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Holyoke committee accepts $250,000 Clean Water Trust stormwater grant for CSO/Zone 7 design
Summary
The Holyoke City Finance Committee voted to accept a $250,000 Mass Clean Water Trust Overflow and Stormwater Grant to fund design work for Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Zone 7, covering streets near North Hampton Street and Whiting Farms Road; construction is likely years away and total project costs remain undetermined.
The Holyoke City Finance Committee voted Dec. 8 to accept a $250,000 Mass Clean Water Trust Overflow and Stormwater Grant and authorize a fund to account for receipts and expenditures related to the award. The order was moved under Mass. Gen. Laws, chapter 44, section 53A.
Mike Gallagher of the Department of Public Works told the committee the grant will fund design work for CSO 7 (Zone 7), an area near North Hampton Street in the vicinity of Whiting Farms Road affecting South Martin Street, Elmwood Avenue, Clark Street, West Glen Street, Gilman Street and Northampton Street. “This is for the design work,” Gallagher said, and the committee heard that actual construction would “probably [be] about a couple years out” after design and further planning.
Committee members and Gallagher discussed the project’s relationship to other ongoing work in the city, including the River Terrace project. A committee member estimated the entire sewer-separation project could be in the “neighborhood of $5 or $6,000,000,” but Gallagher cautioned that the true total will not be known until the design is complete and work is put out to bid. Gallagher said multiple phases remain and noted the larger sewer-separation effort can span decades.
The motion to accept the grant was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote; members on the committee voted in favor. The committee authorized establishing the appropriate fund and accounting mechanisms for the grant’s administration. Next steps identified in the meeting are finalizing design work and preparing the project for bidding and construction scheduling.
