A proposed drain extension for two lots at 132 Homer St. continues to be the subject of contention as the project bounces around Newton’s legislature.

Purchased by Betsy Harper from a prior owner in 2023, the undeveloped and sloped lot runs adjacent to Chapin Road. As reported previously in The Beacon, the property has a high water-table, meaning that groundwater sits close to the surface.

According to Harper, in order for this property to be developed or sold to another owner, water from rain storms must be managed, as the high groundwater level increases the risk of flooding.

To manage flood risks from development, Harper is proposing to hookup the development’s drainage system to the city’s, but in order to do this, drain extension would have to built on Chapin Road. Residents would have the opportunity to connect their own drains to the city’s using stub connectors.

But residents of Chapin Road have concerns about the project, as the street has a long history of flooding.

Harper acknowledged this concern, saying that residents have had to constantly run sump pumps during rainy weather to prevent basement flooding, but these sump pumps don’t fix the larger issue and only move the water from backyards to the street.

“The city never took it upon themselves to create [another] stormwater drain for that part of the road,” Harper said.

She intends to complete the project so that she can recoup her investment through the sale of the land, and has been trying to be cognizant of neighbors’ concerns.

Concerns from neighbors

“So we’re concerned about water in our basements,” said Ingrid Schroffner, a resident of Chapin Road.

Schroffner made it clear that she and her fellow neighbors, who have launched a petition contesting the proposal, are not anti-development.

Schroffner cited the fact that the city needed to grant five waivers to different city ordinances for the lot to be developed as evidence that the project is unsafe.

Another area of concern for Schroffner is the proposed access roads for the lots that connect to the end of Chapin Road. The access road in all of the plans, she explained, tilts toward Chapin.

She also drew issue with the idea of having residents connect their drainage systems to the extension to reduce flood risks. To do this, residents would have to pay a fee.

“If it doesn’t work, who’s going to indemnify us? Why should we have to pay for that?” she asked.

Raphael Bruckner, another nearby resident, thinks the project proposes a flood risk to other parts of the city as well.

Bruckner believes that if water from the lots is pumped into the city’s drainage system, it runs the risk of flowing into Hammond Brook which is adjacent to Chapin Road.

Hammond Brook flows into Bullough’s Pond, which presents a flood risk to surrounding neighborhoods due to deficiencies in its dam found by the Massachusetts Office of Dam Safety in 2018.

Legislative Lockup

As residents and the owner have disagreed with each other’s findings, local officials are looking for information to inform their decisions on the project.

On Sept. 2, the City Council held off on approving the project and sent it to the Public Facilities Committee.

“I felt like we had two such tight emerging points of view that for the benefit particularly of the counselors, who were still confused about this, having someone with stormwater management and design experience, who is well respected and credible, would help us be able to parse the differences that we’re hearing,” Ward 3 Councilor Andrea Kelly said during the meeting.

Central to the contention around the proposed project is whether or not it meets the requirements of the city’s stormwater ordinance, which sets rules for development projects to minimize negative impacts to land such as flooding, erosion and pollution, in order to get stormwater permits from the city.

At a Public Facilities Committee meeting on July 28, John Chessia, an engineer hired by concerned neighbors to review the project proposal, wrote that the proposed project fails to meet several requirements dictated by the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook, which he said the development project must meet to comply with the city’s stormwater ordinance.

In the review, Chessia highlighted a depression at the southern end of the lot, claiming that water would pool and flood Chapin road, attesting that the stormwater management system proposed would not adequately prevent this.

Harper contests these claims, saying that these requirements only apply to single family homes and that the review misappropriated requirements from the Stormwater Handbook.

“It’s very, very unusual that a city department would be challenged in this manner, and the neighbors have chosen to make it public to try to get public persuasion on their side, but they’re using incorrect facts,” she said.

Dennis Murphy, an attorney hired by the neighbors, claimed that if there are discrepancies between the city’s regulations and the state’s stormwater handbook, the stricter applies, which in this case would fall with the state’s.

In the midst of this disagreement, the committee voted at the Sept. 2 meeting to get a third opinion from an independent engineer hired by the Department of Public Works, in part to determine whether requirements within Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook apply to the project.

From there, committee members decide if or when the project is sent back to City Council for a review and vote. But for now, disagreements remain.

“This is for private gain, and we live here already and have been living here for a while. So the idea that we have to pay one cent in order to help a private developer doesn’t sit well with us,” said Schroffner.