Natural Resources committee member Nicholas J. Morganelli, Jr. and chair Mary Ann Babinski talk after Monday’s meeting.
WESTFIELD – At a meeting on Monday of the Natural Resources sub-committee, Chair Mary Ann Babinski, and members Ralph J. Figy and Nicholas J. Morganelli, Jr. looked over a draft of the Water Resource Protection District ordinance that the committee has been working on since Nov., 2016.
Babinski said changes that had been approved at or before the Jan. 29 meeting were in bold in the draft, and unapproved changes marked in red. Babinski said she is hoping to post the draft on the city website along with the minutes of the Jan. meeting.
Babinski also said she would be asking for a motion to keep it in committee, as she is waiting to have the Mass Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) look at an overlay of the Barnes Aquifer. She said another representative from DEP had told her Monday that they might consider legal issues if the delineation size were changed.
Babinski, the Ward 1 Councilor, said some of the suggested changes are under Prohibited Uses, including road treatment in highly sensitive areas, and what can and can’t be used. Others are under Permitted Uses, such as adding Board of Health approval for Title 5 septic systems under uses for educational or religious purposes.
Figy said they had to be cognizant of state zoning laws for those uses, which trump local ordinances.
An entire section on Enforcement and Penalties was also added to the ordinance, which Babinski felt was necessary to protect the aquifer.
“I can’t remember the last time a committee undertook rewriting a whole ordinance,” Figy said. The committee then voted to hold it until the April 30 meeting, by which time Babinski hopes to have the questions answered and be able to vote it out of committee before the city budget reviews start.
After the meeting, Babinski said she originally got started working on the ordinance after attending meetings of the Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee (BAPAC) as the Westfield liaison from the City Council. BAPAC has representatives from all the towns on the aquifer, including Southampton, Easthampton and Holyoke.
“It came to our attention, particularly with what happened with the water issues, that it was time to look at reviewing it to see if there were areas we needed to strengthen,” Babinski said.
She said when a developer wants to come in and develop; they go to BAPAC, who are the experts. But, she said, “BAPAC can only advise the Planning Board, and most of the aquifer is in Westfield.” Babinski said her committee is concerned not only about contamination, but about the quality and quantity of the water.
“It’s not that we want to limit business, but to put things in place to protect (the aquifer), and minimize any risk,” said Morganelli.
“Education and awareness is a big thing,” added Babinski.
