Southborough committee seeks MassWorks grants for Route 9 sewer study, debates downtown ask

The Town of Southborough’s wastewater committee met May 12 to coordinate MassWorks grant applications aimed at bringing municipal sewer service to the Route 9 corridor and to consider a separate, larger downtown project.

Committee members and engineers from Weston & Sampson reviewed two expressions of interest the town submitted: a plan centered on Route 9 that the group described to engineers as seeking roughly $400,000 for geotechnical work and initial design, and an earlier $2,000,000 request focused on a downtown wastewater facility. The committee discussed likely project scope, potential disposal or recharge sites, schedule constraints tied to the MassWorks one-stop application, and the town’s ability to provide matching funds.

The discussion matters because town leaders say sewer infrastructure along Route 9 is intended to support commercial and industrial development there — a stated goal of increasing the nonresidential tax base and easing residential tax pressure. The advisory group asked Weston & Sampson to help shape the narrative required by the MassWorks project impacts table, including estimated housing units, jobs and commercial square footage that inadequate infrastructure now prevents.

Engineers advised the committee that state environmental guidance and recent technical reviews make groundwater (subsurface) discharge the likely disposal approach rather than open-water discharge. Committee members described a target capacity range in preliminary planning of roughly 0.5 million to 0.75 million gallons per day for a…