To the Editor,
Brave City Councilors this past week joined together in a vote to pledge their support of our Aquifer and the protection of this precious resource. (City Council meeting December 17, 2020)
The vote was to allow Home Depot, a super asset to our City and a good corporate citizen, to store empty trailers on the Airport’s property that sits over the aquifer. The vote to allow this would have been an easy one and would have generated approximately $150,000 in revenue to the City.
The problem was that our WATER RESOURCE PROTECTION DISTRICT Ordinance expressly prohibits this activity. Thanks to research done by Councilors Matthews-Kane, Mello and Flaherty and the arguments they all made, the matter was defeated. Councilors Mello, Matthews-Kane, Sullivan, Bean, Burns, Figy, Flaherty and Harris all showed their support for protection of the City’s drinking water.
It is so heartening to observe this type of discussion and the resulting vote. For those of us who have worked so hard for so many years on this Aquifer Protection Ordinance Christmas came early.
Mary O’Connell
Westfield
