Funds Sought For Next Phase Of Chatham Sewer Project

CHATHAM – Funding for the next phase in the town’s comprehensive sewer expansion project will go before voters at the May 10 annual town meeting.

 The $32 million will extend sewers to more than 300 parcels on Cedar Street, the Barn Hill/Oyster River area, Katie Ford Road, and side streets off Route 28 in West and South Chatham. 

 Sewering those areas continues the comprehensive wastewater management plan’s long-term goal of reducing nitrogen levels in coastal embayments, specifically Oyster Pond and Stage Harbor.

 Borrowing the $32 million will require a two-thirds vote at town meeting and approval at the May 15 annual town election. The project is likely to receive low- to no-interest loans from the state revolving fund (SRF), significantly reducing the town’s borrowing costs. Public Works Director Rob Faley said Chatham was ranked third on the state’s intended use plan, which determines eligibility for SRF funds among Massachusetts communities.

 “It’s almost guaranteed we’ll have the funding,” he told the select board Feb. 18.

 Included in the request is $2 million to cover the cost of 1,200 grinder pumps which the town will provide to properties that require a boost to get sewage from a home to the sewer main at the street. Also included is a $2,000 per household stipend to help cover the cost of grinder pump installation. Last Tuesday, the select board approved a grinder pump policy that includes those provisions.

 The money will cover design, bidding and construction for sewer phase 1F-1 and 2. Included in those areas are 69 parcels and a pump station along Cedar Street; 138 parcels in neighborhoods off Route 28 in West and South Chatham; 87 parcels and a pump station in the Barn Hill/Oyster River area; and 20 parcels and a small pump station on Katie Ford Road. Design and planning for future pump stations in critical areas, especially the Pleasant Bay watershed, is also included in the funding, Faley said.

 Since 2010, the town has spent $118 million on the sewer project, which includes $39 million for the wastewater treatment plant, according to Faley. Four projects are currently active, including pump station construction. The wastewater plan calls for 4,500 parcels to be sewered in the first phase — which chiefly addresses nitrogen loading issues in the town’s embayments — with 2,300 parcels in the second phase.

 To date, 667 of the 957 property owners who have received orders to connect to the sewer from the board of health have done so, according to Faley. Another 154 have applied to connect. Those figures may be higher, he added, because his department is short-staffed and may not have logged properties that have connected recently. Owners have two years to connect after receiving an order to do so; some have longer because the select board extended the time frame while the grinder pump issue was being resolved.

 The select board voted to support the town meeting article and ballot question. The board also endorsed a separate article that will seek $1,070,000 from the wastewater capital stabilization fund which will include $700,000 for a third pump at the Stage Harbor pumping station; $200,000 for replacement of the denitrification filter air system at the sewer treatment plant; and $170,000 for repairs to the original sewer collection system.

 Looking ahead, Faley said the town anticipates seeking $40 million is SRF loans in 2027 to cover sewer work in the Pleasant Bay area and another $30 million in SRF funds in 2029 for pump stations and sewer mains in the lower Muddy Creek and Pleasant Bay areas.