AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE WESTFORD TOWN CENTER SEWER DISTRICT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be a sewer district in the town of Westford called the Westford Town Center Sewer District. The district shall include the following town-owned land and buildings located in the town center section of the town of Westford, the town-owned land being described as: Westford Assessor's Map 26, Parcel 86 and Westford Assessor's Map 59, Parcels 18, 42, 46 and 47; said buildings known as the Abbot and Millennium schools, the J.V. Fletcher library, the town hall, the police station, the fire station, the Roudenbush at Frost, the Roudenbush community center and the Abbot school sewage treatment facility; said land and buildings shall be served by the Abbot school sewage treatment facility. The district shall be limited to municipal use only.
SECTION 2. The board of selectmen of the town of Westford shall serve as the board of sewer commissioners and shall manage and direct the operations of the Westford Town Center Sewer District and shall have all the powers and perform the duties of sewer commissioners as set forth in section 65 of chapter 41 of the General Laws.
SECTION 3. The district, acting by and through its board of sewer commissioners, may take by eminent domain under chapter 79 or chapter 80A of the General Laws, or acquire by lease, purchase or otherwise, and hold land, or any portion thereof, within the town of Westford and not already appropriated for public purposes; and for those purposes may take as aforesaid, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, all lands, rights of way and other easements necessary for collection, storing, holding, processing, purifying and disposing of effluent and for conveying the same to any part of the district. The district may construct and maintain on the lands acquired and held under this act proper tanks, pumping plants, buildings, processing plants, fixtures and other structures including also the establishment and maintenance of a collection system and treatment facility, and may make excavations, procure and operate machinery and provide such other means and appliances, and do other things necessary for the establishment and maintenance of complete and effective sewage collection and disposal system; and for that purpose may construct pipelines and establish pumping works, and may construct, lay, acquire and maintain conduits, pipes and other works under and over any land, water courses, railroad, railways and public or other ways, and along ways, in the town, in a manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same; and for the purpose of constructing, laying, maintaining, operating and repairing the conduits, pipes and other works, and for all proper purposes of this act, the district may dig up or raise and embank any lands, highways or other ways in a manner as to cause the least hindrance to public travel on the ways; but the manner in which all things are done upon any way shall be subject to the applicable by-laws and regulations of the town of Westford. The district may enter upon any land for the purpose of making surveys, test wells or pits and borings and may take or otherwise acquire the right to occupy temporarily any lands necessary for the construction of any work or for any other purpose authorized by this act.
SECTION 4. The Westford Town Center Sewer District shall share the maintenance costs associated with the Abbot school sewerage treatment facility with the school department of the town of Westford.
SECTION 5. For the purpose of paying the necessary expenses and liabilities incurred under this act, other than expenses of maintenance and operation, the Westford Town Center Sewer District may, with Westford town meeting approval, borrow, in addition to amounts authorized by chapter 44 of the General Laws, sums from time to time as may be necessary, and may issue bonds or notes therefore, which shall bear on their face the words, Westford Town Center Sewer District Loan, Act of 2005. Each authorized issue shall constitute a separate loan, and the loans shall be payable in not more than 30 years from their dates. Indebtedness incurred under this act shall be subject to said chapter 44 pertaining to such districts.
SECTION 6. All land taken or acquired under this act shall be managed, improved and controlled by the board of sewer commissioners in a manner as they shall consider as in the best interest of the district.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect upon its passage.