Kristen Mello, a founding member of WRAFT (Westfield Residents Advocating for Themselves.) (Photo submitted)
WESTFIELD – Last Friday (April 13), Westfield resident Kristen L. Mello filed a lawsuit as a private citizen against the Planning Board and Frank DeMarinis. Mello said in her complaint that she was “aggrieved” by the March 20 decision of the Planning Board to approve DeMarinis’ site plan for an educational institution at 0 Root Road, and asked the court to annul the decision.
Mello referred in her complaint to the denial by the Board of Health in a letter dated Feb. 26 addressed to Luke Showalter of Furrow Engineering, and copied to Frank DeMarinis, for a Disposal Waste Construction Permit for the subservice sewage disposal system (septic) on the property.
The Board of Health denied the permit, among other reasons, because “No Nitrogen Sensitive areas were depicted or noted on the plans, even though the facility is located in a Nitrogen Sensitive Area”; and “No RSF (recirculating sand filter) or an alternative technology for nitrogen removal component is depicted in the plans.”
The Board of Health letter ended by stating that DeMarinis resubmit the application after appropriate corrections had been made. Director of Public Health Joseph Rouse said on Wednesday that the application had not been resubmitted as yet.
The points for denial in the Board of Health letter were taken from a Feb. 22 letter from the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection after review of the site plans for the sewage system at the proposed educational institution, which is located in the Barnes Aquifer recharge area.
Mello said she made the Planning Board aware of the septic plan denial at the continued Public Hearing on March 6, 2018, and in an email dated March 12, 2018.
“Despite being made fully aware of the apparent conflict with Title V regulations, and the size of the system required by a school serving several hundred students, on March 20, 2018, the Board approved the Applicant’s site plan, finding, among other things that: a. ‘All utility systems are suitably located, adequately designed and properly installed to serve the proposed use, to protect the property from adverse pollution,’ “wrote Mello in her complaint.
“The decision of the Board exceeds the authority of the Board, is based on a legally untenable ground, and is unreasonable, whimsical, capricious, or arbitrary, as it effectively permits the discharge of thousands of gallons of insufficiently treated human waste directly into the ground of a protected Zone II Aquifer Recharge Water Supply Protection Area,” Mello continued, ending with, “Wherefore, Plaintiff respectfully requests for the Court to annul this decision of the City of Westfield’s Planning Board.”
The question of the Board of Health’s denial of the permit came up during the discussion at the Planning Board meeting on March 20. Planning Board member John Bowen said he was not comfortable with the Board of Health talking about some nitrogen issues with the dirt. Bowen asked whether that impacted the Planning Board’s decision.
Bowen’s question was followed by a question from Mello, as to whether the 1500 gallon tank being proposed was large enough to hold wastewater during an emergency.
Carellas said at the meeting that the DEP would ensure the tank is large enough.
“Our job is not to base our decision on the Board of Health. He (DeMarinis) could pass the Board of Health and fail somewhere else. We can’t handcuff the Board of Health, and we can’t ask the Board of Health to make our decisions either. It’s not pertinent to our decision. That’s their job,” said Planning Board chair William Carellas, before the Planning Board voted in favor of the site permit.
“It is premature at this point to comment. We are reviewing the filing and will respond through the Court once our review is complete,” wrote City Solicitor Susan C. Phillips on Tuesday, responding to an email inquiry regarding the suit.
“I filed on principle. The proposed site is above some of the only PFAS free aquifer on the North side of the City. It would be a tragedy for it to be polluted with human waste. I realize that the Board of Health still has the power to step in, but I worry about the precedent it sets if the Planning Board is not going to follow the zoning ordinance as written,” Mello said on Tuesday about the lawsuit.
Mello also said that she filed alone, and not as a part of WRAFT (Westfield Residents Advocating for Themselves), of which she is a founding member.
