This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. So, let's let's get underway here. Um, thank you everyone for attending this important meeting about the sewer infrastructure in New City. Um, let's
start. Um, there are several city staff on the call. So, let's um start just by introducing ourselves. I'm Johanna Stacy. I'm the senior planner in the planning department and also the CDBG program manager. Allison. Hi everyone. Allison Manuel.
I'm the planning director. I'll turn it over to Greg. Hi everyone. I am Greg Nuttleman, the director of public works for the city. Okay. Um Mayor Lash Chappelle um of Simpanding it over to the city
councelor. She might be muted. Hi everybody. Felicia Jadzac here, city councelor for precinct 2. Thank you. Okay. Um, members of the public currently are muted. Um,
and when we get to the Q&A portion of the meeting, we'll we'll, um, we ask that you raise your hand and let us know that you'd like to speak and then we'll unmute you. Um so I'd like to start off um well
before we get to that um as as folks of New City might know there's been ongoing work since 2020 to design infrastructure upgrades in New City. Um we're here today specifically to talk about the sewer lines in the
neighborhood. Um several of which run through private property. Um and as such the city currently does not have legal access in place to access and maintain these sewers for residents. Um
we wanted to hold this meeting in order to provide a way for um city staff and residents to have a conversation um about the proposed sewer work in New City um and how and the potential it has to affect private property owners in the
neighborhood. Uh we'd like to start off by making a brief presentation to provide you with some background information um and then we'll sort of open the floor after that for questions and comments um and have more of a discussion. So we ask that you you hold
on to your questions till the end and there'll be ample time for for questions. So, let me start up the Okay. Is is that screen for the slideshow visible to folks? Yeah, I can see it. You can. Okay,
great. That's great. Okay. So, I'd like to start off by providing a little bit of background information on New City itself. Um, New City neighborhood was largely built by the West Boilston Mills, um,
who developed the the neighborhood basically for uh, worker housing for the mills in the early 1900s. Um, some of the oldest streets in the neighborhood include Oakdale Place, Lincoln Street, Emerald Place, and Harrison A. Um, by and large, the mills built the
underground utilities along with the streets and sidewalks in the neighborhood. Um and the whole parcel of land was basically owned by the mills. Um when the mills clos started closing in the 30s and 40s, the land started becoming transferred over to private property
owners. Um and the city has maintained the utilities and the streets for for decades. Um, so most of the utilities in New City, such as this, such as the water lines and the drainage lines are actually located in the roadway.
However, on several of these older streets, the sewers run through the backyards of properties um and connect to the rear of the house. Many of the sewers are clay pipe. They're about a hundred years old. Um,
and they're they're old and due for rehabilitation. Um, the picture on the right here is actually um a video shot of inside of the sewer.
Um, and you can see some roots that have sort of grown in through the cracks in the pipe. Um, so over time these can build up and and cause issues. So part of this project involves cleaning things out like this um to avoid issues down
the road. Um the other part of the sewer project that's being proposed is that we would then go in and rather than replace the pipes, we would be lining the pipes um using a process called cured in place piping. So basically creates a very
strong layer um within the pipe and helps the pipes last much longer. Um just a little bit of information about cured in place um pipe. Um the process is that there's cameras that
go into the pipe. They identify any roots or blockages that are there. Um the machine actually goes in to clear out those those roots or whatever else might be sediment that's um in the pipe.
