Village Board deals with water woes

MILLERTON — The Village Board has passed a resolution on the usage of 2,000 gallons of water per day by the proposed supermarket planned for a 10-plus acre site behind Thompson Plaza off Route 44 in the town of North East (see story, page A1). Southern Realty Development LLC (SRD) is the developer.The issue passed 3 to 1 at the meeting on Monday, Feb. 27, after considerable discussion among Village Board members, Town Engineer Ray Jurkowski and the public.Public commentPlanning Board member Peter Greenough made several comments during the meeting. He said to this reporter, and to the general assembly, that he was not speaking in an official capacity as a member of the Village Planning Board, something he did not make clear the previous week while at a town of North East Planning Board meeting.“I’m speaking privately, personally, not in any official function,” he said.Greenough then spoke to the Village Board.“You’re going to make a deal, and you have no deal points. You have no agreement in writing and you’re going to approve this? This has major implications for the village,” he said. “If the water goes out there, I think we know that other people will build out there. You need to study what the implications are of taking water out there, because other people will then want to attach.”Trustee Marty Markonic clarified that the resolution they were looking to pass was strictly for the usage of water.“All we’re approving is 2,000 gallons a day. So anybody else who needs water would have to do the same thing, and then another study would have to be done,” Markonic said.“That also takes into consideration if the district extension were to go through in the future,” Jurkowski said. “Then the town would have to come back to the village and say ‘OK, now we are interested in potentially doing a district extension.’ ”Markonic then clarified that the resolution being discussed was very limited.Greenough insisted the board keep future growth in mind.“You should plan for future growth, future usage and so on,” he said.“That’s what the town will be doing,” Markonic said. “Why wouldn’t we want future growth? I don’t understand.”Greenough voiced further concerns.“I got myself in trouble because I was speaking privately and was accused of speaking officially because I was asking questions about this. This is a major extension of the water system. It has impacts upon water pressure, water reserves, future growth and so on,” he said.Markonic, growing frustrated, asked Greenough what exactly he would like done.“The process is broken. We’ve heard here tonight that we weren’t advised. We were not advised. The SEQRA State Environmental Quality Review Act process is broken. I don’t oppose this project, I don’t favor it. All I want is a good, clear, appropriate process,” Greenough said.The engineer has spokenMayor John Scutieri asked, “You don’t feel like for the last 30 minutes that we were advised?” referring to the previous board discussion with Jurkowski in which Jurkowski presented his findings from the water study.The usage of 2,000 gallons a day by the SRD supermarket project was found to have “no anticipated adverse effects,” according to Jurkowski.“No,” Greenough said, answering Scutieri’s question. “You know that the town Planning Board did not advise us as an interested party. The process is broken. They’re going to use our water and you’re going to approve it and you have no deal points. Nobody does business like that.”Markonic, having to raise his voice over Greenough to be heard, asked for clarification on Greenough’s talking points.“What deal points are you talking about? All we’re doing is agreeing that we can supply them 2,000 gallons of water per day. That’s it. Now it’s the town’s job to actually go through with the planning process,” he said.Greenough answered Markonic by referencing his own experience in water planning.“I used to do water planning for Citibank overseas, OK? Really big systems. What I would want to know if I were sitting in your place is how do you know that they will only take 800 gallons a day?” he asked, mistakenly quoting the amount, which is projected to be 2,000 gallons a day. “What’s to limit them from taking more?”Markonic answered, “Nothing. What’s to limit me from taking 25,000 gallons a day at my house?”Greenough, also growing frustrated, pointed out that the resolution was being approved based on that number, making an overage a relevant issue.Markonic saw the question as an unnecessary one.“You’re just saying, ‘what if?’ You can say ‘what if’ forever and nothing will ever get built or done,” he said.Greenough said that the figure presented by the proposed supermarket project should be under closer scrutiny.“I’d like to see, if I were you, the dimensioning of how they got to 2,000 gallons a day. This is a big supermarket; 35,000 square feet. Each employee, how many employees will be working there, how many times do they go to the bathroom each day, how many times do they wash their hands, which they’re required to do by law, how do you get to those and still have water to clean the floors and all that?” Maximum usageJurkowski stated that the studies that were done did not figure what a maximum usage would be.Greenough said that more information was needed.“How can you guarantee you’ll only use 2,000 gallons? You need to get that in writing,” he said.Markonic tried to steer the discussion back to the specifics of the resolution.“If it’s not going to affect our water system adversely and we’re getting, at no cost to the village or town, a line put in, extended, I don’t understand. All our job is, is to approve the fact that yes, they can run a line, and we will supply 2,000 gallons. It is not our job to decide if they should or not, because we don’t want them to,” he said.Greenough continued to object, but Markonic formally made the motion to put an end to the discussion, which he said was wandering off topic.After an addendum by board member Jay Reynolds to include that all costs incurred are at the responsibility of the applicant, the motion passed.