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Resident urges Scituate council to fund Patuxent River contamination study and update wastewater plan
Summary
At the council meeting, resident Cindy Gianfrancesco asked the council to initiate a study of the North Branch of the Patuxent River for contamination sources, asked whether the town planner (Weston & Sampson) has been contacted, and requested the town update its 2007 on-site wastewater treatment plan; she said Joe Casale provided a proposal and asked the item be added to the next agenda.
A Scituate resident urged the town to move forward on environmental action at the council's October meeting.
"Has anyone contacted the town planner, Weston and Sampson, to initiate that study?" asked Cindy Gianfrancesco (299 Gleaner Chapel Road), referring to a conservation-commission recommendation to study the North Branch of the Patuxent River for possible contamination. Gianfrancesco said she could not attend the prior meeting but asked the council what the next steps would be and whether funding had been allocated.
Gianfrancesco also told the council the town's on-site wastewater treatment plan, written in February 2007, "was never really implemented" and likely needs updating. She said she had been meeting with Joe Casale and had a proposal attached to an earlier email (Sept. 22) and asked the council to place the item on a future agenda for review.
A councilor replied that the planner firm (Weston & Sampson) is a private organization that works for towns and that the councilor would find answers to Gianfrancesco's questions and get back to her by email. The transcript does not record a formal motion or vote on funding or initiation of the study; Gianfrancesco asked that the issue be placed on the next agenda so the project can move forward.
The request raises funding and procedural questions for staff: whether the town has retained Weston & Sampson on retainer, what funding source (if any) would cover the study, and whether the 2007 wastewater plan update will be staffed or contracted. Those clarifications were not resolved during the meeting and were assigned for follow-up.