And then they actually go in put a liner in the pipe and then sort of inflate it and wel basically melt it to the pipe so it's cured to the pipe. um
cured in place pipe has several benefits. Um there's very minimal basically no ground disturbance needed. Um it's used pretty widely at this point in time um across the country and it's a pretty
cost-effective way to extend the life of the existing sewer pipes. Um question that might come up is why is the city opting to um use this method to rehabilitate the sewer pipes as opposed
to moving the pipes into the roadway um with the other utilities. Um and there's several several compelling reasons for this decision. Um the first is that cured in place piping is a less
intrusive method. Um, so there's less work involved in digging up old pipes, um, installing new pipes, um, figuring out all the grades. Uh, secondly, moving pipes to the roadway is expensive both for the city
and for homeowners. Um, the city would have the cost of installing new pipe in the roadway. Um, but homeowners would also have the cost of installing new pipe on the private property. So, connecting between their
house and the roadway um would be the homeowner's responsibility. Um, and we don't really want to we don't want to add that burden to homeowners. Um, the third reason is that just from a design standpoint, um, currently the
sewer connections are at the back of the house. So, you'd need to either bring the pipe all the way around um kind of curve it around to the street which adds bends which can be problematic for um other reasons or again homeowners would need to pay to
create a connection at the front of their house um for more direct link to the roadway. Either way, it's a cost for homeowners that we're trying to trying to avoid. So, looking at the location of the of where these sewer lines are in the
neighborhood, there's basically five locations throughout the neighborhood that have sewers that are located on private property. Um, one is between Emerald Place and Harrison A over here on the left of the map. The second is
between Lincoln and Harrison A. Um, third is between Oakdale and Ferry Street. The fourth is between Oakdale and the houses on Dartmouth Street. And then there's a very short um line that
runs between Dartmouth Street and Federal Street. Um, so again, I want to emphasize that with sewers located, let me back up here. The sewer is located on private
property. Um the city doesn't currently have legal access to be able to um reach get to these sewers really um without coordinating with a homeowner and asking and making sure it's okay for the city
to be on their property to fix um to fix an issue that might occur. So, at this point, the city is would like to secure legal access so that we can maintain the sewers, fix
them as needed, um, and make sure that they're functioning for the neighborhood for years to come. Um, so we do want to let property owners know that in the next
couple weeks we'll be starting this process of securing um legal access. So the city will be sending out letters um from the city attorney that request donations of easements
um related to the sewer lines. Um, so we do want to let folks know to expect to these letters. Um, and there'll be there'll be further instructions um, and communication within the letters that are are more
detailed than what we're providing today. But the important thing is that um, they we we want to let people know that they're on their way. Um the sewer work itself that is part of
this project probably won't happen for a couple of years. Um but we are trying to um trying to work on the legal aspect of it now. So with that said um
I would like to to open the floor to questions. So, um, it looks like Jill. So, Jill, you'll just have to unmute yourself. Um, but you should be able to do that.
Okay. Thank you very much. Hi, I'm Jill Corbin. Um, I own the property at the corner of New City. Um, it's 2-4 Emerald Place and I I just found out during this presentation that it used to be called Brook Street. That's really interesting. Um, but my, uh, my question is, um,
regarding the pipeline that goes between Oakdale Place and Ferry Street, um, there that area where that pipeline is, it's a road. It doesn't have a name. It doesn't have a designation, but if you
look at a map, there's there's a paved road between the houses that basically that that that sewer line runs under. Like if you follow that sewer line, that's a road all the way out to Parson Street and connecting up with Oakfield Place. Um, is there a plan to to make
that an official road um as as part of the project? Um, we that isn't part of the scope of the current project. Um,
but I'm going to refer to Greg, our DPW director, about whether there's been conversation about changing the status of that road. Hi, Joel. Um, so, so we've we've discussed that a little bit internally and it certainly will be an awkward
project for us to redo the entire neighborhood and leave that in its current state. So whether or not that will ultimately be accepted as a city street is not something I can really answer at this point in time. Um, but we we certainly would like to get it more up to the standards of a city street,
