Saugus residents lobby for sewer tie-in

SAUGUS – All five Town Meeting members from Precinct 4 and 120 additional residents are lobbying Town Meeting members with an article aimed at extending a sewer line down Eagle Road.Eagle Road is one of more than a dozen streets that does not offer residents an option of tying into town water and sewer. Meeting member Janet Leuci is hoping to change that.Leuci sought approval to place an article on the warrant that, if passed, would appropriate approximately $20,000 for installing a sewer line from Lark Street up Eagle Road. The new line would give five homes, one on Lark and four on Eagle Road, the option of hooking into the town’s sewer system, an option Leuci said they want very much to exercise.It is, by all accounts, an ideal time for the town to do the project. When Lawn Pro received a special permit for its business on Lark Avenue, one of the conditions was it had to run a sewer line from Route 1 down Wren Street to Eagle Road. Leuci said Lawn Pro would finish the project by fall, as is required, but residents are now concerned about the cost to them to continue the line up Eagle Road.Leuci’s argument, along with fellow Town Meeting member Al DiNardo, is that residents shouldn’t have to pay to have their streets sewered.When asked why this street should take precedent over other streets with no town sewer, Leuci mentioned the timing as well as the fact that some homes have cesspools that have failed.”So it is urgent and it’s also part of Lawn Pro’s special permit . . . and it would be good to work with Lawn Pro,” Leuci said. “I feel this is absolutely a win-win-win: it’s good for the neighbors, good for the town and brings Lawn Pro into compliance for its special permit.”Bisignani suggested the article request $25,000 in appropriation to cover any contingency issues.DiNardo said he had a 2004 list of streets that were not sewered.”In 2004 there were 23 streets and a lot of them are finished,” he said. “The list is dwindling and this would help it along.”The Board of Selectmen approved the article 5-0, which will place it on the warrant for the next special Town Meeting.