Southborough Board of Health approves Goodflow septic system, allows 880‑gallon flow at 2 East Main St.

The Town of Southborough Board of Health voted April 8 to approve a Goodflow (formerly Kertek LLC) soil absorption system and to allow an 880‑gallon‑per‑day wastewater flow at 2 East Main Street, conditionally tied to documentation of a historic 900‑gallon daily flow on the property.

Peter Bemis, engineering design consultant, told the board he is seeking an updated soil absorption system to serve a mixed‑use redevelopment at 2 East Main Street and asked the board to permit the Goodflow chamber system under a parking area. Bemis said the higher 880‑gpd flow would allow eight bedrooms in the project and satisfy the downtown multifamily affordable‑housing requirement that the developer provide at least one affordable unit. Bemis said the developer intends the affordable unit to be handicapped‑accessible.

The proposal drew a technical review from Dennis (staff member), who told the board his review was based on the Board’s 2018 approval (listed in meeting materials at 725 gpd). Dennis said the Goodflow technology is proven and noted two ways the board could act: treat the application as an increase in design flow that requires a new variance, or accept historical flows on the site as the basis for approving the higher flow without a new variance. Dennis said the Goodflow chambers provide equal or better treatment than the earlier presby system and that his team asked the applicant to run a distribution pipe through the chambers to spread effluent across the system rather than concentrate it at a single drop point. “You’re creating a better effluent by spreading it out,” Dennis said of the extended pipe; he recommended that modification be added to the plan.

Bemis summarized the site history for the board, describing earlier commercial uses including a fuel station and a printing press, and said those former uses would have produced higher wastewater flows than the property’s most recent approvals. He and Dennis told the board that the Goodflow product has DEP approval for much larger flows (up to 5,000 gpd in other contexts) and that the proposed installation would include an impermeable barrier to protect nearby environmental receptors, including an intermittent stream and an on‑site culvert that drains toward the Lamy property.

Board members asked technical and planning questions about footprint changes, square‑footage deltas in the leaching area and whether the system is commonly used. Dennis and Bemis said the chambers are still used, particularly under parking lots and in higher‑flow sites, but that installation requires heavier equipment than modern plastic systems. Bemis said the design would remove a 75‑square‑foot strip of leaching area and add about 218 square feet elsewhere on the plan for a net increase of roughly 43 square feet relative to the previously approved configuration.

After discussion, the board voted to approve the 880‑gpd Goodflow system for 2 East Main Street based on the applicant’s documentation and the board’s finding of a historic 900‑gallon‑per‑day flow on the site. The board also voted to conditionally approve the submitted plans contingent on adding the historic 900‑gpd figure to the plan documents. The hearing was then closed.

Votes at a glance: the Board of Health approved the application to permit an 880‑gpd flow at 2 East Main Street using the Goodflow system (motion introduced by a board member; seconded by Safdar; outcome: approved). The board also conditionally approved the plans as presented, with the requirement that a 900‑gpd historic flow be added to the plan (seconded; outcome: approved). (Specific roll‑call numbers were not recorded in the transcript beyond several members voicing “aye.”)

Next steps: the applicant will amend the plan to show the historic 900‑gpd flow and the board indicated that final plan approval will be a formality once that edit is made; the planning board process is ongoing and the applicant indicated plans to appear before the planning board with the amended materials.