Lunenburg Sewer Commission Targets New Fees for Multi-Unit Home Conversions

LUNENBURG -- June 30, 2026, Lunenburg Sewer Commission flags a hazardous manhole and moves toward new fees for multi-unit housing conversions. The commission, chaired by Brett Ramson, voted unanimously June 30 to accept end-of-year billing adjustments, shaped largely by a single account that ran undetected water for six weeks and generated a roughly $6,000 bill, and retained its full officer slate unchanged, with Ramson as chair, Scott Dahl as vice chair, and Dan Proctor as clerk. DPW Director Bill Burdick reported that a manhole on Prospect Street near Laurel Lane was left unfinished from a completed systemwide manhole recovery contract because gas readings were too high for workers to enter safely; the structure, approximately 15 feet deep and fed by the Lemonster Road pump station, may need full replacement at significant cost. Clerk Proctor pressed the board to close a gap in the commission's regulations that allows property owners to convert single-family homes to multi-unit dwellings without paying the bylaw's $3,900-per-dwelling-unit connection fee, noting the MBTA housing mandate will accelerate such conversions; Burdick and staff member Andrew Bellier agreed to draft new expansion-of-use language for review by town counsel.