City of Waltham v. US Postal Service

• Decision Date: 02 March 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 91-11277-Y.
• Citation: 786 F. Supp. 105
• Parties: CITY OF WALTHAM, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Defendant, Town of Lexington, Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

786 F. Supp. 105

CITY OF WALTHAM, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Defendant, Town of Lexington, Intervenor.

Civ. A. No. 91-11277-Y.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

March 2, 1992.

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Donald L. Anglehart, Paul J. Murphy, Cuddy, Lynch, Manzi & Bixby, Boston, Mass., John B. Cervone, City of Waltham Law Dept., Waltham, Mass., Glenn A. Wood, McGregor, Shea & Doliner, Boston, Mass., for plaintiff.

Mary Elizabeth Carmody, U.S. Attorney's Office, William L. Lahey, Palmer & Dodge, Boston, Mass., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

YOUNG, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The City of Waltham ("Waltham") opposes construction of a regional mail processing facility by the United States Postal Service ("Postal Service") at 200 Smith Street, Waltham. Waltham alleges that the Postal Service, in deciding to locate the facility at the Smith Street site, violated substantive and procedural requirements of the Postal Reorganization Act, 39 U.S.C. § 401 (1988), the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 4332 (1988), the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act ("ICA"), 31 U.S.C. § 6506 (1988), the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 551 (1988), and the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1342 and 1344 (1988).

Waltham seeks a permanent injunction against the construction of the facility at this site, or, in the alternative, a temporary injunction against any construction-related activity at the site until the Postal Service:

(1) prepares an Environmental Impact Statement with respect to the facility;

(2) prepares a floodplains-wetlands study and a "no practicable alternative site" analysis;

(3) provides a detailed explanation for all proposed environmental mitigation measures required for the facility; and

(4) grants Waltham access to all Postal Service records related to the siting of the facility.¹

The Postal Service moves for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(b). Waltham opposes this motion and itself moves for summary judgment against the Postal Service. The Town of Lexington, which has intervened in this action,² also opposes the motion by the Postal Service for summary judgment.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Smith Street property consists of two parcels totalling 36.3 acres. Three interconnected commercial buildings totalling 326,902 square feet and associated parking lots are located on the site. It is undisputed that the site contains wetlands. The site's access roads open to the east onto Smith Street, a north-south road running parallel to Route 128. One such access road is approximately two blocks south of the point in Lexington where Smith Street intersects Route 2, a limited access highway running east-west. The other access road is less than a few hundred feet north of the point where Smith Street intersects Trapelo Road which runs east from this intersection into Waltham and west for a few hundred feet to the Route 128 (I-95) — Trapelo Road interchange.

The proposed Northwest Center Mail Processing Center (the "new facility") is one element of the Postal Service "Boston Metro Plan" to improve regional postal service by modernizing operations at the Boston General Mail Facility (the "General Mail Facility") and by transferring operations from that facility to regional mail processing centers in Brockton, Worcester, and a northwest suburban site. The Postal Service has determined that the General Mail Facility is incapable of meeting expected increases in mail volume due to space and layout inadequacies and the anticipated disruption of access to and from the General Mail Facility as a result of the commencement of two major highway construction projects in downtown Boston. Upon completion, the new facility will encompass an approximately 406,000 square foot enclosed area and will process mail originating from thirty-four zip code 021 Boston stations and destined for twenty-four zip code 021 Boston stations.

In 1988, the Postal Service commenced its search for a location suitable for the new facility. The Postal Service determined that the preferred location should be somewhere within the area along Route 128 bounded by Lexington to the north and Needham to the south. By August, 1989, the Postal Service narrowed its list of potential sites to four locations in Waltham, and convened a site selection committee to evaluate these four. One site was eliminated because of difficulties in negotiating a sale or lease with its owner, the General Services Administration (the "GSA"). Of the other three, the committee selected the Smith Street property as the preferred site.

