_{This story is from The Heights, an independent, nonprofit newspaper run by Boston College students with which the Newton Beacon has a partnership.}

When Betsy Harper bought the lots at 132 Homer St., her vision was idyllic. Having developed an inventive energy-efficient house in Cambridge, Harper thought she had found the site of her next Earth-friendly home nestled behind the aqueduct in Newton Centre.

But Harper’s new, leafy parcel adjacent to the Newton Centre Playground came with a condition—because the land was swampy and vulnerable to flooding, the city’s Planning Board of Survey had decided in 2023 that the land’s developer would need to install a new drainage system to make it buildable.

“The Board of Survey did know that there was a high water table throughout the neighborhood, including this subdivision,” Harper said. ”They talked about the fact that they needed to make sure that there was a strong drainage solution.”

Harper said she quickly abandoned the idea of building a new home for herself on the Homer Street land due to concerns voiced by neighbors and her husband. Instead, she decided to put the land on the market.

“I didn’t clarify enough of the project to my husband, who was questioning a little bit whether that was the best location for us, and then some of this neighborhood opposition started bubbling up,” Harper said.

In order to sell the property, Harper pushed on with the process of installing the drain extension—a line that would hook up to the city’s main drain and to which current Chapin Road residents would be able to hook up their own pumps.

But residents say the adjacent Chapin Road has been plagued with flooding problems for decades, with some believing that new developments could worsen the issue. One resident, Ingrid Schroffner, said past water damage has forced her to redo her basement three times, with repairs totaling up to tens of thousands of dollars.

“In 25 years, we’ve had three floods that have flooded our basements, and we’re not the only ones,” Schroffner said.

Determined to fight against Harper’s project, Chapin Road residents have convened in dining rooms, given public comment at hearings, and collectively hired a lawyer and two engineers to represent their interests. Their lawyer and engineers disagree with the city on a range of issues, including which regulations apply to the site and the process by which each engineering evaluation took place.

“We’re also trying to get them to enforce regulations and rules that exist,” Schroffner said. “This shouldn’t be our job. This should be Newton City Hall’s job. It should be the councilor’s job, and they are concerned, to their credit.”

Irregularities in the land called for additional improvements to be made alongside the drain itself. As of a July 28 presentation to the Newton Public Facilities Committee, Harper’s plan involves raising the grade of the land to up to 5 feet in some places, installing an additional rain harvesting system, as well as a phosphorus removal system.

Harper said that this seemed like a good solution to the neighborhood’s flooding problems because it would account for water overflow. She even offered to install granite curbing near the neighborhood’s existing drains to sweeten the deal for neighbors.