WHY WE ARE APPEALING | Coonamessett R Trust

Protect the Coonamessett River and Great Pond from Nitrogen Pollution

The permitted 300-unit Saxon Development at 375 Sandwich Road would allow new nitrogen from its wastewater to flow into the Coonamessett River and ultimately into the Great Pond Estuary. Great Pond is an impaired water body with ongoing water quality issues due to nitrogen pollution mainly from septic-systems. The consequences will not be paid by the developer. They will be paid by you - Falmouth taxpayers

With this permit MassDEP is giving the developer the green light to add even more pollution to the very watershed we are already spending millions to protect by reducing nitrogen pollution. The estimated cost to remove this extra pollution would be an additional $3 million to $5 million paid by you.

That is not responsible environmental stewardship. It is not fair to Falmouth taxpayers. And it is not a reasonable way to protect our waters.

This is why the Coonamessett River Trust, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, and 10 Falmouth citizens have appealed MassDEP’s wastewater discharge permit for the proposed Saxon development. This is about more than one project—it is about making DEP follow its own regulations, protecting our waters, while holding polluters accountable. And it is about refusing to make Falmouth taxpayers pay millions to clean up pollution someone else is being allowed to emit by the state.

This permit adds nitrogen pollution to an already impaired watershed

This is a fundamental contradiction: Falmouth taxpayers and homeowners are already paying millions to reduce nitrogen pollution, while MassDEP is simultaneously allowing a developer to add even more nitrogen pollution which the Town will be responsible for removing. The estimated cost would be an additional $3 million to $5 million paid by you. This permit shifts the cost of additional impact of nitrogen to Falmouth taxpayers from a developer who could gain millions of dollars in profit.

Our appeal argues that the MassDEP permit goes against the agency’s own existing requirements for protecting impaired waters from additional nutrient pollution. Great Pond has been subject to a MassDEP nitrogen Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) since 2006. The TMDL establishes the maximum amount of nitrogen the watershed can receive while maintaining water-quality standards. Current nitrogen discharges already exceed the TMDL by more than 12,000 kilograms per year, and an estimated 82% of the nitrogen load from septic systems must be removed to meet required water-quality standards.

Falmouth is already spending more than $50 million on sewer infrastructure to reduce nitrogen entering Great Pond from septic systems. Homeowners in affected areas are being required to connect to the sewer system, paying approximately $15,000 in betterment fees plus an additional $5,000–$10,000 for the sewer connection, depending on the property.

Against this backdrop, MassDEP has issued a permit allowing the Saxon project to discharge an additional 346 kilograms of new nitrogen each year into the watershed. You will ultimately have to pay to remove the extra nitrogen.

The developer should be responsible for its wastewater

MassDEP’s wastewater regulations require new nitrogen discharges authorized by a groundwater discharge permit to be offset through nitrogen reductions within the affected watershed. A straightforward way to achieve this would be for the developer to connect nearby septic systems to its wastewater treatment system, eliminating an equivalent amount of nitrogen pollution.

Instead, the current permit contains no enforceable requirement that the project achieve a net-zero nitrogen increase.

Fully offsetting the project's nitrogen discharge would require connecting at least 57 single-family homes with septic systems to the wastewater treatment facility. The estimated cost would therefore be approximately $2.85 million to $4.275 million. Saxon has offered only a voluntary $750,000 payment to the Town.

The Saxon proposal represents only about 18%–26% of the estimated cost of achieving a full nitrogen offset—enough to address roughly 10–15 homes, rather than the 57 homes needed to offset the project's authorized nitrogen discharge.

A voluntary payment to the Town is not the same as an enforceable requirement that the developer eliminate the additional nitrogen load it creates. Nor does the MassDEP permit does require the Town of Falmouth to spend the $750,000 on nitrogen offsets. The developer proposing the project should be responsible for mitigating the environmental impacts of its own wastewater discharge.

Protecting an investment in the Coonamessett River Watershed

The consequences extend beyond Great Pond.

Since 2002, the Coonamessett River Trust has worked to restore the Coonamessett River and its surrounding wetlands. Working with the Town of Falmouth and numerous partners, the CRT helped create a revitalized river and restored wetlands in the river valley immediately upstream of Great Pond.

More than $8.5 million in public and private investment has gone into restoring this ecologically important area. More than 50 partners—including government agencies, nonprofit organizations, scientific institutions, and schools—have contributed to its success.

The restoration has produced significant ecological and community benefits, including improved passage for migrating fish, climate resilience, natural nitrogen removal, restored wetlands, and public access through the Coonamessett Greenway Heritage Trail.

The river is also designated by MassWildlife as a Cold-Water Fishery Resource. Restoration efforts have contributed to the return of alewives, blueback herring, American eels, white perch, and brook trout. Continued degradation of Great Pond could undermine the recovery of these fisheries, including sea-run trout that may eventually use a restored Great Pond as part of their life cycle.

More than 180 species of native plants have returned to the restored landscape, providing food and shelter for birds and wildlife. Every year, Falmouth fourth- and fifth-grade students visit the river to learn firsthand about restoration, ecology, and the importance of protecting local waterways. The Coonamessett Greenway Heritage Trail has also become a highly popular community resource.

We should not undo the progress we have made

Falmouth has invested millions of dollars and decades of effort restoring the Coonamessett River and reducing nitrogen pollution in Great Pond.

It makes no sense to require taxpayers and homeowners to spend millions to reduce existing nitrogen pollution while allowing a new development to add hundreds of kilograms of nitrogen each year without requiring a full, enforceable offset.

The CRT and its partners are not opposed to responsible development. We are asking for the same basic principle that Falmouth taxpayers are already being asked to follow.

The MassDEP permit should be reconsidered and modified to require a complete, enforceable, and developer-funded nitrogen offset before the project is allowed to add additional wastewater pollution to the Coonamessett River watershed and Great Pond.

Where we are in the Appeal Process

In March, we joined the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and local citizens in appealing MassDEP’s wastewater permit. We retained Dennis Murphy of Hill Law, an attorney experienced with Chapter 40B matters. So far, we collectively have paid more than $55,000 in legal fees.

We raised concerns about this development more than two years ago in a letter to the Town of Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals.

We began the appeal process with a December 26, 2025 letter during the 30-day comment period, raising the same concerns we have today:

MassDEP regulations require projects in impaired watersheds with TMDLs to cause no net increase in nitrogen. This permit identifies no specific actions to offset the nitrogen it authorizes.

Despite these concerns, MassDEP issued the permit.

In March, we filed the Adjudicatory Appeal along with a Motion to Stay while the Appeal Process played out. We argued that the permit contained errors and omissions and should have undergone a MEPA review. The stay was denied.

In May, our attorney met with Saxon’s attorney to explore a possible settlement, but no agreement was reached.

In June, we filed a Pre-hearing Statement.

On July 27th, we filed our Pre-filing Testimony (PFT), supported by these expert witnesses:

Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, who previously worked at MassDEP and brings extensive experience with its regulations.
Scott Horsley, Water Resources Consultant, a well-known hydrogeologist with more than 30 years of Cape Cod and international water-resources experience.
Christopher Neill, Ph.D., Woodwell Climate Research Center, CRT board member and environmental columnist for the Falmouth Enterprise, who has long studied how excess nitrogen degrades estuary water quality.