2009-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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r hold until the next round of scenarios is developed. The Commission has received approval for use of$32,000 of Development of Regional Impact (DRI) mitigation funds held by the Cape Cod Commission for the cost of the required archaeological surveys. The County's "Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative" continued its work on seeking state and federal funding assistance for wastewater facilities on the Cape, on coordinating wastewater facilities planning by the towns and on otherwise dealing with our water quality improvement needs. Selectman John Cahalane serves as the Town's representative on the Collaborative. The most important achievement of the Collaborative to date has been its role in the development and passage by the state legislature of Senator O'Leary's bill (Chapter 312 of the Acts of 2008) which will provide 0% interest loans for wastewater facilities primarily intended to prevent nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) enrichment of water bodies or water supplies, but only to applicants who have a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP) approved by DEP (the plan we are working on) and have adopted land use controls intended to limit wastewater flows to the amount authorized by zoning and wastewater regulations as of the date DEP approves the CWMP (so-called "growth neutral" regulations). The 0% loans are available between 2009 and 2019, in competition with other similar projects around the state, so we have a strong incentive to complete and implement our wastewater plan as soon as possible. The EPA-funded DEP Popponesset Bay "Pilot Project" completed its work and published a final report in early 2009. The project used the Popponesset Bay watershed, with representatives from the Commission and other Mashpee agencies, as well as from Barnstable, Sandwich and the County, as a "guinea pig" to study the regulatory and implementation issues of the new TMDLs in order to help set state policy, as well as to identify innovative approaches to nitrogen removal, local regulations and inter-municipal cooperation. The project developed a proposed approach for fairly sharing between the three towns the cost of wastewater facilities needed to meet the Popponesset TMDL. The ramifications of the proposal will soon have to be addressed politically and financially by the leaders of the three communities. Settling on such a sharing mechanism will be important in determining what facilities must be planned for development in Mashpee, as well as their timing. The Commission's Watershed Nitrogen Management Plan will have major water quality, land use and fiscal ramifications for the Town, so we invite all residents to actively participate in its development through our meetings and public hearings, by reviewing and commenting on the draft reports we generate and by any other means available. It took decades for our waterways to get into their current poor condition and it will probably take decades to clean them up, but we are now at the point when we must decide how to do it. Your continued support for our work and participation in this decision making process will be sincerely appreciated. Respectfully submitted, F. Thomas Fudala, Chairman Donald R. Desmarais, Vice Chairman Matthew T. Berrelli, Clerk 196