Supermarket applicant requests water service from town

NORTH EAST — Talks regarding the proposed supermarket slated for the Boulevard District moved from the Planning Board’s domain to the Town Board’s, as the subject of water service was broached last week. The Town Board held a special meeting at Town Hall on Thursday, April 7, to conduct that discussion among supermarket applicant Southern Realty & Development, LLC (represented by John Joseph), project engineer Rich Rennia, project architect Ray Nelson, Town Engineer Ray Jurkowski, Attorney to the Town Warren Replansky and the members of the Town Board. The goal of the meeting, according to town Supervisor Dave Sherman, was to hash out a framework of how to approach the concept of water service for the as-of-yet-unnamed supermarket planned for Route 44 East, near the Connecticut border.First choice, exploring other options While the conversation focused on the 10-acre site owned by Quinmill Properties Inc., which Southern Realty & Development, LLC (SRD) is looking to develop, SRD acknowledged its first choice is still to come to an agreement with C&S Wholesalers, which runs the Grand Union supermarket in Millerton and leases that space from property owner Robert Trotta. That pursuit has thus far been unsuccessful.At last week’s meeting, Rennia gave an overview of the applicant’s second option.“The Quinmill property site, we’ll develop that site and put in an almost 36,000-sqare-foot supermarket and redo the entrance into Ken Thompson’s building, and move that [entrance] farther to the west, and have one joint entrance in,” Rennia said, adding there would be a large loop around the building for truck traffic. The engineer also said there is “plenty of room” to install a septic system.“There is room to install a private well and put together a private water system,” Rennia said, before reviewing the applicant’s water service options. “Seeing that the water district is very close, about 1,200 feet down Route 44, west to the site, [there] is the possibility of connecting to that system. There are two ways: One is an expansion of the district and one is to create, out of the district, a user contract agreement between the developer and the town.”Rennia said either way the same 8-inch water line extension would be used.Who wants in, who wants outJoseph interjected that the adjoining property owners, Ken Thompson (owner of Thompson’s Plaza) and Basil Gabriel (owner of Basil’s Auto Shop) “have no need or desire to connect” to the town’s water district. He added the supermarket would like to be an out-of-district user. It expects to use approximately 2,000 gallons of water a day, which led the developer to describe the market as “not a tremendous water user,” but added it would be willing to cooperate with the municipality as needed.“We would construct [it], and also, if the town felt at a later date it needed to form a district and bring those people in, we would be happy to contribute our share or even pay the district at that time,” he said. “But at this point we would try to keep it as simple as possible.”Rennia sent a letter dated March 3, 2011, to the town supervisor. The matter was put succinctly.“It is anticipated that Southern Realty & Development, LLC would bear the costs to expand the water district including construction, design and permitting,” he stated. “The proposed project will require an estimated 2,000 gallons per day for normal consumption purposes and fire flow needs are 1,000 gallon per minute.”It’s the details that countCouncilman Dave McGhee raised an important point, reminding those present the town’s water district receives its supply from the village.“First of all I think it isn’t going to be up too much to the Town Board — it’s up to the Village Board if they’re going to be able to make another district. They’re the ones that control the water. Secondly, I’m very interested if there’s enough pressure to sustain all that way out there. I hope you do.“I will throw in this comment,” he added. “I know you have different ideas, I’ve lived here all my life, and you should be able to hook onto a line at the state line by Thompson Plaza and Basil’s, because they’re not going to stay there. Once we’re going this far, whether we do [the supermarket] or not, we should be able to hook up. Things are going to change; once somebody offers [those businesses out by the state line money to buy them out] they’re not going to stay there.”Councilman Carl Stahovec then brought up the wetlands issue and the buffer that usually accompanies them.“The last project had a 300-foot buffer,” he said. “You obviously don’t have that here. I’d be interested to see where that’s going. We’ve been getting letters [concerning wetlands]; another issue is the bog turtles. That’s another hurdle that’s there.”The applicant has engaged a biologist to do a bog turtle survey, which will be conducted sometime this month. The developer said in more than two decades doing his work he’s never seen the turtles yet.“As long as there’s a habitat there don’t have to be turtles,” Councilman Steven Merwin rebutted.Who is SRD? At that point Sherman asked Joseph what his exact relationship to Southern Realty & Development was.“I’m it,” responded Joseph, later adding he works with another investor. “We are owners, operators, of shopping centers. We acquire land and develop on behalf of tenants and then they become our tenants and they rent from us.”Getting off track and regaining focusTalk quickly reverted to focus on water. Merwin raised concerns about whether the village could handle the load, or if another water tank might be needed. He made reference to the town’s decision in the 1990s to not build another storage tank, which caused a brief skirmish with the town supervisor. The two quickly settled back to the business at hand.“We need to look out for the village on this,” Merwin said.“You’re right,” Replansky said. “The village has to make sure it has the capacity for this. The village can look at the plans for the proposed development on the site and see what the water requirements are, but if they’re talking about a district expansion, they have to look at the other properties then to see if they have the capacity.”“I don’t want the public to pay for anything,” McGhee said, adding an escrow account must be established.Two escrow accounts will actually be created; one escrow account will be for the planning process reviewed by the Planning Board and the other will be for the professional review undertaken by the Town Board. Neither account has been created yet, nor has a dollar amount been set for either of the two accounts, according to the town supervisor.