Medway & Millis January 2019

Page 10 Medway & Millis Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com January 2019
As Millis Stormwater Utility Takes Effect, Homeowners Seek Clarification
By David Pasquantonio
New EPA regulations on
how communities manage their
stormwater programs have gone
into effect, and Millis residents
are feeling the pinch after receiving
their first bills to fund the
town’s new stormwater utility.
In a recent interview, Jim
McKay, the director of the Millis
DPW, walked through the
development of the utility and
what the town has been and will
be doing to manage stormwater
activities.
Communities like Millis operate
under permits that regulate
their storm sewer systems. About
260 towns and cities in Massachusetts
most recently operated
under a permit issued in 2003.
A new, more stringent permit
was supposed to go into effect a
few years ago, but the EPA kept
the 2003 permit valid while they
finalized the new requirements
and regulations after pushback
from many communities.
The new permit went into effect
in July 2018. In December,
Mass Audubon Stony Brook
Announces Its January
Programming!
Tiny Trekkers: Saturday, January 5th and 19th,
from 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Start your weekend off
right with a fun and knowledgeable Stony Brook
teacher on the trails learning about nature. Each
day will have a special topic created to excite your
child about the natural world. There will be crafts,
activities and lots of laughter. So come and join
the fun. This month’s themes: Tracks/ Winter
Wonderland. Ages 2.9 to 6 with a parent. Fee:
$5m/$6nm per person per session
Winter Hike at Quabbin Reservoir: Saturday,
January 12th, from 9:30 a.m.- 3 p.m. The ‘dead
of winter’ is not a good description when referring
to the Quabbin! This pristine 18-mile long
reservoir is secluded in almost 55,000 acres of uninhabited
woodland. We will explore the area in
search of Bald Eagles, Porcupines, Coyotes, River
Otters, Common Ravens, and Pileated Woodpeckers.
We never know what we will find, but it’s
always interesting. Fee: $45m/ $54nm
Tracking Animals: Saturday, January 12th, 10:30
a.m. – 12:30 p.m. This program is designed for
children at least 6 years old and a parent to learn
about the clues animals leave behind at Stony
Brook. You will be learn different animal tracks
and signs as we heighten our awareness of the
many animals that stay active all winter long.
Please bring a lunch. Fee: $6ch-$9adm/ $7ch-
$11adnm
Winter Tree Identification (made easier): Sunday,
January 20th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Meet us at Wollomonopoag
Pond in Wrentham MA for this FREE
program. What is that shrub with all of the berries
and how about the tree it is growing next to?
Join us for an up-close look at trees and shrubs in
their winter form. This hands-on workshop will
guide you through the various methods of identifying
trees in the winter months. We will discuss
habitats and the attributes of trees that are helpful
in placing a name to unknown trees. Dress for the
weather and for going off the beaten path as we
explore the forest for clues to help us identify the
trees and shrubs we find interesting. This program
is sponsored by the Wrentham Open Space Committee
and generously supported by the Sweatt
Fund.
Sunday Stroll on the Sanctuary: 4th Sunday
of each month (this month January 27th), from 4
-5:30 p.m. Join our Teacher Naturalist for a walk
through Stony Brook. We will see what is happening
on the sanctuary and stop to enjoy any
interesting and unusual sights we come upon. Fee:
Free for members only
Join Bonnie Dittrich’s gentle yoga class! Most
Tuesday evenings in our Program Room. It’s
calming, centering, stimulating and very affordable
with a $10 donation per session. Come one
day or as many as you like. No commitment necessary.
Call to confirm class and time.
Pre-registration is required for all programs
(except as noted). For more details, visit the Mass
Audubon webpage at www.massaudubon.org or
contact us at (508) 528-3140. Register by phone,
email (stonybrook@massaudubon.org), fax (508-
553-3864) or in person. Stony Brook is located at
108 North Street in Norfolk.
Millis received authorization to
operate under the permit, which
expires in June 2022.
The EPA regulations are
an unfunded mandate—communities
must comply with the
regulations but with no money
provided for fulfilling those requirements—so
each community
is left to decide how best to fund
their stormwater management
program.
Some communities started
putting money aside years ago
toward their stormwater efforts
before the new regulations hit,
but many towns, including Millis,
didn’t have discretionary funds.
So Millis proposed creating a
stormwater utility—a dedicated
program, paid separately from
property taxes or sewer utilities,
that administers and funds
stormwater activities.
At Town Meeting in November
2017, Millis residents approved
the creation of the utility.
McKay said that the utility was
the fairest way to spread the costs
throughout town, as every property
owner pays into the system.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone
is happy about it.
Every property owner in
town—residential, commercial,
municipal, or institutional—received
an annual bill in November.
The amount of the bill is
based on the amount of impervious
surface on the property.
Impervious surfaces include
roofs, patios, parking lots, and
asphalt driveways. Hardened
surfaces, which also create runoff
and include things like pea
stone or hard-packed dirt driveways,
are also factored in. Every
1,000 square feet of such surfaces
equals one billing unit. Each billing
unit is charged $2.75 per
month, or $33 a year. Just over
half of Millis properties have
three or fewer billing units, meaning
their annual utility cost is $99
or less. The rates won’t change
for at least the first three years of
the program, McKay said.
About 28 percent of properties
got bills for four or five billing
units, while the rest, mainly
municipal and commercial properties,
got the highest bills. In
2019, the town will be looking at
credits, ways for property owners
to lessen their bills through best
practices.
After the bills hit, the town’s
public forum on Facebook lit up,
with dozens of comments on the
bills, the timing, what constitutes
an impervious surface, and how
Millis’s stormwater budget stacks
up against those of other state
communities that have gone the
utility route. Residents talked
about cost per road mile, cost
per resident, and cost per square
mile. In many cases, Millis’s comparison
costs are higher.
McKay was sympathetic, and
added that it’s hard to compare
towns when it comes to complex
programs like the stormwater
utilities. “Some towns have existing
equipment and staff to
handle the new requirements,”
he said.
McKay walked through the
different communications that
each property owner received,
including notices of information
meetings in 2017, the articles
in the warrant before Town
Meeting, ad a postcard with the
proposed billing rates in June.
However, some residents were
still taken by surprise when they
received their bills.
“Communication can always
be better,” McKay said, adding
that the town is looking to
improve the information that’s
printed on the bill.
Most of Millis’ border is defined
by the Charles River, and
much of town’s land is wetlands,
whereas other communities have
smaller water profiles and different
existing infrastructure.
Medway, which has not created
a utility, estimates that its
stormwater management program
will cost about $275,000
annually for the first five years
of the program, according to the
town website, with annual costs
rising to perhaps $1.5 million per
year during the next five years.
Some towns, Milford being one,
have baked their year one program
costs—$400,000 in Milford’s
case—into the capital plan,
but are looking at huge increases
in subsequent years. Milford has
opted to create a utility to pay for
program costs.
A stormwater system is complex.
Millis has over 1,200 catch
basins, as well as about 150 open
channel culverts and over 160
discharge outlets. For example,
a pipe that allows water to flow
STORMWATER
continued on page 18