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Date: 6/26/2023
SOUTHAMPTON — Earlier this month, town officials were contacted by the governor’s office and two state agencies about the possibility that an immigrant processing facility would be located at the old Harley Davidson dealership on College Highway.
The notice was not a welcome surprise. One hundred families were to be processed weekly at the motorcycle dealership, legal immigrants to the United States and families displaced by a natural disaster. According to a press release from the town, concerns about added burdens to fire and police departments, and the Norris School, surfaced first. The impact on town services may have been significant.
Later, the building deemed was unsuitable.
“It was only one of a number of sites they were looking at in Western Massachusetts,” Town Administrator Ed Gibson told the board. “It has been their decision to put that on indefinite pause because they found that, because it was a commercial building rather than a residential building, the cost to actually…run it as a residential facility were prohibitive.”
Select Board Chair Christine Fowles then turned the discussion to a second look at the policy for fees at the transfer station. The only change in a second draft was to increase the 10 bag fee from $20 to $24.
Earlier in the meeting the board heard a presentation by Tracy Adamski, vice president at Tighe & Bond, consultant to the town for stormwater management and compliance with the MS4 program. MS4 is an acronym for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System. The program is jointly administered by state and federal agencies and applies only to the town’s “urbanized area.”
“Why are we talking about stormwater?” Adamski asked. “The main concern is that stormwater falls on pavement and lawns, and what doesn’t soak into the ground will flow onto our roads, into our storm drain systems and other wetlands areas, and it always has the possibility of picking up pollutants along the way.”
According to Adamski’s presentation, stormwater pollution is the fastest growing source of water pollution in the state. Sediment, trash, oils and other pollutants taint surface waters and eventually contribute to pollution in the ocean. Southampton committed to the program in 2003.
The rain barrels now available to town residents are an example of public participation, a requirement of the program. Southampton’s Stormwater Program includes public education, illicit discharge detection, pollution prevention and stormwater management on construction sites, new developments and redevelopment.
Pequot Pond and Manhan River also require nitrogen control. Four outfalls, where stormwater exits the system, were previously found high in nitrogen. Recently, the exit points were retested for ammonia, nitrogen, chlorine, E. coli and detergents, with better results.
“No evidence of illicit discharge was identified there,” Adamski said.
One violation of the stormwater bylaw and three sitings for curb cut and/or drainage violations were made in the last year. The East Street Bridge was fitted with stormceptors, which filter impurities out of runoff. Late in the presentation, Fowles questioned why the Whittemore Conservation Area was included as a possible site for increased attention.
Highway Superintendent Randall Kemp responded, saying, “I believe Whittemore was identified because it’s sort of toward the bottom of the hill, off Pomeroy Meadow, and all that discharges out behind Meadow Lane. It’s quite a discharge and there’s some erosion out there.”
The town’s program requires pollution prevention, Adamski said, including the adoption of standard operating procedures for proper herbicide and pesticide use, catch basin cleaning and street sweeping. Extensive record keeping is also demanded by the program, including identifying sources of nitrogen and phosphorus and any new illicit entries into the system.
“Southampton is actively meeting the MS4 requirements,” Adamski said. “Looking forward, it’s more of the same, continuing the public outreach, keeping track of everything you’re doing.”
Vice Chair Jon Lumbra asked Kemp where the funding for the stormwater program was coming from. Money is drawn from the general funds of the town, Kemp said, under a special line item for the program.
“Because somebody else…decided our little section of Southampton has to abide by this, it’s another burden on the taxpayers,” Lumbra said. “So you take the commercial properties that are blacktopped, where the water is just running off, causing this issue, versus the homeowners who have lawns, that absorb the water…[so] a lot of communities assess an individual tax…to support this program so that it doesn’t fall on the average taxpayer.”
Kemp countered by discussing the town’s1998 street sweeper, in need of a new motor. A replacement vehicle will cost $270,000, so steady efforts are being made to rebuild the old motor as Kemp searches for a new one.
“I don’t think we can afford to kick this can down the road,” Lumbra said.
While the MS4 presentation showed the good results of town policy and practice in limiting stormwater pollution the second presentation of the meeting, a view of the new town website, was a victory lap.
“We have launched as of one o’clock this afternoon,” Fowles said. “This has been a lot of heavy lifting, not only by the company, Final Site, the company we engaged to actually do the conversion…but also by two members of our tech committee, Megan Gentile and Dan Breen.”
Fowles praised the uncluttered landing page for the website. Moving to a page for events, she mentioned the protocol for dates, dark circles with white numerals, which stand out for ease of use.
The intention was to make the website more usable. Much of the information appears in larger type on many pages, making them more readable for those with less than perfect vision.
Committees will be responsible for posting their own meeting notices.
“We’ve had training by Dan and Megan over…a two month period,” Fowles said. Seven groups were trained to assume responsibility for updating the website for their body or group. “Everybody will be responsible for their own committee page. Each body has their own assigned updater…They have the password to do the work behind the scenes.”
Fowles focused on the buttons on the landing page. The explore button assists businesses in finding the town’s cultural wealth described in one place. The adjacent button, get connected, offers a menu of ways to communicate and take part in local government. The mytown.gov pages work so well, Fowles said, the meeting listings were left unchanged. The calendar of meetings is under that button as well.
A button for MA Resources reveals a list of the town’s representatives on Beacon Hill, as well as the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state. Pages for local media and fact sheets still need to be populated. A button for documents and forms lists most every application or fillable form used in town, a big improvement in ease of use.
The background images showcase the beauty of the town. Information pages have a lot of white space, look uncluttered and easy to use. The color scheme was chosen to reflect the town seal.
“You don’t have to go through five clicks to find anything,” Fowles said. “I encourage people to get in and take a look.”