but it's a um it's kind of a there will be some legal hurdles to clear in in getting that turned into a public rightway if if you understand what I'm getting at. That makes sense. That makes sense. The um as of right now, what I'm looking at it, does that mean that that road belongs to the properties either
mine or the people across the street? Is that property owned by those houses or what? like where when I when I purchased my house the this the limits of the property line went up to what that road is. Um so I'm wondering is that is that
a is it a city road? Is it or is it privately owned by us and the folks that live on the other side? I think unofficially what I'd refer to it as for for the context of this conversation is a private private like a private way or a right away for okay the property
owners through there. Okay. Right. So, I just want to chime in and add that roads are a very funny legal uh thing in Massachusetts and and how they're established and just I think in
particular because New England has, you know, was settled so long ago and there's roads that have existed for who knows how long and um just a lot of quirky situations. But um yeah, for for your purposes and your neighbors purposes, you all have rights to travel
over it. Um it's just but it is it is technically private property um that is that is owned by the abuing uh properties rather than being formally um within the city's right of way. Um, so
that to to Greg's point would it just would be a different legal process that would have to be undertaken and and people would have to agree to give up part of their property. Um, which you know for the most part it's all already being used for public purposes, but it
is um it does require a process. Gotcha. I mean that makes a lot of sense. It really does. Thank you. I just I was really surprised when I got the um the map and saw that that that road wasn't even listed on the map. We have we have a couple in town that
have that Yeah. strange designation. Gotcha. Gotcha. Thank you. Thank you, folks, for indulging my questions. I appreciate it. No, we we really appreciate you taking the time time to attend and um you know, you probably heard at the beginning, we are recording this with the hopes that
maybe some additional uh property owners in the neighborhood will will be be able to watch. Um we do want to encourage everybody that is a property owner with with sewer on the private property to reach out if they have questions. Um we don't want anybody to be taken by
surprise when the letters go out. Um, and we're we're more than happy to go over any any question that anyone has. And you know, if we don't have the answer now, we can try and get it for you. So, it doesn't look like there's um any anyone else on the call that that had
questions. Johanna and Greg, I don't know if there was anything in particular that you wanted to touch on that came up um during the in-person meeting that that people who watch this later might want to know about. Um I feel like we covered probably most of it.
Um yeah. Yeah, we did. I mean, one thing I do want to mention for anyone that does watch this later is it's not our intention to to disturb or um you know, take any action on anyone's property that's not 100% necessary just to operate the municipal sewer system. That's all we want to be able all we're
trying to be able to do through this process and having these easements for for them to be there 50 or 100 years from now is just be able to do our jobs. So, um we certainly don't want to harm anyone or cause any I don't know disruption that's that's not just needed to operate the municipal sewer system.
So, um, if anyone has questions later on, they're more than welcome to just shoot me an email or give a call to the DPW. I'll be happy to, uh, um, see what I can do to help, um, you know, ease any concerns.
Mayor, did you want to say something? Yeah, I mean, uh, Johanna mentioned it in the presentation, but I would also, um, just want to emphasize that we're talking about paperwork going out to folks from lawyers talking about
easements, but we're but the project timeline, we're not talking shovels in the ground or or cameraing pipes until 2027. So there's a a gap in time between this information session, these
information sessions, and when folks might actually see work crews in their neighborhood to to um uh to do this actual project. So just to kind of get that again on onto the public record.
Thank you, Mayor. Um Jill, yeah, sorry, just one more question. Um I wasn't able to attend the um in-person meetings. Um I was just curious what the um you know what the what the feedback was from my neighbors who were able to
attend. Um if there was any concern or folks are excited, I can go back and watch those meetings as well, but you know, a summary would be helpful. Yeah. Um so the inperson meeting happened this afternoon. Um, and the
same information was presented at the in-person meeting. Um, and to be honest, there were only two people in attendance. Um, I think there was concern about how much direct impact
would have on their their individual property. Um the so it was more focused on the um the construction impacts. Um
and there's there's really only a handful of parcels where there would be ground disturbance on the parcel related to either pipe repairs or manhole manhole repairs.
