Proposal for $3 Million Sewer For 4-Corners Business Development Hits Snag As Two Properties Opt Out [with video]
Town Manager Mark Haddad asked the Board of Selectmen Monday night to open the Annual Spring Town Meeting Warrant again, this time to add a fourth article to the three already being proposed for a $3M municipal sewer construction project for the commercial area at the Four Corners intersection of Boston Road, Sandy Pond Road and Forge Village Road.
This fourth article is for a vote of approval to designate the Four Corners as an Economic Opportunity Area that if adopted will allow businesses in buildings that have not been occupied in two years to be eligible for a 10percent tax deduction through the state. Haddad said that this would be helpful to businesses in the area, especially the three buildings on the Shaw's Supermarket site that are not being used.
The other three articles request voters to establish a Sewer District; to approve $300,000 for engineering and design with an estimated $2.5M for construction; and to enter into an Inter-municipal Agreement with Ayer. According to Haddad, the total project will be paid for by the businesses in the area through betterments. If these are approved by voters that means that there will be eligibility for Mass. Works Development grants.
Haddad has been talking with business owners and residents of the Four Corners area and said he believed that the availability of municipal sewer would spur economic development.
Currently, the businesses in the Four Corners area generate $180,843 in taxes and he expects with a full build out that could increase by another $93,874. A large part of that estimate is for a 16-acre parcel owned by New England Power Company along Sandy Pond Road, that if fully developed, alone could bring in $40,000 of the estimated tax revenue increase. He cautioned that this is a "best guess on what can be built on the 16 acres. It is an estimate only."
Selectman Peter Cunningham asked about the availability of a map delineating the area that would be served by the sewer. Haddad responded that some business owners in that area told him that they would not use the sewer, "and it may make sense to remove them" from the district. He assured Cunningham that a map would be available for Town Meeting.
Selectmen Cunningham and Jack Petropoulos said they would defer their decision on whether or not to support this until Town Meeting. Selectman Chairman Josh Degen and Selectman Stuart Schulman said they would not take a position on the article yet until there was more discussion with the property owners.
Selectman Anna Eliot said she was in favor of creating the district, adding, however, that the removal of some businesses is different from what was initially talked about, those "that were eliminated at the request of some property owners."
Haddad told the Board that there would be minimal impact to taking out the two businesses properties. He added that it is the Board of Selectmen that decides which properties are in the district "and then the Town Meeting votes." He suggested deferring any decision until there is more concrete information available.
Chairman Degen stressed, "We are proposing this. We were not asked by the property owners" to do this.
