With approval for a $3 million purchase of land in Lexington, the City of Cambridge can settle the second of two legal issues around developments threatening its drinking water supply.
The 31-acre parcel in Lexington was to be used for a solar array, a project that would have led to removal of more than 1,000 mature trees around the reservoir that support water quality and helps prevent flooding. The 5.5-acre project “would have posed serious danger to our watershed protection, land and our water source,” said Megan Bayer, city solicitor, at a City Council meeting Monday.
The Hobbs Brook Reservoir in Lexington, Lincoln and Waltham is one of Cambridge’s four reservoirs. It is by far the largest, and it can hold about 2.5 billion gallons of water.
Cambridge sued Lexington’s Planning Board on June 8 in Superior Court in hopes of stopping the project by developer Tracer Lane II Realty LLC. The Town of Waltham sued the developer over its plan for an access road to the array.
After more than a year of litigation, Tracer Lane offered to abandon the project if the city would buy the parcel, identified formally as Zero Cambridge St./Concord Turnpike.
As owner of the land, Cambridge will own and control about 55 contiguous protective acres around its water supply. “This is a unique opportunity that the Water Department supports,” Bayer said.
All members of the City Council voted yes Monday on buying the land, appropriating $2 million from the Water Fund to add to $1 million approved Sept. 23 from Community Preservation Act funds. Some of the Water Fund money will be filled back in: The Kendall Square developer Boston Properties is expected to contribute $250,000, and $100,000 will come from the Lincoln Land Trust, said Owen O’Riordan, deputy city manager.
The city reached another legal agreement over the summer to protect the Hobbs Brook Reservoir in Lincoln, where Algonquin Gas Transmission planned to cut down trees on Cambridge-owned land in Lincoln to build a meter and regulator system for its pipelines. In a settlement June 13, the company agreed to cut down fewer trees and even to remove invasive plants as well as plant new native trees and maintain them for three years.
Instead of assembling everything onsite, Algonquin offered to build its new structure elsewhere and lower it onto the site in Lincoln by crane to reduce the impact on the environment.
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So we just spent 3 million bucks to block a green energy project in a neighboring town, so that we don’t have to drink the same water that millions of other people in Massachusetts do. Great. Can someone remind us all why MWRA water is not good enough for Cambridge, why we need our own separate system?
Imagine if we could turn Fresh Pond into a swimming hole. A public access swimming hole IMO would have much more community benefit. I believe councilor Zondervan looked into it when we temporarily switched to MWRA water when the city was waiting for some filters to remove PFAS from the water.
In response to the comment by Barkolab: characterizing a plan to clear cuts 1,000 mature trees as a “green energy” project is absurd. It’s a robbing Peter to pay Paul scenario. And I’m happy to remind everyone why we need our own water system: it’s about preparedness and resiliency, and our city council should be commended for its thoughtfullness on this decision.