Um, so yeah, I don't I don't know if Allison or Greg if there's any other Well, I think one of the things that came up was um just just logistically how this is done is it you know it's done it's accessed
from the manholes at the surface. Um so there's there is very minimal digging um that will be done in some properties there won't be work crews on them at all. probably the majority of properties will never have a work crew on them as part of this project. And Greg, you can
probably speak to it more, but you know, it will would only require the sewers to be offline for the portion of a day, right? Like eight hours, I think you said, Greg, maybe where you couldn't run water or flush the toilet. Yeah. depending on the main type and I mean the main size and temp air temperature
things of things like that while they're doing the work they'll ask for residents not to use their sewer run any water or anything for 6 to 8 hours but I mean the whole neighborhood will be dug up we'll get new streets new sidewalks it'll be a beautiful project when we're done but the disturbance on
the private property will be fairly limited to um repairs that we have to make to sections of pipe that are in too poor condition to be lined the pipe has to I don't know. I'd say 70% solid or you know and u you know give it a grade of a
C plus right to be able to line it. So Yep. And Greg you did you said earlier that the longevity that this adds to the pipe's life is 50 to 100 years. Is that Oh yeah. Yeah. It's it's like brand new pipe that'll be be there probably long after all of us. Yeah. So it's a great
project. um the city will probably have to go out for a grant um to fund it and it might be done in two cycles. This this particular part of the project um and as part of that grant process, we will have to demonstrate that we have the the right and access to the pipe
that's on private property. Um which is why we really want to get all of this secured now. So when we go out for that grant funding, um everything is everything is where it needs to be and um it can be a quicker and smoother process. Um and and just do want to
reiterate that we're we're not there are cases where people have uh you know sheds or garages near the the area where the easement will be and that's fine. Um the only reason it would ever become a problem is if we have to
access the pipe that is directly underneath or next to one of those structures. And that's not common and and not something we expect. Um, but the easement would would make it so that we're able to do that. Um, and you know,
it's important to to point out that sewers, these sewers that are running behind folks homes or alongside their homes are not just servicing them, it's servicing their neighbors as well. So, when there's a problem on one property, it affects all the properties that are on that line. So, everybody coming
together to to um establish this access is it it benefits the whole neighborhood. Yeah, Jill. Hi. Thank you again. Hoping this is my last uh inter. Um this is a little beyond the scope um of this meeting, but
I just wanted to ask a few quick questions. One, um you know, my neighbors and I that live on Ferry Street in Emerald Place. Um right now we don't have curb cuts. We don't have access to our properties from those actual um streets. So, the idea of making that road behind our houses at
easeway um a a a an actual road would be I would be supportive of that from my from my own standpoint. I'd like to go on the record of saying it is hard. I don't even order delivery anymore because no one can get to my house. Um and then uh two, I would just like to
ask if I could get some information on on who I would talk to about get like getting the background on this neighborhood. I had no idea Emerald Place used to be called Brook Street and I have no idea where then this this road between our houses actually was put in and what the you know what was planned
around it. Who would I who would I reach out to for that? Um well Johanna, you have a lot of information just part of this project. We've done some research that we could share. Yeah. Yeah, we have we definitely have some general information on the neighborhood. um especially information
that's been used in grant applications and things like that. Happy to share those to share that with you. Um so you can just my contact information is on the slide here. Um like to send me an email, I'm happy to
um Perfect. Yeah, I can definitely do that. Yeah, it was on the notification as well. I appreciate that. So yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. I've got some cool older maps. Um Johanna, you found a a neat picture. I don't know if you left it off of the presentation or not. Um, that I thought was pretty cool.
I would imagine the historical commission probably has some some good info, too. Um, you know, if there were particular questions, we can always forward them over to them, too. That would be great. I think the folks in my neighborhood that have bought these houses have bought them from folks who've been living there for 50 years.
And so, a lot of that knowledge just didn't really didn't really come forward. So, I'd love to know a little bit more. I mean, I I purchased it back in 2005, but still like, you know, there's this been 20 years and I don't know that much about my neighborhood. Yeah, there
there's some interesting history related to the mills for this neighborhood. Thank you. Yeah, I'll reach out to you, Joan. I appreciate it. Okay. Certainly. Okay. So, it looks like looks like we can probably wrap up
unless there are any other additional comments. Um, not seeing any. So, um, that's I again, thank you everyone for attending. Um, we appreciate it. Um and hopefully we
um if you have neighbors that would like to um get more information, please and let them know to contact me um the planning department and we can we can provide them with the information. Um and we'll be posting this um
presentation online shortly on the project web page. So thank you everyone. Wonderful. Thank you. This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers.