Westport in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Quick Article Index . . .
Severe weather
slams Westport.
CRE-HAB repair program deadline extended to January 30,
2018.
Vegan activists
protest opening of Route 6 slaughterhouse.
Building
committee buttons up school schematics. Next stop - MSBA
plan approval.
|
Severe weather slams
Westport. Charlotte White Road finally opened at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday
evening EverythingWestport.com Tuesday,
October 31, 2017 Photos |
EverythingWestport.com Punishing winds and sheets of rain pummeled Westport Monday, toppling
trees and blocking roadways, strewing branches damaged by gypsy and winter
moths all over town highways and byways. No road was spared the debris and no homeowner spared the work of cleaning
up their property.
Above:
Wind swept seas thrash East Beach, necessitating the use of frontend loaders
to clear cobble from the vulnerable coastal road. Photos |
EverythingWestport.com East Beach Road was battered by heavy surf driven by tropical
storm-like winds, forcing the town to close the seaside road. Highway workers using heavy equipment cleared the road Monday morning
of cobblestones and sand. The Harbormaster reported two sunken skiffs in the harbor, hit hard by
rain and heavy chop. Power losses were reported all over town; some areas had to wait until
Tuesday morning to have it restored.
Above: A fallen tree on Charlotte White Road took down
a utility pole, blocking traffic for a day and a half until NSTAR personnel could shut down the power line. Sodden, leafy tree branches succumbed to strong winds, falling on
power lines and causing blackouts on a scale not seen in town for many years.
Fallen trees blocked Main Road, Drift Road, Cornell Road, Charlotte
White Road, Hix Bridge Road, Forge Road, Old
Bedford Road, just to name a few. The highway department was stymied for many hours clearing trees and
large branches from the roads because of downed electrical wires; highway
workers had to stay clear until utility companies, overloaded with emergency
calls, could shut off power to some of the trouble spots.
Above: Cornell Road
Above: Old Bedford Road
Above: lower Main Road at Cornell Road.
Above: Seas were boiling in Buzzards Bay, causing
coastal erosion along the already fragile Westport shoreline.
Above: Highway department workers clear a fallen tree
from Drift Road.
Above: No Westport roadway escaped the heavy debris
from fallen branches weakened by the constant attacks of
gypsy and winter moths. CRE-HAB
repair program deadline extended to January 30, 2018. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund
is currently working with the first eligible applicant for grant funding for
needed home repairs and safety improvements. EverythingWestport.com Tuesday, October 31, 2017 WESTPORT – The Westport Affordable Housing Trust Fund is still accepting
applications for a housing rehabilitation grant program called CRE-HAB. The Trust will receive applications until
January 30, 2018, or until the grant funds are exhausted. The Trust has nearly $190,000 in funds recovered from repayment of
loans generated through the town’s former Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) housing rehab program to finance grant awards of up
to $25,000 to help owners of properties assessed up to $250,000 to repair and
rehabilitate qualifying existing homes in Westport. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund is currently working with the first
eligible applicant for grant funding for needed home repairs and safety
improvements, and to secure bids from local contractors willing to perform
the work, said Westport Housing Specialist Leonardi
Aray. The CRE-HAB grant program is designed to
provide direct financial assistance to low and moderate income households in
Westport in order to improve general housing conditions and eliminate
building code violations. The financial assistance grants will be given in
exchange for a 15-year affordable housing deed restriction on the subject
property, Aray explained. The deed restriction requires that upon any resale during the 15-year
restriction period, the home must be conveyed to an income and asset eligible
household through an affirmative fair marketing, non-discriminatory process
according to Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
guidelines. In addition to the grants, the Trust is also reimbursing successful
applicants up to $500 toward initial home inspections or other inspections
that may be required for homes taking part in the program. Any
newly-restricted housing units created by the grant program will be counted
on the town's Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) for the 15-year life of the
restriction, noted Affordable Housing Trust Chair Elizabeth Collins. Adding new affordable housing opportunities to the town’s SHI helps
