A developer who plans to build a 318-unit apartment complex on a 36-acre tract off Nahatan st., near the Westwood line, has a right to connect his project into the Norwood town sewer line, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday. The high court ordered the Norwood Board of Selectmen, which acts as the town’s board of water and sewer commissioners, to issue a permit for the Sewer connection to George H. Clark of Flagg rd., Southboro,
Clark, whose apartment project will provide housing for 700 to 1000 persons, sought a connection permit in 1966. The Norwood selectmen, following a number of hearings and conferences finally rejected Clark’s request. The Supreme Court’s decision, written by Justice Arthur E. Whittemore, noted that at one conference a selectman told Clark: ‘I’m sorry but we just don’t want apartment houses.”
The town claimed that the sewer line in that area did not have sufficient capacity to serve Clark’s development and also serve other builders such as a new junior high school which were contemplated for construction in that area. ‘
Once the town appropriated money for a sewer line and Clark had paid the required costs and fees, the Norwood sewer commission had no right to “postpone presently sought connections to give precedence to connections contemplated for the future,” the Supreme Court said.
Stanley M. Jacks, lawyer for Clark, and Town Counsel Walter J. Gotovich, pointed out that the case is the first in which the Supreme Court was asked to interpret the meaning and effect of the state law governing construction of municipal sewer lines.
The Supreme Court ordered that Norwood officials be given a reasonable time to determine whether any serious flooding might result from connecting Clark’s land, and to promptly construct any additional sewer, facilities that might be required.
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)