Belmont aquifer petition article viewed with skepticism

Former Selectman George Condodemetraky is spearheading a campaign to change the town’s industrial zoning district into an aquifer protection area.

Condodemetraky’s name is first on a petitioned warrant article presented to the town recently that calls for “rezoning the existing industrial zone to an aquifer protection zone” and for turning about one-third of the town’s land into an “aquifer protection district.” Both actions could severely limit the amount and kinds of construction that would be allowed.

But Town Planner Candace Daigle said yesterday that the petition as currently written could create legal problems for the town. “The petition appears to eliminate the entire industrial zone, the largest part of which is on Route140 and a section on Route 106, south of the village. But there are no standards included in it of what’s included (for approved construction) or what’s not. Some of it (the designated area) is not even over the aquifer.

“It also takes in the aquifer that’s under the entire community — which is more than one-third of entire community — and creates a new aquifer protection district. And in the same manner, there is no reference to what this means,” Daigle said.

“So in effect we would totally eliminate the industrial zone and put in a new zone and a new district but there are no listed permitted uses, no minimum standards, nothing… Nothing in this petition to tell us how to regulate uses in that new zone.”

Daigle said her office is now consulting with Town Counsel Tim Bates on exactly how the Planning Board should consider the article. Part of the reason for seeking Bates’ advice is so that board members will know how to render a recommendation on the article to voters after a public hearing, which is tentatively set for Monday, Jan. 29.

The board needs to tell to people “why (members) either do or don’t support the article,” Daigle explained. “Then they have to clearly state the reasoned out public decisions they’ve made.”

Daigle says the intent of the petition article seems clear but intent “isn’t going to be able to regulate something. We (the town) can’t regulate by intent. We’re stuck with black-and-white articles.”

Condodemetraky doesn’t have much faith in the Planning Board or its interest in following through on his concerns about polluting the underground water supply used by Belmont, Northfield and Tilton. Several efforts he’s made over the last few years to limit construction over the aquifer have not met with success.

“The Planning Board is pretty dumb,” he said. “I don’t think they can think about anything much because nobody on it knows the law anyway. They’re pretty thick.

“I have nothing to gain from this,” he said. “I’m an interested pubic person who wants to protect the town and its future. But these people (on the Planning Board) have no vision and cannot see what they’re doing.”

The former selectman said his latest petition would limit construction on land that’s over the underground water source as a public safety concern. “This thing is an important issue. I made these people (town planners) aware of it when they were trying to get the (Route 140) bypass put in in 2000. They wanted to introduce a bypass around the village. I went to the state Department of Environmental Services and I ran into Sarah Pillsbury, who’s a honcho there in the water division. And she showed me this map, a plan done by the federal government that she shared with me that showed the outline of the aquifer.

“I was astounded, I never realized there was such a big underground aquifer in the area,” he added.

Condodemetraky said Belmont’s industrial zone is locate over its aquifer, so it’s not a matter of “if” harmful pollutants will seep into the water source but “when.”

Condodemetraky said he worked on the town’s Master Plan several years ago to get language included that called for protecting the aquifer but not much has happened since then. “The Planning Board should be responsible for protecting the Master Plan but they’ve never implemented anything we put into the Master Plan,” he said.