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Date: 9/20/2023
LONGMEADOW — Mike Nelson of Fuss & O’Neill, an engineering firm, presented a water and sewer upgrade project to the Longmeadow Select Board at its Sept. 18 meeting. Nelson has worked with the town’s DPW on the project, which will tackle utilities under Longmeadow, Converse, Laurel and Llewellyn streets, and Forest Glen Road.
There is a sense of urgency to the project, as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will be overhauling Route 5 in the coming years and the DPW wants to avoid having to tear up and repave newly constructed roads. If the deteriorating water and sewer infrastructure is left in place, it will damage the new roadway, Nelson said.
To prepare for the utility work, video equipment was used to inspect over 5,000 feet of sewer lines, 4,000 of which needed rehabilitation, including four areas of imminent sewer failure. The project would address these lines.
“The big one is the water main,” said Nelson. The project will install or replace 10,000 feet of water main and 24 new hydrants. New service fittings would go to 170 homes. He told the board that the new lines will increase emergency bypass capacity and “provide a level of redundancy you have not had in 100 years.”
Nelson acknowledged that the utility work would be disruptive to traffic and nearby homes. To mitigate this, work at major intersections will be conducted overnight. During daylight hours, the construction will use detours and guide traffic down one lane of Forest Glen Road and Converse Street. Nelson said the water main on Route 5 is under the tree belt, but the work will cross the street in four locations. Simmons commented that the daytime work may have a “crippling effect” on traffic passing through town.
The design anticipated timeline for the project would have funding appropriated at the Nov. 7 Town Meeting. Work would begin in March 2024 and last two construction seasons, ending in September 2025.
The $9.97 million budget includes $7.37 million for construction, $1.25 million for police and traffic management and construction inspection costs and a $1.47 million contingency. Nelson said the 20% contingency is needed because of market volatility. The project will be paid for from water and sewer enterprise funds and Nelson said it can be spread over the two-year construction window.
Select Board member Josh Levine asked about the status of the rest of the town’s water and sewer infrastructure. DPW Director Sean Van Deusen said he would be coming back to the board with a presentation on long-term plans to address the remainder of the town in October.
Select Board member Mark Gold suggested closing Forest Glen Road for a month and doing all the work there at once, rather than routing traffic one way on there and on Converse Street. Van Deusen said there was time to discuss road closures and adjust them as needed.
On the topic of funding, Gold said, “$10 million is going to break us.” He asked if the work was needed or if it was being done because it is an opportune time because the MassDOT project will be repaving the roads. Van Deusen reiterated that there are many lines in need of replacement. The lines in the best condition are 85 years old and deteriorating.
“I’d rather do [the work] in 2024 dollars than in 2026,” Simmons said.
Nelson acknowledged, “The numbers are daunting,” but work on 100-year-old utility lines must be done eventually.
Select Board member Dan Zwirko asked how water quality would be affected by the work. Nelson explained that the diameter of water and sewer mains shrinks over time due to mineral and biofilm buildup. This forces water to travel through a smaller area at a higher pressure, potentially causing damage to the infrastructure. Buildup does not happen to modern, concrete-lined pipes, Nelson said.
Gold asked Van Deusen to find out what costs the town can expect to shoulder from the Springfield Water Commission’s utility upgrades. Like all municipalities that buy water from the city, Longmeadow will receive an assessment to help pay for Springfield’s water and sewer system improvements.
Dog hearing
The Select Board conducted a hearing to determine whether a dog that bit a neighboring dog and its owner is a nuisance or a dangerous dog.
State law defines a nuisance dog as a dog whose “excessive barking or other disturbance” annoys a “sick person residing in the vicinity,” or whose “excessive barking, causing damage or other interference” is “disruptive to one’s quiet and peaceful enjoyment,” or “has threatened or attacked livestock, a domestic animal or a person” without it being a “grossly disproportionate” reaction.
All parties in the matter agreed that two dogs owned by Robert and Hilary Templeton escaped their house on Franklin Road and approached Marc Strange while he walked his dog. Patches, a 2-year-old Australian Cattle Dog, bit Strange’s dog. When Strange tried to separate the dogs, he was bit in the hand by Patches.
Animal Control Officer Martylee Caramante said that the dog was quarantined by the owners for 10 days as required by law. She explained that rabies is only contagious in the last 10 days of an animal’s life. If the offending animal does not die within that time, there is “zero” chance the bitten animal or person will have contracted rabies. Rabies is fatal in all cases.
Strange said the incident was the third time Patches has attacked his dog, but he has not reported it in the past because he is friends with the Templetons. That said, he asked that if Patches attacks his dog again, the dogs be removed from the Templetons’ home. He also asked that the Templetons cover his medical bills and his dog’s veterinary bills. An attorney for the town said the Select Board does not have the authority to enforce that, but said it was “the right thing” to do.
John and Amanda Willse, who also live on Franklin Road, testified that there is a pattern of the Templetons’ dogs being aggressive. Sunny, the Templetons’ other dog, had attacked their dog twice, they said. Like Strange, the couple did not report the incidents out of friendship with the Templetons.
Select Board member Vineeth Hemavathi noted that in Caramante’s report, she said the Templetons were remorseful and have been willing to implement all the precautions Caramante requested. She asked the Templetons to install a door at the entrance to the porch and a latching gate at the foot of the stairs. Including the front door, these would put three barriers for the dogs to get past before they could encounter another animal or person. She also asked that Patches be muzzled when off the Templetons’ property.
Robert Templeton said Patches and Sunny are territorial of the house. When there have been issues with his dogs acting aggressively in the past, the couple has responded by installing fencing around part of the backyard and an electric fence where the physical fence ends. He said they no longer let the dogs outside without supervision and said that he believes that he and his wife have “worked out the kinks” in making sure their dogs stay on their property. They also have been fitted with bark collars.
Levine said an electric fence would not “cut it” and a physical fence would need to fully enclose the yard. He also asked that the front porch be enclosed to avoid the dogs jumping over the railing.
Gold, Hemavathi, Levine and Zwirko agreed that Patches fit the definition of a nuisance dog but Select Board Chair Thomas Lachiusa said that because he bit Strange and his dog, Patches should be considered dangerous. “If that’s not dangerous, I don’t know what is,” Lachiusa said.
The attorney for the town explained that a nuisance dog finding gives the board carte blanche to decide what steps should be taken to remedy the situation. A dangerous dog finding requires the board follow one or more of seven actions — that the dog be humanely restrained, confined to the premises, humanely muzzled and leashed when off premises, neutered or spayed, humanely euthanized or that the animal control officer have identifying information on the dog, or the owner be insured for $100,000 or more.
Lachiusa said Patches should be on a dog run when in the yard. However, Caramante advised against this and said tethering creates a “more vicious dog.” It is also specifically prohibited in the state law on dangerous dogs.
The board ruled that Patches is a nuisance dog and the Templetons were ordered to immediately begin using a muzzle when walking him off their property. They were given 30 days to install the porch door and latchable gate, 60 days to enclose the porch and 180 days to install a physical fence around the yard. Patches must also attend 10 sessions of remedial training within 90 days.
The board members said they did not want to remove the dogs, but if there was another incident, they would have to consider it.