Weymouth Council Closes Hearing on 18-Month Residential Building Moratorium

WEYMOUTH — December 5, 2022 — Weymouth Town Council closes joint public hearing on citizen petition to halt residential development over water supply concerns. The council voted 8-0 Monday to close the nearly three-hour hearing on Measure 22-131, a citizens' petition requesting an 18-month moratorium on new construction of three or more residential units on a single parcel, citing the town's expired 2017 DEP water management permit and an estimated 1 million gallons per day in unaccounted-for water loss. Mayor Robert Hedlund and Water Department Director Dave Tower disputed the proponents' figures, arguing that the town's five-year average of finished water delivery — the metric the DEP permit actually governs — stands at 4.26 million gallons per day against a 5-million-gallon limit, leaving roughly 740,000 gallons per day of headroom. Chief of Staff Ted Langell warned that the moratorium would put $2.6 million in combined annual new-growth and building permit revenue at risk, representing roughly a third of the town's $40.7 million in budget growth since 2016. Petition proponent Kathy Swain countered that the DEP regulates on raw water, not finished water, and said the town's MWRA connection is seven to 25 years away, not the two to four years cited at an earlier town meeting. The measure now awaits a Planning Board recommendation before returning to the full council via the Ordinance Committee.