Haverhill

Haverhill, Owner of Water Main Break-Damaged Home Reach $100,000 Accord

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(Additional photographs below.)

The City of Haverhill and the owner of a Groveland Street home, whose foundation was undermined by a water main break last May, last week came to an up to $100,000 agreement on engineering work, repairs and temporary housing, relocation, storage and other living expenses. Cleanup of debris and installation of temporary shoring supports, augmenting emergency measures the city took immediately after the break, began this week when Haverhill-based Ideal Property Care was retained. The agreement notes owner Wellington J. “Bill” Clark Jr. is “attempting to work with his insurance company, but despite numerous attempts has been unable to get a response and determine coverage.”

In the pact signed Sept. 15, Mayor Melinda E. Barrett specifies “the city will agree, as settlement for all matters related hereto, to pay an amount to repair the home…to allow it to be secure enough that the home can be made habitable, reimburse the owner for costs and expenses related to repairing the damage to the home specifically” up to $100,000. Barrett also agreed the city would pay the full amount, currently estimated at $10,700, of shoring up the house’s foundation and reimburse Clark up to $5,000 for reasonable living expenses while the house remains uninhabitable.

Haverhill

Haverhill Councilors Approve City’s First Bed and Breakfast

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Haverhill is in line to get its first bed and breakfast lodging house. Before a standing room only audience, the Haverhill City Council Tuesday night voted unanimously Tuesday to grant Maryam Salehi-Ala-Yamin a license to operate a small four-bedroom inn at 421 E. Broadway on the condition she live on the premises and any events she holds for guests other than her lodgers be limited to 30. When the proposal was initially raised at the Council’s June 30 meeting, Salehi-Ala-Yamin said she hoped to host small weddings and other parties with up to 50 guests in addition to renting four rooms and hosting culinary classes and tea parties. However, several city councilors agreed with opposing abutters that parties that require a tent in the yard would be disruptive to the rural character of the neighborhood. They instructed her to return with a more modest proposal.

Haverhill

Councilors Lean Toward Hilldale Avenue Site for Possible Battery Storage

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Haverhill city councilors this past Tuesday moved ahead with plans to designate a Hilldale Avenue site as the best place to allow a battery energy storage system—or BESS—should any developers propose one. The Haverhill City Council gave a tacit greenlight to creating a special zoning district as the least environmentally objectionable as a subcommittee proposed last month. On a unanimous vote, councilors agreed to continue its public hearing on the matter until its Tuesday, Oct. 27, meeting with the intention of promoting the Hilldale Avenue location. The land is currently owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and is also being considered as a layover location for MBTA commuter rail trains.

Haverhill

Councilor Faults Legislators for Inaction on Infrastructure Aid

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Haverhill City Councilor Daniel R. Diodati took the city’s legislative delegation to task Tuesday for failing to help Haverhill solve its expensive and ongoing water distribution and sewer pipe maintenance issues. Diodati, who represents Ward 2, spoke Tuesday following a discussion of impending and more severe water use restrictions and a range of other options to respond to drought conditions. Diodati said he believes the city is lucky a new well under the Merrimack River is projected to come on line relatively soon. “We really are in this together and we’re just trying to get through. We’re two years from having a viable water source.

Education

Professional BMX Bikers Take Over Whittier Tech’s Gym

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The gymnasium at Whittier Regional Vocational School turned into a BMX bike skate park Wednesday when five professional bicycle trick athletes entertained students while offering an important message on how to deal with bullies and to find that all important life passion. The ASA Entertainment No Hate Tour came to Whittier with a mission to show the teens that ordinary kids like them once were targets of bullies but grew into professional athletes living their childhood dreams. Sprinkled in was the importance of not just talent but a positive attitude. Master of Ceremonies Zack Newman encouraged students. “Stick with it. Find that thing you love and never quit.

Education

Haverhill Offers Nonprofits School Facility Rental Fee Relief

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The Haverhill School Committee took a second looks at its rental fee schedule last week, voting unanimously to give local nonprofits that enter long-term rental agreements some relief. In his presentation at Thursday’s meeting, Chief Financial Officer Clancy Main asked for permission to negotiate separate agreements with any Haverhill nonprofit organization that serves 85% of the community and agrees to at least an eight-week rental agreement. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Haverhill already has a separate long-term contract to run after school programs in several schools which brings the district $100,000 annually, Main said. The Boys & Girls Club would not be affected by the fee increases, Main added. “All really I am looking to try to do here is just with the Haverhill nonprofit lines just cover our cost and then, obviously, on the for-profits, cover our costs and then build up this fund a little bit more,” Main explained.

Haverhill

Haverhill Pauses to Remember and Honor on 9/11 Anniversary

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(Additional photograph below.)

Haverhill paused Friday to remember those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in two ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary. Under sunny skies, Haverhill High School students filled the courtyard in front of the school for a memorial service conducted by the school’s U.S. Marine Corps Junior ROTC program. In her reflections, speaker Deyanarah Gutierrez, a high school alum, encouraged those in attendance to not just remember, but recognize how the country has recovered in the 25 years since. “I don’t want to say ‘Don’t forget.’ I want to say, ‘Put yourself in a position that makes you uncomfortable.’ I want you to remember a time that doesn’t belong to you because it doesn’t affect you.

Education

Haverhill Considers Steps to Tackle Students Evading E-Bike Rules

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Haverhill’s school year has gone smoothly so far, but the administration told the School Committee last week some students have found a way around restrictions on electric bicycles and scooters. Superintendent Margaret Marotta said the opening of the new school year has gone smoothly with few unanticipated incidents. She said most students are abiding by new safety restrictions, but some students are riding the so-called micromobility devices to school, but parking them just off campus. Marotta said she is working with the Haverhill Police Department to form a solution. Haverhill Police Lt. Kevin Lynch told WHAV after the meeting his department is aware of the student “workaround” and warned that if the devices are chained to a tree or pole on public land, they could be confiscated.