BELCHERTOWN — Pine Valley Plantation, a 389-home community for residents 55 and older on 147 acres in Belchertown, has lost a chunk of its state funding to overhaul its failing 45-year-old water system and now faces a looming wetlands violation.
The state revoked $1.2 million of a $6 million loan awarded to replace the system, leaving the property without money to complete road paving.
At the same time, the Belchertown Conservation Department expects to issue a notice of violation to the resident-owned mobile home community over erosion control during construction. Heavy rains over the past week have carved 2- to 3-foot craters into ripped-up roads and washed sediment into property ponds and bordering wetlands within the required 100-foot buffer around a water body.
Located in the southern part of town across from Cold Springs Country Club, Pine Valley Plantation is home to about 550 residents. Its water system required frequent repair from leaks and breaks. Pine Valley Administrator Wayne LaPierre said multiple houses connected to one water shutoff, which complicated any restoration work.
“If one house needed water renovations, water at all three houses would get shut off,” he said.
In April 2024, the state agency Massachusetts Clean Water Trust awarded Pine Valley Plantation $6 million to install four miles of new piping and repave 5½ miles of road. The trust collaborates with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to help communities rebuild water infrastructure, providing support through the state’s low-interest revolving fund loans.
A year later, Pine Valley President Dick Kelleher learned the loan amount would be reduced to $4.8 million. Further review by MassDEP found that most of the paving money had to be revoked, since federal Environmental Protection Agency rules limit state revolving fund awards solely to water or sewer system costs.
“The Clean Water Trust is only in the business for supplying clean water,” Kelleher said. “So they wouldn’t do curb-to-curb asphalt replacement — they only do trench repair.”
As of Aug. 6, Pine Valley is still working with the state to finalize the $4.8 million loan. Kelleher said the only hurdle left is a current land survey, expected to be finished within days.
“Dick is working around the clock to get funding,” LaPierre said.
A spokesperson for the Clean Water Trust confirmed these details about the project’s financing.
“It’s been an education for all of us,” Kelleher said. “Pine Valley is very grateful for the opportunity that the state has given us.”
Despite the slow-going financial process, construction began “as soon as the snow melted,” LaPierre said. Caracas Construction Corp. of Ludlow has installed the new water main throughout the property and begun connecting individual houses. All homes should be on the new system by November, “barring no more setbacks,” LaPierre said. Beyond large rocks impeding installation, the original water system was never mapped, so replacing it has required “a lot of guesswork.”
Most residents said they’re satisfied with the work, but not all. Rick Gregoire, a retired construction worker who lives in the community, called the project “a disaster.” He said water line work typically happens in sections to limit dust and mud. Instead, a line of gravel and dirt taking up roughly a quarter of the roadway zigzags throughout the property where the water main was installed.
“You’re ripping up the roads. Who’s going to pave them?” Gregoire said.
The recent rainstorms exposed a larger problem. Mud running downhill has piled up at the bottom of roads, leaving behind holes. LaPierre hauled in mud to make the roads drivable, but the sediment had already breached the erosion barriers around the ponds, polluting the water.
“They’re not keeping the greatest house,” Belchertown Conservation Director Julie Meyer said.
A project of this kind would typically need a stormwater permit detailing sediment controls like silt fencing and straw wattles, but Pine Valley received an exemption from that permit, Meyer said. The inability to fully pave the roads worries the Conservation Department, she said, because loose rocks and gravel could continue washing into the water bodies.
When Meyer inspected the pond, she found 100 cubic yards of lawn clippings, tree branches and other debris dumped into it. Left unaddressed, the buildup could turn the pond into a marsh and trigger algae growth, she said.
Both problems are detailed in the drafted notice of violation of the Wetlands Protection Act. Kelleher said he did not have any information on the sediment problems. LaPierre could not be reached for comment.
Meyer said Pine Valley has since begun cleanup, and that residents — who didn’t know about the wetlands problems until she told them — have responded well.
The Conservation Department plans to support the property with better debris disposal systems, nutrient and invasive species management, and help to identify local grants for full paving, Meyer said.
The Conservation Commission will discuss the notice of violation of the Wetlands Protection Act during its Aug. 17 meeting.
