Back to Wastewater Master Planning Committee Meeting Minutes
NOVEMBER 12, 2009
A posted meeting of the Hingham Wastewater Master Planning Committee (the Committee) was held in the Central South Hearing Room, 210 Central St. Hingham, MA.
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Shilts at 7:09pm
MEMBERS PRESENT Kirk Shilts, Board of Health, Secretary
Charles Berry, Conservation Commission
Richard (Skip) Hull
Michael Salerno, Sewer Commission
Gary Tondorf-Dick, Planning Board
AGENDA Dr. Shilts reviewed a draft agenda for the meeting.
Thereafter, the agenda was accepted.
MINUTES Dr. Shilts reviewed the draft minutes from the October 14, 2009 meeting.
Thereafter, a Motion was made by Mr. Salerno and Seconded by Mr. Berry and it was VOTED (unanimous);
To approve the October 14, 2009 meeting minutes as amended.
COMPREHENSIVE WASTEWATER
MANAGEMENT PLAN (CWMP) PROJECT
► PROJECT BUDGET: No update
► PROJECT SCHEDULE: No update
► PROJECT SCOPE: The Committee discussed synthesis of a distinct policy section within the CWMP that includes an overview of current wastewater and related policies, modification of existent or development of new policies moving forward, and description of a general process for implementing and updating the CWMP after completion.
SEWER COMMISSION Mr. Salerno said that the Sewer Commission applies different standards to the North Sewer District (NSD) and Weir River Sewer District (WRSD) regarding proposed expansion. The NSD has a “certified need” standard and the WRSD has a more lax “common good” standard.
Mr. Salerno stated that this year’s sewer expansion on Thaxter St. was propagated by homeowner request. He said the Sewer Commission employs a policy of majority-rule, where any expansion within the NSD must have a majority of homeowners along a particular unsewered roadway request conversion to town sewers. Once the sewer main is installed, 100% of the homeowners on that section of roadway must then tie into the system. The bureaucratic process for expansion within the NSD involves the Sewer Commission & MWRA, then the Advisory Committee & Selectmen and finally Town Meeting.
Mr. Salerno said that nearly all expansion requests within the WRSD have come from developers. He said the Selectmen is the only entity that can amend the intermunicipal agreement with Hull to allow for expansion of the WRSD. Sewer Commission and Town Meeting approvals are still required but the Selectmen alone hold policy to initiate the process.
Mr. Salerno said the Sewer Commission’s policy for allowing additional residential sewage volume is simply through a $2,500 per bedroom fee. The model of equating flow volume to bedrooms (two occupants/bedroom, 110g/d) is based on State Title-V. The Sewer Commission does not limit the number of additional bedrooms a homeowner within the NSD or WRSD may choose to pay for. The only prohibited factor to additional bedrooms would be height & setback zoning requirements.
Mr. Salerno stated the Sewer Commission had unanimously voted to establish a third sewer district in Hingham to service the Industrial Park area as a response to the Committee’s October 14th recommendation.
BOARD OF HEALTH Dr. Shilts stated that the Board of Health (BoH) has a local policy in addition to state Title-V policy (regulations) that place limits on wastewater volume via controlling the number of bedrooms within a dwelling. State Title-V contains various physical and environmental setback requirements, soil condition requirements (for percolation), and a maximum number of bedrooms proportional to the total number of rooms within a dwelling requirement. Local BoH policy includes an additional limit on bedrooms relative to the overall area of the dwelling’s lot (for de-nitrification).
Dr. Shilts said new-construction is held to the regulatory standard but existing residences that have failed Title-V are often afforded variances from certain regulations employing a more lax standard of “maximum feasible compliance”.
PLANNING BOARD Mr. Tondorf-Dick stated that existing Hingham zoning bylaws do not include any dimensional-related metric that correlate the physical size of a home relative to the size of the property which it sits. He said this type of zoning is needed to help preserve the village character of Hingham. Mr. Tondorf-Dick thought that a (1) maximum house size per lot size policy, a (2) maximum house size per the lot’s ability to percolate rainwater (storm-water management and water-supply recharge) policy, and a (3) maximum number of bedrooms (occupants) per house size policy would be helpful. He added that if the Town adopted what are essentially policies on a home’s occupant density, in this case tied to the maximum number of bedrooms a certain size home could have, the perceived zoning-like control inherent to on-site septic systems, but absent with sewers, becomes irrelevant. He said such policies could make the expansion of sewers potentially more acceptable.
Mr. Tonforf-Dick said the standard of critical need versus desired enhancement should be the principle determinant in deciding whether to expand sewers within the town or not.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION Mr. Berry stated that any potential house size/ lot size policy must not only address hydrological & geological features to support storm-water recharge, but additional consideration to also preserve the natural environmental character of Hingham.
Mr. Berry said the issue of recharge and our town’s stressed watershed remains a highly significant hurtle in the way of expanding sewers in Hingham. He added a concern about the proposed development of the Industrial Park and the increase demand it will place on our water supply regardless of how the wastewater is ultimately disposed.
The Committee discussed the issue of private well-water use.
Thereafter, the Committee agreed the CMWP should include a policy that encourages the use of private wells within the Town to lessen the demand on Hingham’s municipal water supply.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The following issue remains outstanding.
• SECTION #3, “STUDY AREA PRIORITY
RANKING” Dr. Shilts stated that the three-tier “priority ranking” system approved at the September meeting needs to be populated with the study areas relative to their Final Score listed in Table 2-7 and described in section 3.2.
Furthermore, Dr. Shilts asked to postpone action on this matter for a future meeting.
SCHEDULING The next meeting was not scheduled.
ADJOURNMENT The November 12, 2009 meeting of the Hingham Wastewater Master Planning Committee adjourned at 9:46pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kirk J. Shilts, D.C.
Secretary
Hingham Wastewater Master Planning Committee