Barnstable Town Council Approves Another $7.3 Million for Sewering Town Attorney Nober reports progress on settling Conservation Law Foundation suits
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s the Barnstable Town Council recently voted to invest another $7.3 million in FY22-25 sewer construction funding, Town Attorney Karen Nober said she is close to reaching a settlement with the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF). Nober said she and consulting law firm Anderson Kreiger of Boston are having "productive discussions" with the CLF, and she is "optimistic that we will soon see a settlement." The CLF has filed two lawsuits against the Town of Barnstable, one in state and one in federal court. The cases charge that the town is obligated by law to stop polluting the groundwater with septic systems, and that by permitting septic systems, the town has in effect authorized further pollution. Plus, CLF sued Barnstable in federal court earlier this year, alleging its Water Pollution Control Facility needs a federal discharge permit under the Clean Water Act because the treated wastewater discharged into the ground is reaching Lewis Bay. Town Manager Mark Ells has said Barnstable is “committed to doing everything in our power to preserve the health of the waters surrounding the Cape” by enforcing Title 5 regulations and implementing a 30-year, DEP-approved Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP). In fact, Councilor Kris Clark of West Barnstable said the CLF is “derailing” Barnstable's water cleanup efforts by “siphoning off financial resources (in attorneys fees) that could be directed toward exactly what they are asking us to do."
JANUARY, 2022
Earlier that evening, the council voted unanimously to approve $2.75 million for FY22-25 sewer expansion projects associated with Vineyard Wind 2 in Centerville; $3.5 million for the Route 28 sewer expansion project, which would lay pipe between Hyannis and Marstons Mills starting this spring; and another $1 million for sewering at MassDOT's Route 28 and Yarmouth Road Intersection Improvement Project. “We are very busy…and we will be very busy for a long time to come,” said DPW Director Dan Santos. Barnstable DPW is installing 2,200 linear feet (LF) of gravity sewer from Craigville Beach and Strawberry Hill Roads in Centerville to Indepencontinued on page 57
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