Sewage Remains Roadblock in Fire Station Redevelopment

Foxborough, MA — The questions around sewer access for the old fire station will have to be answered before more work can be done on the project, a majority of selectmen said.

Last week, the board voted against allowing the Economic Development Committee to use $7,500 of their own money for a survey to figure out the property’s dimensions. Selectmen Mark Elfman and Ginny Coppola voted to authorize the use of funds while Chairman David Feldman, Jim DeVellis, and Chris Mitchell voted against it.

Efforts to reuse the former home of the Foxborough Fire Department have been unsuccessful, to say the least. A request for proposals had no takes and last year the property was sold at auction but the deal fell apart over disagreements on how the property should be used.

Town Planner Paige Duncan told the board that data for the three-parcel property in the accessor’s database was inaccurate, resulting in a need for a survey to obtain accurate numbers. DeVellis, however, said the sewage should be addressed before anything else.

“My biggest issue is, if we’re serious about this, then the question is where is the sewer and how do we get there? DeVellis said ”I don’t think the town is serious about developing their property. If they were they would say here’s a map, here’s the sewer and here how you connect.”

“It’s unsellable without the sewer so let's clean that up first,” he added.

Town Manager Bill Keegan said the sewage issue is keeping developers away, telling the board that the question of price and access is too much of an unknown for the developers he’s talked to.

“Say we can’t get water and sewer to do anything for five years, are we going to sit on this for five years? Sell it as is?” Mitchell asked.

The sewage issue appears to be a funding issue. There isn’t much money in the sewer account and while more will be added from 40B housing projects and Forbes Crossing, those funds are pegged for debt service by the Water and Sewer Commissioners, Coppola said.

A joint meeting between the selectmen, commissioners, and EDC is expected to take place in the future.