Water authority in hot water
Agency grilled on Orient project
9 comments below
With Councilman Al Krupski (left) and town attorney Martin Finnegan paying close attention, Suffolk County Water Authority chairman Steve Jones explains his agency's view on the Orient water main extension during Tuesday's Town Board work session.
Mr. Jones appeared before a highly skeptical Town Board Tuesday for the first time since controversy erupted last year over his agency's plans to tap $3.8 million in stimulus funds to run 17,000 feet of new 12-inch water mains out to the Browns Hills neighborhood.
During the work session, board members made it clear they believed the authority had been less than forthcoming about its long-term plans for Orient. Later in the day, the board set April 6 as the date for a public hearing on a proposal to amend its water map to include the new mains.
When it announced the receipt of stimulus funding for the new mains, the authority said the project would serve only the 24 homes in Browns Hills that have private wells contaminated with agricultural chemicals. Affected residents soon disavowed the project, saying they preferred to keep the under-the-sink filtration systems the water authority had given them.
Town officials, meanwhile, doubt the authority's claim that only people living along the route of the mains would be able to tie in. While there are 144 homes along that stretch of Route 25, the governor recently said the project would serve 700 properties, which is all of Orient.
Mr. Jones said on Tuesday said that 12 inches is a standard size throughout the authority's system and that pipes of that diameter help maintain high water pressure, which is key when hydrants are opened to fight fires.
Referring to information the town hopes to receive from the authority, the supervisor said, "Everything has to be up-front from the beginning. This started on a bad note."
Mr. Russell, who came under intense criticism during his Orient community meeting on Saturday for not doing more to stop the new mains, contends that the authority did not follow its own procedure before committing to the construction. Every other time the SCWA has proposed serving a new neighborhood, it has first sought to assess local interest in a new connection.
"How do you know if there's any interest out there if you haven't canvassed?" Mr. Russell asked.
Mr. Jones said the authority skipped that step because federal funding was available. When it considers bringing water to a community, the authority measures not only general interest, but also whether the residents are willing to take on a share of the cost. Without the federal subsidy, an Orient homeowner would have been required to pay an authority surcharge of about $4,000 to hook up, said Mr. Jones. Even with the stimulus money, homeowners will still have to pay $2,000.
The supervisor on Tuesday asked the authority to contact Orient residents prior to the April 6 hearing, but Mr. Jones expressed concern about missing people who are away for the winter. That shouldn't be an issue, Mr. Russell responded. "They seemed to show up on Saturday," he said, referring to his contentious public meeting. "I have at least 130 sets of teeth marks on my butt."
Opponents fear the water mains will breed new development by making water abundantly available. Mr. Jones has long argued that has not been the case in any area of Southold to which the authority has expanded service. This week he urged board members to mark a town map with a dot for every home built since 2000. That, he said, would show there's no growth-inducing aspect to public water.
But referring to the Heritage condo project in Cutchogue, which is also the target of continuing public opposition, the supervisor said, "I wouldn't have an application for 160 condos in Cutchogue if there wasn't public water. It opens up doors."
The Heritage is proposed for one of the few properties in town still covered by the HD Hamlet Density zone, which permits up to four attached units per acre.
Board members questioned why Orient's water needs couldn't be met with separate in-home systems.
Mr. Jones replied that running new pipe was not the authority's first choice for improving water quality in Brown's Hills. For five years, the authority pursued Environmental Protection Agency approval for a central reverse osmosis system for Brown's Hills, which would treat water by forcing it through a membrane. That prohibitively expensive effort would have required injecting the brine left at the end of the treatment process into a salty section of the local aquifer.
He added that, as a public service agency, the authority has a fiscal responsibility to take advantage of the federal funding.
"Unless no one wants it," said the supervisor.
Although the authority says it is undertaking an environmental review of Orient's water needs and how to meet them, a group of residents is pursuing a state court action to compel the agency to the conduct a full review. The court has yet to issue a ruling.
William Ryall, one of the litigants present for Tuesday's discussion, remains convinced that the authority is being less than honest about its Orient plans.
He said the authority never contacted anyone from Brown's Hills before announcing the water main project. He also contends that the extension budget includes $75,000 to pay Goldman Sachs for handling potential bond sales, but doesn't include any funding to replace the community's central water supply line, which has been in place since 1948.
"This is about something else," Mr. Ryall said. "This is not about water for Brown's Hills."
tkelly@timesreview.com
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9 comments found
Money and Power : 3/13/2010
SCWA plans to tap stimulus funds for a $3.8 million loan. Only half of that loan may be forgiven. The other half is expected to be paid by county wide customers of SCWA. Why aren't there county wide protests?
