CLAREMONT — A property owner floated plans to reopen a water bottling company using an artesian well on Sugar River Drive during a conceptual discussion at a Planning Board meeting on Monday night.
Angie Birch told the board that she and her uncle, Ralph “Ricky” Birch, of Charlestown, who owns three parcels at 436, 388 and 387 Sugar River Drive, wanted to present their plans before filing a site plan for the board’s review.
“We want to understand exactly what you need from us and is this possible,” said Angie Birch.
The board’s main concerns with the plan are truck traffic, possible damage to the road and impact on abutters.
The board had no direct objections and only few questions, but it wants input from the Department of Public Works on what the impact will be on the road with the trucks.
“Truck traffic is something I would be concerned with,” said Deb Matteau, a board member and City Council representative to the board. “Does DPW feel it can handle the truck traffic?”
Besides the impact on the road, which turns to dirt when it becomes Chandlers Mill Road in Newport about a mile from the Birch properties, the board wants to have input from Newport and the regional planning commission.
The project aims to use a well that last operated more than 20 years ago. A former property owner at 436 Sugar River Drive had obtained a variance in 1996 to sell the water from the well, city planner Austin Ford said. Artesian wells bring water to the surface without the need for a pump.
People brought jugs to fill from a bottling shed at 436 Sugar River Drive and trucks would also fill from large tanks on the property, Ford said. From what he could find in Planning and Development records, the business ceased in early 2004, Ford said.
He also told the board the variance is likely still active with few conditions, but added there may be “terms” that would require a new variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Neither the shed nor the tanks are up to current code, but Angie Birch said the new company, New Hampure, does not plan to use them.
“We are prepared to do a completely different system,” Angie Birch said.
They plan to run a pipe from 388 Sugar River Drive, which abuts 436 and is close to the well, under the road to a pipe stand-type system with a small bottling area and a building at 387 Sugar River Drive where trucks could fill up, Birch said. This avoids any of the trucks getting near the source and possibly leaking fluids.
A report from 1997 showed the well’s output at 8,000 gallons a day, but Birch said they have reason to believe the flow could now be as high as 40,000 gallons.
“We have hired a contractor to go inside the well, dissect it and know exactly what we are looking at,” Angie Birch said. “We are in the very preliminary stages of trying to find out what this well can do because we only have the reports from 1997.”
They also have had the water tested and have been told “it is some of the best water that there is,” Angie Birch said.
They plan to have tests done to see what impact their plans may have on neighboring wells, and to obtain the required state and federal permits, she said.
Birch did not say when they would file a site plan.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
