Hoping to avoid litigation, the Haverhill City Council Tuesday instructed the mayor to continue negotiating for a five-acre parcel the city is eyeing for a supplemental drinking water well.
The city has sought the land, owned by Joyce E. Hill at 309 E. Broadway, for more than 10 years to dig a unique radial collector riverbank well which would draw water from the aquifer under the Merrimack River.
Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, along with Public Works Director Robert E. Ward, presented a plan to take a 5.3-acre portion of the seven-acre property by eminent domain for $917,000. Hill wants the city to purchase her entire property for $1.8 million which includes her former residence, city officials said. Ward noted paying extra for the property means higher water bills. He explained each expenditure for improvements—including an upcoming $19 million project—concerns him. Ward reminded councilors the city has spent the last 56 years evaluating options.
“We have studies dating back to the 1970. All these various studies over the decades have looked at every inch of Haverhill. They’ve looked at groundwater. They’ve looked at surface water. One study looked at the Little River,” Ward said.
He added the city identified five potential sites for a riverbank well. Three sites were rejected due to pollution. Two other sites, which are near Hill’s property, have similar geologic qualities but tests indicate wells there would yield much less water, Ward said.
Barrett said the city hoped to avoid the unfriendly land taking, but negotiations stalled. After 90 minutes of discussion, when it became clear the mayor’s plan was not going to pass, councilors voted to hold off until its Tuesday, March 10, meeting to give Barrett and her team more time to negotiate with Hill and her lawyers.
Ward 1 Councilor Ralph T. Basiliere was vocal in his support for moving ahead to take the land calling it “necessary and strategic” to ensure a safe water supply for the city’s long-term future. He said, as a former member of the Haverhill Conservation Commission, he met with Hill in 2017 along with her lawyers.
“She told me she wanted to sell this land to the city and she told me that she wanted future generations of Haverhill to benefit from this land. She also told me it had great sentimental and monetary value to her. She was a shrewd and very sound woman and I respect that,” Basiliere said.
Siding with Basiliere was at-large Councilor Thomas J. Sullivan who argued the public good trumped one landowner’s rights.
“I guess I just don’t understand why we’re more concerned about the rights of that one property owner who’s been involved in this process for decades than we are for future generations of citizens having adequate water when we know we already have a problem and it’s heightened in recent years with the drought,” Sullivan said.
But Ward 4 Councilor Melissa J. Lewandowski said she is having a hard time supporting a land taking rather than amiable purchase.
“No one’s going to be comfortable with a non-friendly taking because we do think about what if this happened to us or someone we know in our family, how would we react,” Lewandowski observed.
Ward 2 Councilor Daniel R. Diodati said he prefers Ward and his engineers consider other options including requiring developers to dig their own water wells. He added that if the East Broadway property was ultimately deemed the best option, the city could purchase the entire property, raze the house and possibly use the excess land for 55-plus or senior housing.
“I understand the urgency to bring more water into the city. It definitely has to happen, but I feel like we haven’t really exhausted every option,” Diodati said.
Ward 5 Councilor Shaun P. Toohey and Ward 7 Councilor Catherine P. Rogers voiced similar objections. At-large Councilor John A. Michitson pointed out that if the city proceeds with a land taking, court costs could exceed the $1.8 million purchase price Hill is tendering for the entire parcel.
As currently imagined, Ward said the city would dig a well 50 to 100 feet off the riverbank and 70- to 90-feet deep. The water would then be pumped to one of its reservoirs or to the treatment plant directly. Ward said the proposed well could yield as much as six million gallons of water a day, enough to meet the city’s demand once it is fully built out. It would be the first radial collector well in the state and construction would take four years.
City councilors approved a $17.2 million loan order for the project 10 years ago this year. Last month, the federal government awarded the city a $1 million grant towards the project.