NAHANT — State environmental officials will come to town on Monday to evaluate the proposed expansion at Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center.
The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) office, which is part of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, will listen to Northeastern’s project plans, get a sense of existing conditions, potential impacts and measures that have been taken to avoid or minimize negative impacts.
The visit was set to be held in a classroom at the Murphy Bunker on Northeastern’s campus, but was moved to Nahant Town Hall because of capacity concerns. There will still be a site walk on the campus beginning at 4 p.m.
“This will allow for more residents to participate,” according to an announcement posted on the town’s website.
The school filed an Environmental Notification Form (ENF) in May requesting a review of its plans to build a new, 55,000-square-foot Coastal Sustainability Institute and to install a new saltwater intake system on the campus. Both proposals have been met with heavy opposition from residents.
Choosing a larger meeting space was the right decision, said resident Michelle Capano, who believes it will draw the attention of not just opponents but people who still are trying to understand the proposal.
“People are going to want to at least question how they’re going to do this project and why they’re going to do it, given it’s an environmentally sensitive area,” said Capano.
Still, the only way for residents to formally participate in the process is to submit written comments to MEPA before July 1.
The ENF filed by Northeastern outlines plans to begin construction this winter. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2021. In-water work is expected to occur in July 2020.
Northeastern acquired the property in 1966 from the U.S. government to create a marine research and teaching center, incorporating remnant military facilities into the campus. The existing bunker will be used as the new building’s foundation to limit the footprint and preserve open space. About 18,000 square feet would be buried underground. Above ground, more than 19,000 square feet will sit on the western side of Murphy Bunker and more than 17,650 square feet on the eastern portion.
“The proposed seawater system is an essential upgrade to the existing system and would be absolutely critical for the MSC’s research operation even if the CSI project was not being proposed,” according to the 233-page ENF.
The proposal is to upgrade to a 600-gallon-per-minute system, which is 75 percent less capacity than what the school requested last year. The existing intake pipes are significantly impacted by marine organisms, namely blue mussels, settling and fastening themselves to the interior of the pipes, which restricts the flow of water to less than 25 percent of design capacity, according to the document. The system is designed to have a flow rate of about 550 gallons-per-minute per pump, but it has been reduced to as low as 78 gallons per minute.
Pipes would extend about 400 feet from the seawall into Bathing Beach Cove. This is the same general location as existing intake lines.
Northeastern calculated that about five market-sized lobsters would be killed by the system per year. To mitigate the issue, the plan includes the construction of an onsite lobster hatchery to annually raise and release lobster larvae into the water.
A component of the project, using a portion of the seawater flow to cool or heat the new building, was removed from the proposal.
“The vast majority of residents are against the project as proposed based on the unquestionable environmental impacts on the East Point land and the Bathing Beach ocean floor,” said resident Diane Monteith. “Northeastern University has many other location options at their disposal and the university should reevaluate the Nahant expansion plan.”
A letter to residents from Keep Nahant Wild, a volunteer group dedicated to the conservation of Nahant’s wildlife habitats and open space, urges them to write to the state and lists suggested points for them to consider in their comments.
Keep Nahant Wild has openly expressed opposition of the project.
The letter says that town zoning prohibits the construction of the proposed building in a Natural Resource District, that the project would destroy East Point’s wildlife preserve and natural habitat, and that it would severely impact the town’s aging water and sewer infrastructure.
Residents who oppose the project still want to work with the university to come up with a plan that works for the tiny town, said Capano, who added that she would like to see selectmen resurrect a committee of residents dedicated to the issue.
“Take it off the Murphy Bunker,” she said. “Look at the Edwards Building. (Build) a thoughtful-sized building that still accommodates the mission that you want to do.”
MEPA’s consultation meeting will begin at 6 p.m.
