Septic treatment becoming an issue for mall and South Lincoln

A aerial view from Google Maps of the Mall at Lincoln Station and Lincoln Woods (click to enlarge).

(Editor’s note: this article was updated on October 13.)

To remain economically viable, the Mall at Lincoln Station needs an upgrade to the septic treatment facility for the entire area, according to the Rural Land Foundation, which owns the mall.

Last winter, officials proposed rezoning parts of South Lincoln to create more incentives for businesses and moderate-income housing, but the idea met with opposition from residents and was shelved. However, it appears that even if the town did vote to loosen some restrictions on commercial and residential density in the area, the bigger infrastructure issue remains, even in the shorter term.

Michelle Barnes, chair of the RLF and Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, thanked town officials for this “unexpected and welcome opportunity to consider redevelopment” of the mall in a letter to the Board of Selectmen last spring. However, “in considering this opportunity, it has become apparent to us that there is no real feasible way to redevelop the Mall at Lincoln Station, nor the wider area beyond the mall, without first solving the problem of creating a viable septic solution supportive of such development.”

Barnes reiterated the message in a meeting with the Board of Selectmen on October 5 that was also attended by Planning Board members. Given the ongoing decline of smaller brick-and-mortar stores and malls as well as added financial stresses caused by the pandemic, “the belief that the RLF could preserve the mall in its current state is untenable,” she said.

Much of the South Lincoln area is in the same boat when it comes to expanding property use, Barnes added. “If every Lincoln Station landowner who wanted to develop their property in the future satisfied their sewage treatment needs on their own premises, there would be significant economic and operational challenges that would impede such development, and important economies of scale would be lost by trying to do it piecemeal.”

Community Builders (TCB), which owns the Lincoln Woods apartment complex, operates a septic treatment facility on land northwest of the mall adjacent to the train tracks and leases the use of some of its capacity to the RLF. Before it was built, the mall had its own septic system, “which too frequently failed,” Barnes said. A solution to the septic issue is “a crucial first step to any redevelopment.”

About a decade ago, the town commissioned a study by Camp, Dresser & McKee into the future viability and potential expansion of the plant, which has been operating since 1976. At the time of the consultant’s report, the plant was operating at about 50% capacity, processing 12,900 gallons per day (gpd) of wastewater. It was designed to receive an average of 30,000 gpd and was permitted for 26,000 gpd, the report said.

The report outlined three possible upgrade scenarios and cost estimates:

• Make minor modifications and increase the plant’s usage to 17,300 gpd ($2.03 million)
• Do a process upgrade to increase the average daily flow to 26,000 gpd ($2.49 million)
• Replace the existing facility with a plant that could serve the entire South Lincoln Sewer District, including Lewis Street and the Lincoln School, treating 45,000 gpd ($5.8 million).

A more pressing issue is the current state of the facility. If its single-walled steel tank were to fail, the plant would be inoperable and it would cost TCB $14,000 a week to truck wastewater away for off-site treatment while repairs were being made, the 10-year0old report said. When the report was written, the tank had already exceeded its 20-year expected lifespan.

Selectmen and others at this month’s meeting acknowledged that any upgrade to allow more development would be very costly for TCB, so the town would have to provide “some sort of incentive or support for them,” said Planning Board member Gary Taylor. “TCB may not be amenable to going forward with this… we may have to look at other options.”

Among the options that could be explored are using some of the town’s conservation land in the area for additional wastewater treatment, which would require an equal amount of land elsewhere in town to be put into conservation status.

“It’s a very complicated problem, but it’s fundamental to any kind of development at the mall,” Taylor said.

“This septic question has to be addressed at the outset of any SLPAC work,” said Selectman James Craig. “If we don’t solve it, we’ll be constrained to something not very different from what we have right now.”

SLPAC is the South Lincoln Planning and Advisory Committee, a retooled version of the former 12-member SLPIC (where the “I” stood for “implementation”). SLPIC spearheaded several projects to revitalize South Lincoln, and the rezoning proposal came from one of its subcommittees. SLPAC was created in June and expected to have five members, but it’s now down to four because the Finance Committee will be represented by a liaison (Tom Sander) rather than a full voting member who would be expected to attend all meetings.

Town Administrator Tim Higgins suggested creating a group with members from the Planning Board, SLPAC, and the Board of Health as well as TCB to scope out a new town-funded study of septic treatment options. SLPAC has already been talking to Camp, Dresser & McKee about updating their study and researching grant funding for it.

Even before its first meeting, SLPAC was already generating controversy — this time about whether it should hold morning or evening meetings. At the Planning Board’s July 28 meeting, Bob Domnitz moved that it meet no earlier than 7 p.m., but after lengthy discussion, the motion failed by a 3–2 vote. However, a second vote to “encourage SLPAC to meet in the evening whenever possible” passed unanimously.

The Planning Board is scheduled to discuss the South Lincoln septic issues at its October 13 meeting. Selectmen will also discuss it further at their next meeting to “hammer out a path forward,” Craig said.