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wastewater

    HOUSING

    Wastewater Could Delay Move-In at Lawrence Hill

    Holding tanks might be installed if the town’s cluster system isn’t ready

    By

    WELLFLEET — When tenants get the keys to their new apartments at Wellfleet’s Lawrence Hill affordable housing complex next year, their drains may lead to holding tanks rather than the cluster wastewater system the town is in charge of building.

    The 46 apartments at 95 Lawrence Road will be the first affordable rentals to open in Wellfleet since 2017. They are scheduled to be completed by early 2026, but the wastewater system at the project might not be. (Photos by Anna Salvatore)

    The cluster system, which will also serve the town’s police and fire stations, elementary school, and a few nearby homes, is being built by the Robert B. Our Company, but it’s not clear exactly when it is expected to be finished.

    The construction contract and Notice to Proceed for the project were signed by town officials and company representatives on May 16. The town’s bid documents had specified that there be at most 355 days between the Notice to Proceed date and the end of construction — but the construction contract itself allows for 450 days.

    “Substantial completion” must be achieved by early August 2026 and “final close-out” by late September 2026, according to copies of the contract and Notice to Proceed provided by town officials to the Independent.

    The developer’s timeline on the town’s housing website, wellfleethousing.org, says that the lottery for the 46 apartments at Lawrence Hill is supposed to take place this fall, with lease-up in January 2026 and move-in shortly after that.

    Assistant Town Administrator John Bugbee told the Independent that delaying the move-in past early 2026 is a “possibility” and “something that we have discussed,” and that town officials would have a better sense of the timing by the fall.

    Wellfleet Town Administrator Tom Guerino told the Independent that the town has an “understanding” with the Our Company that the cluster system will be finished by January or February 2026, but he wouldn’t say whether that agreement was verbal or in writing.

    “No, I’m not going on the record with that,” Guerino said.

    Bugbee said that the town had to offer a longer construction schedule in order to attract bidders.

    “We couldn’t go out to bid — and get a contractor to bid — unless we gave them time to do the project in the standard amount of time,” Bugbee said. “But they also know that that’s a little longer than what [affordable housing developer] POAH is looking for in terms of occupancy, and they’ve agreed to work with us on that.”

    Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) is a national nonprofit developer; it has partnered with the Community Development Partnership, a nonprofit that serves the Outer and Lower Cape, on the Lawrence Hill project.

    Bugbee also said there is no construction schedule for the cluster waste treatment system.

    “The housing units are already being constructed, and this [wastewater] project has its own engineers and construction company,” he said. “So that’s a lot of people who have to come together on how all of this is going to work.

    “That’s why we don’t have the schedule set in stone,” Bugbee said. “Instead, we just say, ‘Get it done by X date.’

    “If it looks like it won’t line up, then we’ll look at a contingency plan,” Bugbee continued. “One option we’re considering is pumping the wastewater into holding tanks, and then the tanks would be pumped until the treatment plant is up and running.”

    Jay Coburn, CEO of the Community Development Partnership, said he had been told there would be a backup plan so that tenants can move in on schedule.

    “There will be an interim way to collect and dispose of the wastewater,” Coburn said. “The town has stated that if they’re not able to get that system completed in time, that there will be contingencies so that there is not a delay in the occupancy.”

    The town began planning work on the Lawrence Hill project about five years ago, Coburn told the Independent in April, and the $4.6-million cluster wastewater system was authorized by town meeting votes in 2021 and 2023. The town secured a $3-million state grant for the project in the fall of 2023, which reduced the amount that taxpayers will have to pay.

    The 46 apartments will be the first affordable rental units to open in Wellfleet since 2017, when Community Housing Resource finished a six-unit project on Gull Pond Road.

    “The only positive moves we’ve made on managing our wastewater problem — our nitrogen problem — is through affordable housing,” said Sharon Rule-Agger, chair of the Wellfleet Local Housing Partnership. “Housing is complicated, and wastewater management is complicated. They cannot be done in silos.”

    According to the town’s Targeted Watershed Management Plan, the cluster system will reduce the town’s nitrogen emissions into its waterways by 263 kilograms per year compared to current levels.

    Abby Rose, a construction manager for the Our Company, said there was a “kickoff meeting” last week between town officials, the company, and engineering consultant David Formato of Fuss & O’Neill.

    The company plans to break ground on the cluster system in early July, Rose said.

