YARMOUTH — Voters at the annual town meeting April 25 will tackle 36 articles on the warrant, including a measure to spend $207.2 million to embark on Phase 1 of the town’s sewer project, which includes pipe installation and building a sewage treatment plant.
Town meeting will convene at 6 p.m. at Mattacheese Middle School, 400 Higgins Crowell Road, West Yarmouth.
The wastewater management plan, which is Article 18, has been years in the making, according to Town Administrator Robert Whritenour.
“When it came up 12 years ago, the town wasn’t fully prepared financially to take on the obligations of a wastewater system, but things have changed tremendously,” said Whritenour. “Our water quality and coastal system has degraded to a point where the town truly needs a collective wastewater system now.”
Flushing toilets on Cape CodReport shows waters increasingly polluted
Why is the wastewater management plan needed now?
Following the protracted threat of a federal lawsuit by the Conservation Law Foundation, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued a letter on June 1, 2022 outlining planned regulations. Those regulations offer communities two options — go with a watershed permit to solve the pollution problem or DEP will force homeowners in the nitrate sensitive areas to upgrade their septic systems to expensive innovative/alternative systems within 5 years.
A comprehensive wastewater management plan is the only way to avoid forcing property owners throughout town from having to upgrade their existing septic systems.
Phase 1 focuses on Route 28 and leverages commercial connection costs and other funding sources to get the treatment plant built so homeowners don’t have to pay for it later on. While homeowners will pay costs in later phases, Phase 1 does not cost individual homeowners anything. Without Phase 1, there would be no phases two through eight and therefore there is a guaranteed greater cost via the pending DEP regulations.
Further delay on Phase 1 will cost the town more, because with each passing year, the cost goes up 3-5%, meaning each year adds an extra $5 million in price.
Cape wastewater managementState’s proposed nitrogen regulations put a tight deadline on Cape wastewater management
Implementing Phase 1 of an eight-phase plan is the most crucial step for the town
Town officials have determined that there are ways to save individual taxpayers a great deal of money, according to Whritenour. Over 40% of the project is being paid for by revenue derived from room taxes for short-term rentals.
“Using these funds, we’re able to put together a program that is far more efficient and does not have a property tax increase. This project’s Phase 1 will be funded solely by those customers,” said Whritenour.
In Article 20, the town is asking for permission to charge homeowners a lower interest rate on betterment fees. For Yarmouth’s projected wastewater betterments, that would lower the interest rate to property owners from 5% down to a maximum rate of 2% if the town is able to obtain 0% interest from the State Revolving Loan Fund.
The town has put together a program in which the average betterment works out to about $15,000 for homeowners. That amount can be paid over 30 years and works out to around $500 annually.
Sanitation construction and replacement are also major votes on the town meeting warrant.
Articles 22 and 23 focus on current sanitation systems and their improvement. In article 22, the Sanitation Division proposes to replace the deteriorating concrete pad at the Yarmouth Sanitation Facility, which is more than 20 years old and is at the end of its useful life.
Article 23 proposes acquiring a new front-end sanitation loader for $110,505 for the first year of a three-year agreement.
Other warrant articles for police cruisers, plastic ban
The Yarmouth Police Department plans to enter a four-year deal with Ford Motor Company for the purchase of six police cruisers. At the last annual town meeting, voters approved the first lease agreement to allow the department to replace cruisers at the end of their useful service life. This will reduce costly repairs to several aging vehicles used daily.
There’s a petition to ban plastic, used in any food, service, or takeout containers, whether it be restaurants or supermarkets. It also includes a ban on plastic utensils. Similarly, there’s a petition for banning single use plastic water bottles. The petition proposes a ban which would be effective on December 31, 2023, to ban single-use plastic bottles of less than one gallon in Yarmouth.
Whritenour urges town meeting voters to OK Phase 1 wastewater spending.
“If we get the town’s wastewater system up and running and start to clean up the environment, it would be a very historic time for the town of Yarmouth,” said Whritenour.