Improvements Sought To ‘Unsightly’ South Chatham Pump Station

SOUTH CHATHAM – The intersection of Meetinghouse Road and Route 28 is considered by many as the “gateway” to Chatham. For some, it could use a bit of sprucing up.

 Dominating the intersection is a nearly three-quarter-acre, clear-cut parcel enclosed by a black chainlink fence. On the northern portion of the property sits the town’s largest sewer pump station. Compared to pump stations in the downtown area, it is stark, to say the least.

 “All of the other pump stations are so much more attractive than ours,” South Chatham Village Association President Carol Gordon said during a recent visit to the site. “Chatham supposedly has high aesthetic value. We’d like that to come down here.”

 Indeed, the pump station at the corner of Queen Anne Road and Oyster Pond Furlong, near the Chatham Village Market, is nicely landscaped and the main structure is camouflaged to match the surrounding greenery. The elevated foundation of another pump station on Mill Pond is faced with attractive stonework.

 A second pump station on Meetinghouse Road (Route 137), just south of the Old Queen Anne Road intersection, also lacks the fineries of the downtown pump stations. It’s surrounded on three sides by a somewhat nicer fence, but the landscaping around the small building is minimal.

 “It’s a good example of the disdain South Chatham often gets,” resident David Farrell said of the pump stations. In a letter to the zoning board of appeals when it was reviewing the pump station, Farrell called it “unsightly” and “distasteful” for the entrance to town.

 Site improvements at both pump stations would go a long way to upgrading their appearance, they said. According to Public Works Director Rob Faley, those concerns have been heard and plans are in place to install trees and shrubs to screen the pump station this fall.

 “I think it will result in a much better looking site,” he said in an email.

 Pump stations help keep wastewater flowing through sewer mains on its way to the treatment facility off Sam Ryder Road. The Meetinghouse Road and Route 28 pump station is large, collecting wastewater from other pump stations in town and sending it to the treatment plant. Because they are designed based on the needs of the system and their location, some can be small while others must be larger or otherwise designed to meet not only flow requirements but also other factors, such as high groundwater. Faley said the Mill Pond pump station had to be two stories to keep electrical components above the flood elevation.

 “Considering it was very visible in a residential neighborhood, at a publicly accessed pier and adjacent to conservation land, we went extra with finishing the concrete with a granite facade so it looked a bit more pleasing to the eye (instead of large concrete block),” Faley wrote. 

 While the department tries to screen pump stations with vegetation and fencing to blend in with the surroundings, that isn’t always possible. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection requirements also now require permanent generators at each pump station; sometimes they can be placed in the buildings, but sometimes they must be placed outside, Faley said.

 It wouldn’t take much to better screen the pump station from Meetinghouse Road, Gordon said. But that doesn’t seem to be a priority. She noted that the area is adjacent to the South Chatham Village National Historic District.

 “Hopefully the town has some pride and wants to beautify it, to be proud of it,” she said. “South Chatham would like to see some attention. We’re all a part of Chatham.”