    WATERSHEDS

    Salt Pond and Nauset Estuary Are Top Priority Areas for Sewering

    About 600 homes will need to hook up under Eastham’s wastewater plan

    By

    EASTHAM — The people living near Salt Pond will likely be the ones who must hook up to a sewer system in order for Eastham to get a targeted watershed management plan approved by the state.

    Town staff say they cannot be any more specific yet about which homeowners will be among the approximately 600 in all who will be required to hook up to a planned sewer system. The design and engineering of the first phase of that system will go before voters next spring at the annual town meeting. According to the current timeline, construction would begin in 2025.

    The Salt Pond area circled in red on this map is an “impaired” body of water, according to the state DEP, and therefore has high priority for sewer building and wastewater treatment to reduce nitrogen. (Drawing courtesy GHD Consulting)

    Last month, J. Jefferson Gregg and Jessica Janney, project managers for GHD, a global engineering consulting firm with offices in Hyannis, provided the town with an update on the wastewater infrastructure plans that have been underway for years. The plan is designed to reduce nitrogen from septic systems that are currently polluting water bodies.

    The neighborhoods on the ocean side of the Cape Cod Rail Trail beginning at Depot Pond and moving north to the town DPW area fall within the phase one area of the plan. This includes neighborhoods around Salt Pond, Depot Pond, Ministers Pond, and Moll Pond.

    Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said the consultants are still studying which houses will be required to hook up.

    “At this point, we do not even have cost estimates for the design and engineering,” she said. “So, everyone will have to wait a couple more months — as we will — to have more refined information.” The consultants and staff will return in January for more concrete discussions about numbers and cost estimates, Beebe added.

    The town has been trying to clean up Salt Pond and the Nauset Estuary for many years. Testing of Salt Pond from 2001 to 2020 found that nitrogen levels were almost always above the state’s targeted level of .45 milligrams per liter.

    Septic systems are the major reason why. So, the town proposes to build sewers in priority areas.

    About 250 sewer connections are proposed in phase one and 280 in phase two, along with another 60 connections to commercial properties on the highway, Janney said. The sewer pipes for phase one will transport wastewater to a treatment facility at the transfer station at 555 Old Orchard Road.

    Other potential sites for a treatment system, including the T-Time parcel on Route 6 and the sand pit at 2760 Nauset Road, have been ruled out because treated wastewater released at the transfer station will take the longest to travel to the municipal water wells, according to groundwater modeling, Gregg said.

    Motivation to clean up Salt Pond is coming from the state Dept. of Environmental Protection, which has issued draft regulations requiring every town to submit a targeted watershed management plan to clean up impaired water bodies or face a requirement that every property owner living near these water bodies be made to install high-nitrogen-removal wastewater systems, which cost approximately $30,000 each.

    Exactly who will pay the millions of dollars needed for sewer infrastructure remains unknown, but the town would be able to apply for zero-percent loans and use American Rescue Plan Act funds for the purpose. Property owners will probably be charged hookup fees, but an exact formula has not been determined.

    On Nov. 21, the select board asked Gregg about the quality of the treated effluent from a treatment facility on Old Orchard Road.

    “I’m wondering what the risk to our wells would actually be if we put a facility at the DPW,” said board member Suzanne Bryan.

    Gregg’s response was definitive.

    “Right now, you have no treatment on any of your septic systems that go to those wells,” Gregg said. “So, it’s the same risk you have now, except you have a higher level of treatment.” With treated wastewater, he said, “you’re doing a better job.”

    The Salt Pond watershed is the focus of the first phase of the town’s plan. Phase two addresses the larger area known as the Nauset Estuary. It extends from the transfer station to Town Cove in Orleans on the ocean side of the Rail Trail.

    The town is “in discussions for a regional approach” with Orleans, which is scheduled to open a wastewater facility in January to provide treatment to homes around Town Cove and possibly Rock Harbor, according to Gregg.

    “Is there an opportunity for any partnerships?” Gregg said. “The town is exploring that.”

    Otherwise, building sewer pipes from South Eastham to the DPW facility will be costly.

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Wellfleet’s Big Plan Goes Out for Bids

    Proposed wastewater system would boost watershed protection

    By

    WELLFLEET — The largest affordable housing initiative in the town’s history reached a milestone last week with the select board’s unanimous approval on March 9 of a request for proposals (RFP) for the 46-unit 95 Lawrence Road project. Bids from potential developers are due on June 15.

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