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Date: 5/18/2022
HATFIELD – During their Annual Town Meeting on May 10, Hatfield residents voted against moving elements of a water and sewer extension project away from the The Waxwing restaurant area on West Street, despite continuing concerns from property owners near the site.
Residents gathered in the Smith Academy gym and spent a little over an hour of the three-hour meeting deliberating on the $3.6 million project on Route 5 that has caused some conflict with owners of 32-34 West St.
An article sponsored and endorsed by the Select Board and Finance Committee asked the town to add $750,000 so the location of a water and sewage pumping station would move away from 32-34 West St., which is where The Waxwing restaurant and Rudison & Routhier Engineering are located.
Susan Berry, the owner of The Waxwing, has filed a lawsuit against the town and has concerns about a 1,100-square-foot permanent easement, as well as a smaller 250-square-foot easement on the same site. The town officially took the easements on 34-36 and 32 West St. for the raw sewage station in June 2021. At the 2021 Town Meeting, moving the pumping station away from The Waxwing property failed by one vote. The lawsuit Berry submitted claims that the 2021 votes were “flawed” and that the easements were “wrong.”
As a result, Berry presented three petitions during the 2022 meeting that aimed to move the project away from its current location. The first petition, which asked that the pumping station be moved 500 feet to the north to the entrance to the nearby cemetery was voted down by residents, along with the article that asked the town to appropriate $750,000 to move the pumping station location. The other two petitions relating to this project were indefinitely postponed.
“There is no need to seriously hurt small business properties when there is a viable alternative,” said Berry, before the petition votes occurred. “You can vote to put this pump station on vacant land you already own with easement and water line already there … It’s a win-win for the town and a win for the two small businesses that are going to be damaged.”
Michael Ohl, an engineer from Comprehensive Environmental Inc. of Marlborough confirmed the $750,000 figure for moving the station, despite representatives of Berry claiming that the price to move the pump station should actually cost closer to $300,000.
“It’s the worst place you could put a pump station,” said Bucky Sparkle, a civil engineer in Leeds representing Berry. “There are a whole bunch of alternatives. The town has not really considered any of them.”
Despite some resident support for Berry’s efforts to move the pump station away from that section of West Street, Jonathan Bardwell, the town’s cemetery commissioner, noted how the area where Berry wanted the pump station moved already has people buried underneath.
“The town does not own the places where the bodies are placed,” Bardwell said. “The people buy those plots, and they own them. That’s the one thing in town you don’t get taxed on.”
Moderator Joe Lavalle, meanwhile, reiterated Bardwell’s point, and called the discussion of moving the pump station to the cemetery a “foolhardy” one.
Jane Yolen Stemple, a resident of Hatfield, spoke out against what she believes is “appalling” treatment from the town toward Berry, and referred to The Waxwing as the best restaurant in the Northampton-Amherst area.
“This has been a long, arduous, time-consuming process, but well worth it…time to keep moving and get this project over with,” said Select Board member Brian Moriarty, during the meeting.
The town appropriated $1.6 million and received a $2 million MassWorks grant to extend sewer service on Route 5 from Linseed to Rocks Roads, and water service to 2,200 feet along Route 5 along Rocks Road. According to Moriarty, the town is on a timeline to spend the $2 million before the June 30 deadline, otherwise they would have to explain to the state why they did not spend the money. Town officials have argued that the water and sewer project in its entirety will be beneficial to existing homes.
The town also voted a $12.03 million upgrade to a wastewater treatment plant that was also on the ballot during the May 17 Town Election. Reminder Publishing will have more on those results in the next edition. The upgrade also depends on a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The town also approved the operating budget of $12.59 million, which is set to begin July 1. The budget is $1.25 million higher than last year’s budget, which sat at $11.35 million. The public schools budget is $5.24 million.