Wastewater Settlement Reached; Design Plans Submitted; Phase Two Eyed

Petitioners drop suits, won't file further appeals; Town agrees to old burn dump closure conditions, and to address stormwater and wetlands management issues

"A settlement has been reached, and the sewer project will now proceed on schedule towards commencement of operations by the summer of 2003," Town Manager Keith A. Bergman has announced. On Thursday, October 11, 2001, the Town of Provincetown reached a settlement agreement with petitioners opposing DEP's approval of closure of the Old Burn Dump and the Cape Cod Commission's approval of the sewer project as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI). The agreement was reached just hours before a pre-trial hearing was scheduled to begin in Barnstable Superior Court on the appeal of the Cape Cod Commission decision. In the settlement, the petitioners agreed to drop their current appeals and not to file any future challenges to the sewer project. The Town accepted conditions for closure of the old burn dump and construction of the soccer field on one of the disposal areas; and also agreed to begin to address stormwater management and wetlands management issues by bringing funding requests to the next special or annual town meeting.

The settlement agreement authorized by vote of the Board of Selectmen on October 9, 2001, was reached between Town Counsel Kopelman & Paige and Attorney William Henchy, representing the petitioners. In the DRI appeal case, Elizabeth Patrick v. Cape Cod Commission and Town of Provincetown, an agreement for judgment was entered in the Town's favor on Thursday, thereby dropping that suit. Last month, the petitioners had determined not to appeal further the DEP Commissioner's decision to uphold the Superceding Order of Conditions issued for closure of the Old Burn Dump-- which is also the site of the proposed wastewater treatment facility. By the settlement agreement, the petitioners agree not to appeal or otherwise challenge or oppose any future permits or approvals that the sewer project may require. The Town still needs to obtain from DEP a wastewater discharge permit, on which a public hearing was held last month.

The Town's selected design-build-operate vendor, Metcalf & Eddy of Wakefield, Massachusetts, has now submitted final design plans to the Department of Environmental Protection, in compliance with DEP's October 15, 2001 filing date. This will secure for the Town a 0%-interest loan under the State's Revolving Fund for the $16.5-million sewer construction project. On June 15, 2001, the Selectmen voted to authorize the Town Manager to enter into a 20-year wastewater service agreement with Metcalf & Eddy to design, build, and operate Provincetown's sewer system. Metcalf & Eddy's contract calls for construction of the sewer to commence in February 2002 and to be completed by the summer of 2003. The April 2, 2001 Special Town Meeting had approved the local appropriation of $16.5-million by the required two-thirds vote. Project costs will be borne by sewer users through betterment assessments and user fees.

And as this first phase of sewer project gets underway, Provincetown is already looking ahead to a second phase. On October 9, 2001, the Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to adopt the September 26, 2001 recommendation of the Wastewater Implementation Citizens Advisory Committee that the Town pursue a Phase II of the wastewater project as the means of accommodating, over time, all so-called "Red Dot Delay" properties, as well as outside adjacent properties wishing to hook up. The Town of Provincetown has notified DEP of its desire to build now a Phase I of the sewer project with a system capacity of 575,000 gallons per day, of which nor more than 50,000 GPDs would be held in strict reserve for the "Red Dot Delays." Further, the Town wishes to begin facilities planning and permit modification to raise the wastewater system capacity to at least 625,000 GPDs in a Phase II-- and in so doing to convince DEP that the Town can provide disposal capacity for that higher system amount.