Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Southborough leaders begin formal study of Route 9 wastewater plant to attract commercial development
Summary
Select Board member Al Hamilton presented preliminary findings that a municipal wastewater treatment system could make Route 9 more developable, help shift tax burden from residents to businesses and enable re-use of treated effluent; group will seek committee formation and further study.
Al Hamilton, a Select Board member, told the Southborough Planning Board on Feb. 24 that a small working group has begun evaluating the feasibility of a municipal wastewater treatment plant aimed principally at enabling commercial development along the Route 9 corridor.
Hamilton said the motivation is fiscal: the town’s tax base has shifted toward residential properties and residents now carry a larger share of the tax burden. “This is really about our tax burden,” Hamilton said, adding that Southborough is currently at about 83.7 percent residential assessment and would need roughly $150,000,000 of new commercial and industrial assessed value to return to an historic 80/20 split.
The point of the study, Hamilton said, is to make parcels along Route 9 — which he estimated at about 167 acres of undeveloped or underdeveloped frontage (excluding certain exempt parcels) — more attractive and buildable. He told the board that wastewater availability is a frequent blocking issue for restaurants, groceries,…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
