Local and state officials gather for the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Route 5 water and sewer infrastructure project.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
HATFIELD — On Oct. 11, residents and stakeholders gathered at USA Waste and Recycling, 77 West St. Route 5 and 10, for a ribbon cutting dedication of the Route 5 Water and Sewer Infrastructure Improvements Project in Hatfield.
The goal of the project was to extend water and sewer service along Route 5 in an area that is zoned industrial and light industrial. The sewer service will be extended on Route 5 from Linseed Road to Rocks Road and the water service for 1,200 feet along Route 5, south of Rocks Road.
Improvements included a gravity sewer, pump station and force main to convey wastewater from the project area to the town’s existing sewer system and enable the expansion of Stiebel Eltron, Scapes Builders & Excavation, LLC; and the continuation of business for Brockway Smith, to be able to connect to the town’s sewer system rather than needing to replace its septic system.
The celebration was a long time coming as the town has been working on this project since 2016.
In 2019, the town received an initial $2 million MassWorks grant from the Executive Office of Economic Development and contributed $1.6 million in local funds.
During the initial gravity sewer installation, a combination of soil conditions and high groundwater levels created an unstable trench, which required alternative dewatering methods at a significantly higher construction cost.
The town was awarded a second grant in October 2022, after it approached the Executive Office of Economic Development for an additional $1.5 million MassWorks grant to make up for the unforeseen costs related to dewatering.
In 2023, a change order for the lift station was required in order to address property owner concerns relative to the subsurface lift station location. This led to an increase in additional construction costs over the October 2022 cost estimates.
In 2024, the Executive Office of Economic Development awarded an additional allocation of $300,000 to make up the difference, bringing the second MassWorks grant to a total of $1.8 million.
The total cost of the project was $5.4 million with a total contribution of $3.8 million from EOED’s MassWorks program for this project.
Select Board Chair Diana Szynal said the project is almost complete and had a message for the residents who this lengthy project effected.
She said, “The first thank you that I want to give today is to the residents who live on this stretch of road. To say that this project has been distributive would be an understatement. It has been loud and dirty and messy and long, but we are in the home stretch, I promise you this. I am so grateful that at the end of this you will have the ability to hook into sewer, disconnect all your septic systems and you’ll have a more functioning water line.”
Szynal also talked about the impacts of the completion of this project.
She said, “This was a big lift for a little town so we really can’t thank the Executive Office of Economic Development and MassWorks program enough. We really can’t exaggerate the importance of this project. Besides the obvious opportunities for further economic development along what is our commercial corridor here, this project supports existing residents, existing businesses. It’s going to attract new business, it’s going to foster growth.”
People in attendance included Executive Office of Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao, Executive Office of Economic Development Undersecretary Ashley Stolba, Rural Affairs Director Anne Gobi, MassWorks Program Manager Jong Wai Tommee, Town Administrator Marlene Michonski and Select Board members Ed Jaworski and Greg Gagnon, state Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton) and state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa (D-Northampton).
Comerford talked about the project and how fortunate Hatfield should feel after receiving multiple competitive grants.
She said “The Healey-Driscoll administration said, ‘hey we’re going to govern 351 cities and towns’ and out here sometimes in Western Massachusetts, we haven’t in the past before this administration thought that that was actually true, but this administration, this secretary especially really sees us in rural Western Massachusetts. This is a team and an administration that shows up not once for Hatfield, not twice for Hatfield but three times. They see what Hatfield sees which is the promise of economic development of an expanding tax base of opportunity for this rural region.”
Sabadosa said that the resilience and constant efforts from the town helped get the project to the finish line.
She said, “It really does take this constant chorus of people and Hatfield has been working on this project for such a long time and I see something really special in Western Massachusetts when it comes to these types of projects because this may not be the sexiest project the commonwealth has worked on this year, but it really takes a town coming together and say this is what we are going to focus on and we’re going to do it however we can, and we are going to keep coming back and coming back and being that broken record.”
Hao mentioned how this project is important for not just Hatfield but for Western Massachusetts and rural towns.
She said, “Everyone knows that I love Western Massachusetts. There’s so much talent here and so much opportunity and more than anywhere in our state, you know how to work together. This is a sexy project. We can talk about all kinds of fancy AI and robotics and whatever, but this is the core of what economic development is about. Fixing water and sewer is kind of hard but when you do that, great things happen and that’s what we do here in Massachusetts.”
Comerford called this a “Herculean Olympic” project and made medals for each stakeholder to commemorate the project. A medal was given to each person and department who helped secure the funds and construct the project.
One side says, “Hatfield Water Sewer Champion” and the other said “MassWorks $3.8 million.”