For months, residents of Rust Island have lobbied for deep water lines to upgrade their existing Gloucester-owned municipal seasonal water lines in the name of fire protection and wells that can turn brackish.
On Tuesday night, Nov. 14, residents of the waterfront neighborhood on a peninsula along the Annisquam River gave the City Council a standing ovation in the Kyrouz Auditorium after it voted unanimously for a $15 million loan order to extend deep water lines to a few neighborhoods still on seasonal water, including Rust Island.
The project will be paid for not through a betterment or by water ratepayers, but from taxpayers across the city.
However, not everyone was applauding the coming of deep water.
Some residents on Fernald Street feared this would destroy their wells. Others wanted to know why their neighborhoods suffering from an inadequate water supply were not included in the project.
The project would upgrade the existing seasonal water lines to the Valley Road neighborhood off Atlantic Street, Fernald Street in West Gloucester, Lincoln/Walker streets in West Gloucester, and the Rust Island neighborhood.
More than 25 residents, some longtime residents and some new ones to Rust Island, implored the council to approve the project.
Anne Strong of Crafts Road said the neighborhood has been speaking to city since April 25 “and we are really thrilled that the administration has brought this proposal forward and has included the other neighborhoods that still have public municipal seasonal water.”
“Fire safety is first and foremost in our minds when we brought this forward. Fires happen,” she said.
Larry Russo of Ye Olde County Road said the National Fire Protection Association compliance for municipal hydrants is one every 600 feet while many of the homes in the area are more than 2,000 feet from a hydrant in the vicinity of the Lobsta Land Restaurant on Causeway Street.
“Yes, we want year-round water. Yes, we want healthy water, but more importantly, we want water for fire protection,” Russo said.
Kevin O’Maley of Crafts Road said there more than 100 homes with limited water supplies in the summer for water safety.
“In the winter there is no water,” he said.
Fernald Street Resident Russell Jacobs said he and his neighbors spend a lot of money on artesian wells.
“I’m not opposed with any of these beautiful people here about needing water; we all need water,” Jacobs said. He was afraid that blasting to install the water lines would destroy his and his neighbor’s wells.
Department of Public Works Director Mike Hale said he would not expect engineering and permitting on the project to begin before Jan. 1, with bidding taking place in the late spring or early summer. Some streets could be done more quickly than others. Some streets would involve multi-season construction projects.
Financing deep waterThe project would not hit water ratepayers but property taxpayers.
City officials had said that adding this debt service to the annual water fund budget would have boosted rates by 14% city wide.
This past June, the city’s water rates had already increased by 10%.
Instead of putting the project on the water rate, the debt is being shifted to the tax rate in what is called a debt shift, which would increase taxes by 1%.
City Auditor Kenny Costa estimated the debt service and used that to calculate the debt shift’s effect on the tax rate.
Costa estimated properties assessed at $750,000 would see a $90 increase in taxes a year. He said the was just an estimate.
Costa said it would be unlikely the city would borrow the entire $15 million all at once, but over a three-year period. He said interest rate fluctuations would also have an impact on the cost. City officials are also exploring other funding sources.
Chief Administrative Office Jill Cahill said that neighbors around Rust Island have been vocal in bringing this forward. Councilors asked the administration to do an analysis.
“We took a look at how best to handle upgrading what is a public seasonal water infrastructure and how best to cover the financing of it,” Cahill said.
From a question about why a betterment was not proposed from Councilor-at-Large Jason Grow, Cahill said the administration considered all options and reviewed past work with betterments.
“And seeing that this was an upgrade to a public water infrastructure it was determined that the betterment was not the best way to go,” Cahill said. “And again as I said, looking at paying for it through debt shift or water rates the preferred way and what we’re putting in front of you is the debt shift.”
Some questioned whether a betterment would have been a better way to go.
Former City Councilor Valerie Nelson said there was not adequate notice of the project and wanted the vote delayed.
“I’m primarily concerned that betterments have not been discussed at all and these homeowners are beneficiaries of great value.” She said in North Gloucester residents paid for sewer betterments and private road owners are paying betterments for paving.
Administration officials said the city could have assessed a betterment to residents for the deep water lines.
In April, the City Council passed an ordinance allowing the city to levy a betterment to cover the costs of laying water lines in both public and private ways, according to the ordinance.
Egan said the city accepted the state statute to allow this to happen. She said there was nothing legally that would prohibit the assessment of betterments for the project.
Cahill said the administration was following its policy in how it pays to upgrades public infrastructure either through the water rates, the general fund or a debt shift.
Feeling excludedGregory Doe of White’s Mountain Road said he did not mean any disrespect to Rust Island residents, but he requested the Council postpone the vote.
“The bond proposal is exclusionary,” he said.
He said in 2011, 25 homes on White’s Mountain Road, Becker Circle and Thompson Street came before the council requesting “water relief and fire protection.” He asked why they were not included.
“We are in the same boat as the rest of those neighborhoods,” Doe said. City officials said the area was not included because it involves private water lines.
Jane Fox Dobson of Becker Circle said Rust Island residents live on private roads and they have wells. At some point, she said, the city provided them with seasonal water with above-ground water lines.
They “have already received a generous gift from the taxpayer in comparison to other adjacent neighborhoods that do not receive any city services and had to pay to install their water lines,” she said.
There is no state mandate that seasonal lines need to be replaced, Dobson said.
Cahill said the city has long been planning to eliminate season water lines, but it was not a top priority in its water infrastructure improvement plans. Dobson asked how the city could justify installing deep water lines for one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city at the expense of other taxpayers struggling to make ends meet.
“Becker Circle is private water infrastructure,” Cahill said at one point. “The residents own the water infrastructure.”
Ward 2 Councilor Tracy O’Neil said she would support the project, adding she did not want the residents of the Becker Circle area to be “lost or forgotten.”
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714,or at eforman@northofboston.com.