After more than 20 years of talk, Haverhill city councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $1.8 million to buy an East Broadway home and land to site a supplemental drinking water well.
City officials long ago eyed the 7.4-acre parcel at 309 E. Broadway after tests showed it is for siting a unique radial collector well to draw water from an aquifer under the Merrimack River. The plan proved controversial when owner Joyce E. Hill and the city could not come to terms.
Ward 5 Councilor Shaun P. Toohey praised city officials and its legal team for finally getting the project over the finish line.
“We’re solving the major problem in this community and, in my opinion, it is the right decision. It’s a great investment and I think you guys did a terrific job making it happen,” Toohey said.
City Council President Timothy J. Jordan expressed relief. “I’m glad that it’s over. I’m very glad. I am not going to get into the he said-she said. Whatever. I can understand why everybody felt the way that they felt. At the end of the day, we now have it. That’s wonderful. The water, obviously desperately needed, should serve us into the future for a very, very long time,” Jordan said.
As recently as March, Ward 1 Councilor Ralph T. Basiliere proposed taking a 5.3-acre portion of the property by eminent domain at a cost of $900,000. But, when other councilors feared an unfriendly taking would land the city in court, the Council asked Mayor Melinda E. Barrett and her team to go back to the negotiating table.
In exchange for purchasing the entire parcel of land, including a vacant older house, for $1.8 million, Hill agreed not to challenge the valuation. The city agreed to push the transfer out to July 31 to give Hill time to remove personal items from the house.
The city currently has no plans for the house or the land around it, but could at some future date declare it surplus and advance another use, according to its lawyer.
The city will take half the cost of the purchase from the city’s Water Enterprise Fund and borrow the remainder. According to Department of Public Works Director Robert E. Ward, the loan will cost ratepayers an additional four cents per hundred cubic feet on their water bills.