The Postal Service then employed an environmental consulting firm, Rizzo Associates, to conduct an Alternative Site Environmental Analysis (the "Alternative Site Analysis") of the three remaining sites.³ This analysis, dated December 29, 1989, compared the three sites in terms of potential problems regarding hazardous waste, wetlands, stormwater management, traffic, construction costs, and time delay. Based on environmental and cost comparisons, it concluded that the Smith Street site was the preferred site.

On February 26, 1990, the Postal Service and Cabot, Cabot, and Forbes, the owner of the Smith Street site, entered into a purchase agreement for the site. This agreement was a conditional agreement authorizing the Postal Service to purchase the property for $38 million by November 30, 1990. In the interim, the Service agreed to make monthly option payments starting in May, 1990, totalling $2,400,000, of which $400,000 were non-refundable.

On May 15, 1990, the Postal Service released a "Site Planning Report, Environmental Assessment" (the "Initial Assessment"), evaluating the environmental issues related to developing the Smith Street site.⁴ On June 26, 1990, the Postal Service held a public hearing in Waltham at the Smith Street site concerning the proposed new facility. Approximately 150 persons attended, the majority of whom voiced strong opposition to the proposal. Opposition focused on the proposed facility's traffic, noise, air, water quality, and tax revenue impacts.

In September, 1990, the Postal Service released an updated environmental assessment entitled "Site Planning Report, Updated Environmental Assessment" (the "Updated Assessment"). The Updated Assessment, designed to supersede the Initial Assessment, addressed concerns raised regarding air, traffic, water quality, and noise impacts. It also evaluated the environmental impacts of a significant project design change involving greater use of the existing buildings on the site.

Correspondence in October, 1990, expressed continued opposition to the proposed siting by the Mayor and City Council of Waltham as well as by Lexington and Waltham neighborhood associations. A Waltham City Council resolution requested a public hearing on the Updated Assessment, but the Postal Service denied this request.

On November 6, 1990, the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service gave its approval for the purchase of the Smith Street property to be used for the new facility. On November 9, the Postal Service issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (the "FONSI") based on the Updated Assessment. Waltham, alleging that the Board of Governors was given false information about the Smith Street site and alternative sites, requested that the Board reconsider this approval. However, at its December meeting, the Board declined to reconsider its decision. Thus, on December 20, 1990, the Postal Service acquired title to the Smith Street property.

On May 7, 1991, Waltham filed the action for declaratory and injunctive relief. In June, 1991, the Postal Service released its "Amendment to the Updated Environmental Assessment" (the "Amended Assessment"). The Amended Assessment had two stated purposes: to address environmental issues raised since the release of the Updated Assessment (particularly concerning traffic, wetland, floodplain, and stormwater impacts) and to describe and evaluate design changes not anticipated when the Updated Assessment was completed. The Amended Assessment concluded that its analysis supported the FONSI issued the previous November.

III. WALTHAM'S CLAIMS

Waltham contends that the siting of the new facility at 200 Smith Street will have serious detrimental impacts on wetlands, drinking water quality, traffic, public safety, residential areas, and tax revenues, thus irreparably harming the City and its residents. The central allegations of its Complaint are that the Postal Service violated mandatory environmental, wetlands, and intergovernmental review procedures by:

(1) pre-selecting the Smith Street site without ever completing a mandatory wetlands study and a mandatory "no practicable alternatives" analysis, and before completing its environmental review;

(2) using the illegal criterion of "political feasibility" as a primary factor in its site selection decision;

(3) making repeated misrepresentations regarding the site selection process to local officials, denying them access to relevant public records, and failing to solicit and consider adequately public input regarding the site selection and environmental review process;

(4) failing to consider adequately in its three Environmental Assessments the proposed facility's environmental impacts at the Smith Street site relative to other alternative sites; and

(5) relying on inadequate and undefined environmental mitigation measures in concluding that the new facility would not have a substantial impact on the environment.

These allegations provide the basis for four somewhat overlapping counts. Count I alleges that the conduct of the Postal Service violated its own environmental review regulations adopted pursuant to the Postal Reorganization Act. 39 U.S.C. § 401. Count II alleges that this conduct violated NEPA, 42 U.S.C. § 4332, and its implementing regulations. Count III alleges...