Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.
The Haverhill City Council votes Tuesday on whether to approve a revised agreement to buy all 7.4 acres of land at 390 E. Broadway for a supplemental drinking water well.
As WHAV reported two weeks ago, the city reached agreement with owner Joyce E. Hill to buy her entire site for $1.8 million, rather than only a portion for $900,000.
The city has been eyeing the property for more than a decade because tests show it is geologically the best location for a unique radial collector riverbank well to draw water from an aquifer under the Merrimack River. The initiative has taken on more urgency due to drought conditions that have gripped the northeast for more than two years. Initially, Haverhill Public Works Director Robert E. Ward proposed the partial purchase and take the money from water department reserves, but Hill balked and won support from several city councilors.
Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett is asking for approval to borrow the remaining $900,000. Ward said that by paying off the loan over 20 years, water rate payers would see an additional four cents per hundred cubic feet on their water bills.
Ward 4 Councilor Melissa Lewandowski is requesting a discussion of the ongoing safety hazard at 15 Groveland St. where a single-family home was undermined early last month by a broken water main. The city closed a portion of the two streets and diverted traffic onto Shapleigh Avenue.
Lewandowski told WHAV nearby residents are concerned about the increased volume of traffic caused by the street closings. She said the city is assessing whether the house must be demolished. She would like to give residents clarity on how long the situation is likely to last.
Councilors are expected to place on file for the required two weeks, modifications to the city’s fixed vendor ordinance. The law regulates sales of goods, wares, merchandise, food or beverages at a fixed location which is carried on in any fixed or mobile cart, wagon or tables. The proposals, advanced by the mayor and Ward 3 Councilor Devan M. Ferreira, include such suggestions as increasing the number of vendors from one to four in Riverside Park and from one to two in GAR Park, Lincoln Avenue in front of the Haverhill Stadium and Swasey Park.
Barrett is recommending Angelo Asprogiannis, 326 Haven St., Reading, to a position on the Central Business District Parking Commission. Asprogiannis owns La Pizza di Forno, 109 Merrimack St.
Paul A. Magliocchetti, the Haverhill attorney representing Haverhill Stem, is asking the council to postpone until Tuesday, July 14, a public hearing on Haverhill Stem’s application for a special permit to operate a cannabis social consumption lounge above its retail store at 124 Washington St. Magliocchetti said the Haverhill Planning Board moved its public hearing to Wednesday, July 8, and, therefore, has not ruled yet on the business expansion proposal.
Jonathan R. Stark-Sachs, an Andover attorney representing Maryann Salehi, is asking councilors to postpone a special permit request for a proposed East Broadway bed and breakfast.
He asks that a hearing for Miriam’s Cottage, a four-unit bed and breakfast and small events venue at 421 E. Broadway, be delayed until Tuesday, June 30, when all city councilors are expected to be present.
While several neighbors have submitted letters and a petition against the plan, Haverhill Planning Director Jacki Byerley is recommending adoption. In her letter to the council, she said, “The proposed use is consistent with the intent of the zoning ordinance because the operation will remain residential in appearance and function while providing a low-intensity lodging use specifically contemplated by the ordinance through the Special Permit process.”
Mayor Barrett is also requesting approval of a loan order for $3.5 million to replace the roof at Silver Hill Elementary School, 675 Washington St.
Ward 1 Councilor Ralph T. Basiliere plans to introduce Maria Elena Arata to discuss plans for the Haverhill Cultural Council’s annual Multicultural Festival on Saturday, June 13.
The Haverhill City Council meets Tuesday night at 7 p.m., remotely and in-person at the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers, room 202, Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer St. As a public service, 97.9 WHAV plans to carry the meeting live.