Foxborough Officials Won’t Wait on Kraft Negotiations to Address Sewer Need

Foxborough officials are eager to move forward in addressing the town’s need for sewer and are willing to do so with or without the financial assistance of the Kraft Organization.

“This has been ongoing for years,” said Board of Selectmen vice chair Mark Sullivan. “First, Foxborough was negotiating with Mansfield and Norton to go that way then all of the sudden the brakes go on and we go up to Route 1. Then all of the sudden the brakes go on that and we go back to Mansfield. Now the brakes are starting to go back on that because we can’t go back to Mansfield unless we have [an agreement with the Kraft Organization].

“You can’t tie one to the other. You can’t hold up [regionalization with Norton and Mansfield], waiting for somebody to give you the answer. The carrot has been dangling back and forth for years now. The situation is we want water and sewer. Keep everybody out of it [except] the town, Mansfield and Norton and [let’s come to an agreement].”

Foxborough’s need for sewer has reached a critical stage as the town cannot grow or expand, especially in the downtown, without adding water and sewer.

“We need to get sewer just as we need good drinking water,” said Foxborough Board of Selectmen chair James DeVellis. …“It has been vetted through the master plan and the planning board and the water and sewer.”

It is no secret by now the future of downtown Foxborough depends on its ability to add sewer and BOS members stressed that importance Tuesday.

“It’s very important we get sewer,” said selectman Lynda Walsh.

Said Sullivan: “[Sewer has] now become a necessity. We are stopped in Foxborough from expanding in any direction at all until we address water and sewer.”

Rather than waiting on future negotiations with the Kraft Organization to yield the $7.5 million the town needs to join Norton and Mansfield as part of a water and sewer regionalization project to increase Foxborough’s wastewater disposal capacity, the town’s Water and Sewer Board has been exploring other options for funding.

“Right now, the Water and Sewer is working very hard on a separate [plan] that Kevin [Paicos], Randy [Scollins] and the attorneys are working on to get to special Town Meeting and vote for sewer with a caveat that it’s not going to cost somebody that doesn’t want sewer any money,” said DeVellis.

The BOS chair said Water and Sewer is getting creative in its approach to make the proposal appealing to voters in November.

“It’s not going to cost businesses that don’t need to tie in any money,” DeVellis said. “They’re getting creative in going to businesses that have sewer to sell.”

Town Counsel Richard Gelerman added that he has been tasked with finding 10 potential ways to finance sewer regionalization with Norton and Mansfield without using potential funds from the Kraft Organization.

“We are looking at a lot of different variables but not excluding monies from the Kraft Organization,” Gelerman said. … “Sale of existing flows, presale of potential flow, betterments, special assessments, rates, all kinds of things. … If [the town] does get a bit of money every year to help pay that cost that’d be great but we are proceeding in other areas that do not include the Kraft Organization.”

The town tried to address its need for sewer capacity in 2007 but voters turned down a proposal that would have brought a sewer plant to Foxborough, constructed by Kraft as compensation for the 12 liquor licenses the town received from the state for Patriot Place.

“Folks need to realize that we do go to Town Meeting and it comes down to the vote of the people,” Walsh said. “Just as we did back in 2007 when we as a town decided we did not want a water treatment plant and we didn’t want to accept that at all. We had several years until this year and we kept getting closer to that deadline saying ‘we need to be talking about this' and 'what are we going to do here’ and then the deadline came on May 14, 2012 and we decided we didn’t take [The Kraft Organization] up on the water treatment plant [offer].”

Since that 2007 Town Meeting, the town has held numerous discussions with the Kraft Organization about funding for water and sewer regionalization with Norton and Mansfield to address its wastewater disposal capacity needs that are critical to the economic growth of Foxborough. The amount believed to be needed for regionalization is where the $7.5 million comes from.

Currently, the board differs in opinion on whether the Kraft Organization owes the town that money as compensation for the 12 liquor licenses issued to Patriot Place or if the 2007 Town Meeting rejection omits that financial offer.

Walsh said while she isn’t defending the Kraft Organization, she is attempting to get her fellow board members to think positively and move forward in negotiations that will benefit both parties. Anything else at this point, according to Walsh, is a waste of time.

“If we continue to go backwards then I’m doing a disservice because then there’s no need for me to have anymore discussions if we are going to stay on this $7.5 million,” said Walsh … “We had an opportunity to have a waste treatment plant up there, we just decided not to. Call it what it is.”

While Walsh believes the Kraft Organization doesn’t owe the town $7.5 million for water and sewer improvements, selectmen Virginia Coppola and Lorraine Brue disagree.

“From what I can see and from things I’ve read, I don’t think we’ve gotten the full mitigation from the original 12 liquor licenses,” said Coppola. “So as far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in looking to the future and making negotiations for the future until the past negotiations have been dealt with. That’s where I stand.”

Said Brue: “It goes back to the $7.5 million that had been promised for wastewater treatment/expansion and infrastructure at the time. I feel that is still outstanding there and that’s tied to the first 12 licenses.”

Brue said while she is willing to discuss additional licenses – something the Kraft Organization is seeking as part of its most recent development plans for Route 1 – she also wants to see the billboard issue resolved before negotiations begin.

“I think that other thing, again outstanding, the billboard issue is just huge in this whole thing and recognizing that is a water and sewer issue, we worked for two years with water and sewer supporting them as they were trying to address that initial mitigation,” Brue said. “I think that needs to be addressed – again –before we even begin going forward with new liquor licenses.”

Regardless of whether the town receives $7.5 million from the Kraft Organization as a result of past or future negotiations, Sullivan continued to stress the importance of not relying on or holding out for financial assistance from any entity, not just the Kraft Organization.

“We just need to move forward with Mansfield with our own revenue streams without having any other entities being involved in it,” said Sullivan. … “We will figure it out ourselves. You can’t rely on something that isn’t there or could be promised or just go down that false road again. … Promises don’t pay the bills. We don’t have anything right now; we don’t even have a promise. So let’s just move forward with the town.”

DeVellis agreed that getting the community’s support for what the Water and Sewer Board is putting together is currently the town's best option when it comes to regionalization with Norton and Mansfield.

“Water and Sewer Board is working on a warrant article and if we can support them then that’s the paramount path,” DeVellis said. “If [funds from the Kraft Organization] happens at the same time fantastic, but if not, then this is the direction we are headed in.”