Westport meet the state’s goal that 10 percent of every community’s total
housing stock is deemed to be affordable; at present, only about 3.5 percent
of the town’s housing is considered to be affordable. The Westport Affordable Housing Trust Fund has CRE-HAB
information and application packages available in the information rack on the
second floor of Westport Town Hall, 816 Main Road; and at the Westport Free
Public Library, 408 Old County Road. The program package can be downloaded
online at: https://www.westport-ma.com/sites/westportma/files/uploads/cre-habwestport_052017.pdf. For more information on the program, or to request help with an
application packet, contact Housing Specialist Leonardi
Aray via e-mail to: Leonardi@larayarchitects.com,
or by calling 617.270.3912. The Westport Affordable Trust Fund’s housing
assistance office in Town Hall is open Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
and can be reached by e-mail to WestportHousing@outlook.com or by calling 774.264.5126. Vegan activists protest
opening of Route 6 slaughterhouse. EverythingWestport.com Friday, November 3, 2017 Photos | EverythingWestport.com South Eastern
Massachusetts Livestock Association (SEMLA), a
non-profit cooperative of local farmers, is preparing to open a new slaughterhouse
on Route 6, a venture lauded by State Representative Paul Schmid, State Senator
Michel Rodrigues and local farmers as long overdue and a boon for business in
the Right to Farm community. “There is a very clear
demand for a high-quality USDA facility in the area,” Rep. Schmid said. But the meat processing
and retail center is not without controversy.
The 10-acre parcel of
land next to Mid-City Steel was the site recently of a vegan vigil by an animal
advocate group on the roadside of America’s oldest highway. To be sure the vigil was peaceful
and well-organized, unlike protests in other areas of the world where
blood-spattered protesters turn physical with cattle transport trucks
resulting in confrontation and chaos in the streets, and multiple arrests.
Visit their FaceBook page. There were no Westport
residents in the protest, although a few were scheduled to support the group. “We are here because we
do not believe that slaughtering young, healthy kids
animals can ever be humane. All animals feel pain and fear. We do not need to
kill animals to have long, healthy lives,” said Ruszala.
Inset: Director Dominique Ruszala points up the roas
leading to the new slaughterhouse site under construction. The group is against
animal agriculture because they consider it unnecessary animal abuse.
Ruszala pointed out that the biggest killers
of Americans are obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, which are all
highly correlated to animal protein consumption. “It also takes approximately
10 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat - we could easily feed the
world several times over if we did not produce meat,: she said. “Therefore we
feel a new slaughterhouse is cruel, unneeded, and harmful.” Several cars beeped their
horns in support as they passed the protestors, who vowed the vigil will
return this Saturday from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. South Eastern
Massachusetts Livestock Association, a non-profit cooperative of local
farmers, had hopes to break ground in September and open for business in the
spring of 2017, but have experienced some construction delays. Besides beef cattle, the $4.5
million facility will also be equipped to process hogs, sheep and goats. Dartmouth farmer Andy Burnes, president of SEMALA,
said the closest slaughterhouse is now in western Rhode Island. Rep. Schmid said most
local farmers have to truck out of state including New York, New Hampshire
and Maine. According to Burnes the new relatively small facility will handle 5,000
cattle equivalents a year. USDA rules state that four hogs or six sheep equal
to one cow. Slaughterhouses in Westport In the 20th century Westport
supported up to six slaughterhouses, the largest was the Swift processing
plant where Mid City Steel is now located. None are in business today due to expensive
USDA regulations. The USDA started to
require that slaughterhouses have separate rooms for inspections, along with
a separate bathroom for the USDA inspector, an expensive proposition for a
mom and pop slaughterhouses, said one Westport farmer with knowledge of their
demise. “It wasn’t practical to spend that kind of money on a small
operation.” The only other local meat
processor in nearby Dartmouth closed in 2007, making a two-hour drive the
closest meat processing facility to Westport farmers, according to State
Representative Paul Schmid who is also a cattle farmer. Schmid noted remote
facilities require local farmers to reserve time a year in advance, reducing
their flexibility and inhibited the growth of livestock farming in the area.
