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Date: 4/3/2019
HAMPDEN – Hampden residents are considering whether to pursue the establishment of a development district along the Allen Street and Wilbraham Road section of town for the purpose of implementing a town water and sewer system.
Jeffrey Daley, the principal officer of CJC Development Advisors, gave a presentation to the roughly 50 residents who assembled at Bethlehem Church on April 2. Daley is a representative of the group of businesses, led by Great Horse Country Club, pushing for the project. This was the second public meeting regarding the creation of a development district, which will be voted on at Town Meeting in May.
The proposed plan is to obtain funding for the water and sewer project, in part, through district improvement financing (DIF). A DIF is an economic development tool in which the town receives funding to improve a specified area and in return, pledges some or all of the increased tax revenues for repayment of the debt. Daley claimed in his presentation that the use of a DIF would increase the likelihood that the town would receive a grant from MassWorks, the state’s infrastructure grant program.
The DIF is part of a public/private investment strategy, in which the initial investment would be funded by $4 million through the DIF program, a $3 million MassWorks grant, a $3 million USDA grant and $4 million in town bonds. Daley admitted, however, that those figures are an assumption since the application for grants cannot go through until a development district is established.
Then, the implementation of a town water and sewer system would allow Great Horse to build “upscale housing,” that Daley said would consist of 44 condominiums and seven to 10 single family homes. He said the increased tax revenue from the housing development, along with any potential development of downtown businesses would go into the town’s general fund and could be used to pay down the debt. Daley estimated there would be an increase of $522,770 in taxable property values generated by the development.
The residents in attendance were dubious of the plan and the funding. Resident Alan Fritts said that while Daley claimed many septic systems were failing or did not conform to regulations, he disagrees. He said he has lived in town for 40 years and hasn’t had a problem.
Fritts addressed the room, pointing out that the current zoning does not allow for condominiums in town. That’s fine by resident Jim Smith, who doesn’t like the idea of condos.
“[Condos] might change the characteristics of the homes,” Smith said, concerned that housing density would increase. Smith also had reservations about the cost of setting up a water & sewer department.
One of the most outspoken opponents of the plan was Donald Davenport, who is currently running for the Board of Selectmen. Before the meeting, Davenport distributed a three-page timeline that he had compiled of discussions and actions taken in regard to the DIF going back to June 2016. The information was gathered from various Board of Selectmen meeting minutes, published accounts and documents obtained through freedom of information requests.
Davenport spoke during the question and answer period, pointing out that, while Daley had said the tax revenue would be $6.1 million over 20 years, the town would not see those taxes until after the project development projects were completed, years from now. Daley conceded that point.
Daley also admitted that residents were less than pleased by a perceived lack of transparency around the project. For example, the presentation at the meeting was the first time many residents heard about a potential partnership with Wilbraham. In an effort to improve transparency, Daley said, a website, www.hampdenwatersewerproject.com, would be up by the end of the week.
Resident Lisa Sternberg told Daley the information presented in the presentation’s maps were confusing. She recommended that the maps that will be put on the website show the number of homes impacted by each of the potential routes for the pipelines. She also asked that information on the differences between a potential Wilbraham partnership and an East Longmeadow partnership be explained online, for an apples-to-apples comparison.
“So we can make an informed decision,” Sternberg said.
Daley stressed that even if a home is on the proposed route of the pipelines, it would not be hooked up to the line. He said that the initial project was to connect the properties in the Allen Street and Wilbraham Road section of town. Additional connections to the water lines could happen during a “Phase Two,” of the project, Daley said.
Ted Zebert, a member of the Conservation Commission, said that was not the original plan.
“The whole justification was to take care of the folks in the lowlands who have septic trouble,” Zebert said. A portion of Hampden is such that the water table is nearly at ground level, creating challenges for the placement of septic systems.
“Now you’ve eliminated a lot of the justification,” Zebert said. Daley explained that the cost of connecting the whole town would be exorbitant and would take generations to pay off.
“I think [the DIF] sets up the opportunity to get water into our community. Once we do, we can continue up Allen Street, continue into the lowlands,” Daley said.
Fritts said he doesn’t think the water & sewer plan will work out.
“I think they’re pipe-dreaming,” Fritts said.