: 2/28/2010
I hope the Town Board doesn't use the disinterest or short-sightedness of some people as an excuse to do nothing. The Town Board has a responsibility to enact modern and effective zoning, just as it must provide state of the art protection to its police officers and diesel instead of steam shovels to its Highway Department.
Zoning is a profession, a specialty, a legal field:not necessarily a mere DO IT YOURSELF JOB, cobbled together from public hearings. That is, if you want it done right.
moratorium : 2/27/2010
I think the current economic climate has already provided the relief we need to move foward. A moratorium would seem a bit of an overreaction given the lack of building activity. It would also discourage what I see as a good trend- the investment in existing inventory. The IGA is a good example of that. There are some challanges such as the 7/11 in Mattituck but an overall moratorium would be the "hasty" action here. The comp plan will take some time, to be sure, but it is a top priority for the Board. The LWRP was never given the focus of any prior boards and was essentially the result of Valeries committment to it for that many years. It also is quite different than working on a comp plan. I am not sure why you referenced it but, the comp plan would have the attendent 'teeth" such as zoning that the LWRP lacks. In addition, the comp plan would include a great deal of community participation- something that was not true of the LWRP. We had already started this with the hamlet stakeholders and are now broadening it with a website and community meetings. It may take some time and a moratorium, etc may be necessary as we move foward but, at this time, certainly not. Scott Russell
Wow! : 2/27/2010
Wow...so our present zoning , as you say, Scott, "no longer meets the new challenges." What about imposing a building moratorium, while you guys (and the rest of us) get a plan together? That would get it done, real fast.
I hope our Comprehensive Plan doesn't take 14 years, like our LWRP, only to be ignored, vilified, and criticized as "hasty" by one of our present trustees soon after its adoption.
Thanks, Scott : 2/26/2010
...for the clarification and expansion. When a group considers a type of "secession" I assume they're nervous. Some of the rest of us are just "very concerned" about the Town's lack of a modern, legally defensible Comprehensive Plan. I read some very exciting material published by the Group for the East End about communities around the country defining their goals and values and how they successfully stand up in court against box stores and other generic development.
Zoning, misc. : 2/26/2010
Let me expand on the partial quote attributed to me in the article. The "zoning" in Orient isn't good and, as I said at that meeting, it isn't good through the rest of the Town, either. It served its purpose when it was created decades ago but no longer meets the new challanges that we face. This is the very reason that we have started to undertake an update to the comprehensive plan. I went to Orient to talk about meeting the new needs of the community with the update to the plan and new zoning but, the discussion got solely focused on the water main extension. The Town Board has been consistant and clear in its stance here. We expect the SCWA to adhere to a long standing agreement to participate in a public hearing on this or any extension to the water service. The Town Board is not charged with the responsibility of only listening to a few loud voices but to develop a process where all of the facts can be presented and all of the voices in that community can be heard. On the issue of "overdevelopment, the town has been quite sucessful at preserving substantial amounts of land and farmland in Orient and elsewhere. I didn't realize that eveyrone was so nervous. They certainly haven't been showing up to the comprehensive plan update community meetings to express this but, I will take your word for it. As this plan mores foward, we may be able to reconcile some of those fears. Regards, Scott RussellI
Excuse me... : 2/26/2010
As I said, I'm from west of the causeway, so I "didn't have a candidate in the last race." Using your logic, I had three, and they all won. If Ms. Woodhouse had gotten on the Town Board, she would have served at large, as all the Board members do, except for Louisa Evans, who represents Fishers Island.
The cold shoulder is what I suspect they fear, as they are going to the trouble of considering becoming a village. They say they are concerned with Orient's present zoning, which Supervisor Russell agrees "isn't good" (see the other related article in this edition).
Gauging by the sympathies of their fellow Southolders, I don't blame Orienters for being nervous.
: 2/26/2010
What cold shoulder ? There's already 1 acre zoning in place and you'll have to live with that for awhile, I don't see anybody rushing to live out there so quit crying about overdevelopment cause it's not happening in Orient! Also didn't you have a canidate from Orient in the last race who finished last.
From the west side of the causeway... : 2/26/2010
I'm no mind -reader, but when Orient litigant Ryall says "this is not about water" I guess there are a few other possibilities. It could be about a conspriracy to develop Orient, or just the inevitability of higher density, with public water. It also seems to be about self-determination, and the lack of faith that the Southold Town Board can hold the line (or even adopt one) against over-development.
With a population of about 700, Orient is technically represented by 0.17 of a Board member. (On the other hand, 300 Fishers Islanders have been gifted their one reliable and steadfast "justice," so they enjoy over 5 times the representation than Orient.) When push comes to shove over an economic engine like zoning /development, I can't blame Orienters from fearing the cold shoulder of Town Hall.