Above: Proposed 11,000 square foot USDA-Inspected
slaughterhouse in Westport. Building committee
buttons up school schematics. Next stop - MSBA plan approval. EverythingWestport.com Sunday, November 5, 2017 Photos |
EverythingWestport.com
Special
Correspondent to EverythingWestport.com
Last minute adjustments
to the total project budget pegged the estimated current construction costs
of the new school proposed for the Old County Road site of the closed middle
school at $48.6 million. Adding the costs of extensive site work, design and
engineering work, and the demolition of the abandoned middle school brought
the total project budget to $97.3 million. With MSBA
approval of the new school facility would come an
estimated 49.5 percent reimbursement of eligible expenditures, leaving the
town share of the project to be financed with long-term debt at nearly $58.6
million, owner’s project manager Richard Marks told town officials before the
voting. “We looked at things very
carefully, and squeezed things as much as we could” to keep overall costs
down, Marks said. About eight percent of the building’s costs would not be
eligible for state reimbursements, he noted, including some site preparation
expenses, a portion of the oversized gymnasium planned, and the interior
walking track to be installed in the new gym. The design team is also including about
$2.7 million in contingency costs for the project, as a reserve fund to cover
change orders, escalating construction expenses, and other unexpected
spending, the consultant indicated. “We will work mightily not to spend that
money – it’s pure contingency,” he advised the town
officials on hand for the approval votes. The formal filing of the schematic design
and project budget package clears the way for the MSBA
to review the plans and issue its approval at its Dec. 13 meeting. A
facilities assessment committee will review the plans prior to that
mid-December voting session, according to the action schedule provided by
Marks. As soon as that positive vote comes
through, town officials will finalize plans for a special town meeting to let
residents endorse the plan and vote to accept the offered state aid for the
project. The town would have 120 days from the MSBA approval to secure local funding approval, Marks
indicated. Two-thirds town meeting approval of the spending plan would then
send the financing package to a special election for all town voters to
approve or reject the bond issue. School Building Committee Chair Dianne
Baron suggested the end of January as a possible date for the town meeting
action, with the special election referendum scheduled to go before voters
soon after. A simple majority approval by voters would authorize the bonding,
it was noted.
Above: It was a celebratory moment after the School Building Committee,
School Committee, and Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the new
school’s schematic design and forward it to the Massachusetts School Building
Authority for approval. Selectman Michael Sullivan (right) and architect
Jonathon Levy converse over the future direction of the project. The 120-day window for local approvals
would allow the town to put the bond question on the ballot of the annual
town election in early April, but Baron noted that a February vote would save
the town about $400,000 in construction costs. According to Marks,
inflationary costs would add about $190,000 per month to building costs, so
it is in the town’s best interests to start the project as soon as possible. Marks also suggested that an earlier
referendum vote would also give the town time to “re-vote” on the bond issue
should it fail the first time around.
Chairman of Selectmen Steven Ouellette
said he would like to put off scheduling the special town meeting and special
election until the board has time to collect input from taxpayers and other
town officials. “There may be other town meeting business that we could
schedule” for a winter session, he indicated, noting a town-wide vote on
possible recreational marijuana sales regulations also has to be taken soon. Inset: Junior/Senior High
School Principal, James Demers and Principal Carolyn Pontes check out the 3D
model of the proposed Junior/Senior High School. Marks told the assembled town officials
that once all local and state approvals are in place, the design team and
consulting architect would need a full year to work out detailed construction
plans needed to seek public bids for the project. A full season of
construction work added to that timetable would result in a July 2021
completion date, he indicated. In previous discussions, school building
committee members and their consultants indicated that they would likely bid
out the demolition of the closed Westport Middle School before the start of
construction of the new building. The project budget includes $4.8 million
for demolition and abatement of any hazardous materials found on site. The old school was abandoned several
years ago, after partial remediation of PCB-contaminated caulking and other
building materials discovered during an engineering study related to a roof
project. PCB contaminants have also been found in the soil surrounding the
empty school, which will require extensive excavation to remove and replace
the tainted material. - - - - - End - - - - - ©
2017 Community Events of Westport
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