Some meetings in Provincetown are in person, some are online, and some are both. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda with details about the event.
Thursday, March 3
- Council on Aging Board, 10 a.m., Veterans Memorial Community Center
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Tuesday, March 8
- Visitor Services Board, 1 p.m., virtual
- Licensing Board, 5:15 p.m.
- Year-Round Market Rate Rental Housing Trust, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Thursday, March 10
- Public Pier Corp. Board, 4 p.m.
- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Conversation Starters
Down and Dirty With Sewers
At the Feb. 28 select board meeting, DPW Director Rich Waldo delivered a 90-minute presentation on options for a major expansion of the town’s sewer system. The “medium” option that Waldo recommends would raise the town’s total sewer capacity by 50 percent, to 1,875,000 gallons per day of wastewater flow.
Expanded treatment capacity would allow for more connections in neighborhoods that already have sewer lines, and an expansion of the system to areas that don’t have sewer service. Waldo identified Conwell Street and Harry Kemp Way as high priorities because of the density of cesspools and substandard septic systems there.
The plan includes an additional tank at the current wastewater treatment plant on the north side of Route 6 and a new satellite site on the south side of Route 6. The town must choose between two proposed locations for the satellite: the soccer field along Route 6, or a parcel on Route 6 that lies west of the dog park.
Each location has limitations. The site near the dog park is closer to residential properties and the workforce housing that Patrick Patrick is planning to build, Waldo said. The soccer field site would require the existing underground leaching field to be moved to Motta Field. The parcel that includes the soccer field was also identified as a potential candidate for future housing efforts at two workshops last fall.
The medium option would cost $40 to $60 million, Waldo said. Money in the Cape and Islands Water Protection Fund can defray up to 25 percent of a wastewater project. Federal infrastructure money could defray another 49 percent of the cost.
“The time to obtain the best grant support is now,” said John Goodrich, Provincetown’s wastewater consultant from AECOM, “while the very generous infrastructure act add-on money is available.”
Waldo asked the select board to provide guidance by the end of April so the town can apply for grant money.
“We don’t want the added costs,” said Dave Abramson, the select board chair. “But like many other things in this town, we can’t keep pushing this down the road.” —Paul Benson
