affected and that within two years after completion of the project, wildlife would be back to normal. 

Minihane presented several possible waivers and conditions for the project. Engler said he was comfortable with most of those waivers and conditions. 

Attorneys for the Manchester Essex Conservation Trust (MECT), which maintains land abutting the project, questioned the peer review study and its conclusions.  Elizabeth Pyle of Hill Law said the project will adversely affect the vernal pools.  

Scott Horsley, a MECT consultant who conducted a hydrologic analysis of the vernal pools, said that the project will deprive the vernal pools just north of the project of 40 to 50 percent of the usual groundwater it receives because the project would redirect that groundwater away from that area.  

But Quinn said that the vernal pools receive their groundwater from a much bigger area than just where the project would be, so the impact on the pools would be minimal. 

Patrice Murphy of the MECT made an impassioned talk about all the wildlife that will be affected by the project.  She called the Beals & Thomas peer review report “generic information” and “light on the specific details.”  

While the report mentions 13 species of birds and 10 trees and shrubs, Murphy said a walk through the area would find 45 to 50 bird species and 300 species of plants and trees. 

She said the report jumps to many unfounded conclusions, particularly about rare species. 

 “They don’t know what it is, they don’t know what to look for, where to look for it, what the appropriate season or time of day to look for it,” said Murphy. “They didn’t find it so their conclusion is ‘we can presume there are no rare plants or animal species on site.’” 

The board decided not to vote on any of the waivers or conditions but to handle those at its next meeting on July 27.  This will be the last meeting the board will be able to take input from its peer reviewers, the applicant, or the public.  After that meeting, the board has 40 days to finish its work and vote to either approve or deny the project.

Any meetings the ZBA holds in those 40 days will be open to the public, however the public will not be able to speak on any matter concerning the 40B project. 

 

zoning board of appeals, jim diedrich, patrice murphy, dpw director, stacy minihane, scott horsley, sarah mellish, the environmental peer review, allen & quinn associates, kathyrn howe, carlton quinn, david formato, geoffrey engler, civil engineer, chuck dam