AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE EXTENSION OF MUNICIPAL SEWER AND WATER SERVICES TO PLUM ISLAND.
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. As used in this act, the following words shall have the following meanings:
"Bedroom", a bedroom as defined in 310 CMR 15.002.
"Plum Island Service Area", that portion of Plum Island located within the boundaries of the city of Newburyport and the town of Newbury and any land directly adjacent to the Plum island turnpike located east of the terminus of the city of Newburyport water service as of the effective date of this act, excluding any reservation land owned by the commonwealth or the United States.
SECTION 2. Notwithstanding section 3 of chapter 83 of the General Laws, the owners of all buildings located in the Plum Island Service Area in the city of Newburyport and the town of Newbury which generate wastewater shall connect the buildings to the common sewer system to be constructed in the Plum Island Service Area within 60 days after receipt of written notice from the city of Newburyport Sewer Department in the city of Newburyport or from the town of Newbury board of selectmen in the town of Newbury that the common sewer system is operational; if the common sewer system is located in a street or way which abuts the parcel of land on which the buildings are located. The notice shall be sent by certified or registered mail or delivered in hand to all such building owners within 30 days after the common sewer system is operational. After any building in the Plum Island Service Area is connected to the common sewer system located thereon, no additional bedrooms shall be added to the buildings, except that the number of bedrooms in pre-existing, conforming and non-conforming single-family structures containing 1 or 2 bedrooms may be increased by 1.
SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the owners of all buildings located in the Plum Island Service Area in the city of Newburyport and the town of Newbury which use water shall connect the buildings to the municipal water distribution system to be constructed in the Plum Island Service Area within 60 days after receipt of written notice from the city of Newburyport Water Department in the city of Newburyport or from the town of Newbury board of selectmen in the town of Newbury that said municipal water system is operational, provided that said municipal water system is located in a street or way which abuts the parcel of land on which such buildings are located. Said notice shall be sent by certified or registered mail or delivered in hand to all such building owners within 30 days after said municipal water system is operational.
SECTION 4. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce sections 2 and 3 and may restrain by injunction violations thereof upon petition of the city of Newburyport or the town of Newbury and may award said city or town its costs, expenses and attorney's fees of enforcing said provisions.
SECTION 5. Notwithstanding sections 42G to 42I, inclusive, and section 42K of chapter 40, and sections 14 to 15B, inclusive, of chapter 83 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the city council of the city of Newburyport as to land and buildings situated in the city of Newburyport and the board of selectmen of the town of Newbury as to land and buildings situated in the town of Newbury may assess betterments in accordance with chapter 80 of the General Laws upon land and buildings located in said Plum Island Service Area for said city's and said town's respective costs of constructing and installing said common sewer system and municipal water system and related improvements.
SECTION 6. Notwithstanding section 13 of chapter 80 of the General Laws, the board of assessors of the town of Newbury and the assessor of taxes of the city of Newburyport, as the case may be, may, at the request of the owner of the land so assessed, apportion all betterment assessments or unpaid balances thereof relative to said common sewer system and municipal water system and related improvements in said Plum Island Service Area into equal portions of up to 30 to be paid annually for a period of up to 30 years after such assessments first appear on the affected landowner's real estate tax bill.
SECTION 7. Notwithstanding section 53 of chapter 44 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the city of Newburyport and the town of Newbury may each establish a fund, which shall be kept separate and apart from all other monies of said city and said town and in which shall be deposited all such betterment payments received by said city and said town. Said funds may be invested in the manner prescribed in sections 54 and 55 of chapter 44 of the General Laws. Any interest earned thereon shall be credited to and become part of said funds. The principal and interest therefrom shall be available for expenditure by the mayor of the city of Newburyport and the board of selectmen of the town of Newbury without further appropriation for said city's and said town's respective costs of constructing and installing said common sewer system and municipal water system and related improvements, including debt service costs.
SECTION 8. Notwithstanding section 17 of chapter 44 of the General Laws the city of Newburyport and the town of Newbury may make temporary loans for a period of not more than 5 years without payment of principal in anticipation of the money to be derived from the sale of bonds for the construction and installation of a common sewer system and municipal water system in said Plum Island Service Area.
SECTION 9. Notwithstanding section 53 of chapter 44 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, any interest earned on funds allocated to or appropriated by the city of Newburyport or the town of Newbury for the construction and installation of said common sewer system and municipal water system and related improvements shall remain with and become part of the accounts or accounts in which such funds are held.
SECTION 10. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the city of Newburyport and the town of Newbury may, respectively, to layout and accept as public ways for the limited purpose of constructing, installing and maintaining said common sewer system and municipal water system and related improvements therein any of the ways located in said Plum Island Service Area listed in a document on file with the city clerk of said city and the town clerk of said town in accordance with this section. The planning boards of said city and said town shall, respectively, hold a public hearing on the layout and acceptance as public ways for the aforesaid purpose those ways so listed within 6 months after the effective date of this act at which time interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard. Within 30 days after the close of said hearing, the planning board of said town shall submit to the board of selectmen of said town and the planning board of said city shall submit to the council of said city a written communication with said planning boards' respective recommendations as to which ways in said document should be laid out and accepted as public ways in said city and town, respectively, for the aforesaid purpose. The communications from said planning boards shall be referred, respectively, to said board of selectmen and said city council for the sole purpose of considering the proposal to lay out and accept as public ways the ways so listed for the aforesaid purpose. Within 45 days of such referral, said board of selectmen and said city council shall, respectively, hold a public hearing on said proposal. At least 14 days before the public hearing by said board of selectmen and said city council, notice of said city's and said town's intention to lay out and accept as public ways for the aforesaid purpose those ways so listed shall be published, respectively, in a newspaper of general circulation in said town and in said city once in each of 2 successive weeks, the first publication to be not less than 14 days before such hearing. Said board of selectmen and said city council shall, respectively, within 14 days of the close of the public hearing vote as to which ways so listed shall be laid out and accepted as public ways for the aforesaid purpose. If said city council and said board of selectmen, by a 2/3 vote of all of their respective members, votes to layout and accept as public ways for the aforesaid purpose, any ways so listed, those ways so laid and accepted shall thereupon be considered public ways for the aforesaid purpose.
SECTION 11. This act shall take effect upon its passage.