County, developers reach agreement on sewer line

KIRYAS JOEL-Three developers in the Village of Kiryas Joel have agreed to drop attempts to have the county pay for a sewer line they constructed. In return, the county will allow 96 new homes to begin using the sewer service. The county also will review permit applications for about 300 more units, according to Acting County Attorney David Darwin. The developers will also pay a $5,000 penalty. The deal settles a dispute that led Orange County Executive Edward Diana to demand an investigation into illegal hookups to the sewer main before it was properly completed. Orange County Sewer District No. 1 handles wastewater in the village. The district operates a plant in Harriman and leases a plant in Kiryas Joel from the village. While the county generally handles the cost of sewer mains, the three builders installed the new pipe, which will serve some 500 planned new units. The builders then asked the county to reimburse them. The new sewer main would serve "a minimum of 500 units," said Village Manager Gedalye Szegedin. It parallels an existing line, which had reached capacity. Szegedin said the agreement as fair. The county is "diligently pursuing and reviewing sewer permits for the developers," he said. "A sewer line that was installed by the developers for $750,000 to $1 million was transferred to the county with no strings attached." The village was not directly involved in the construction or transfer of the sewer main, Szegedin said. "The village's role was to mediate between the developers and the county." "We have a stipulation that resolved the illegal construction," Darwin said. "They did not have permits for the lateral lines from the buildings to the sewer line. With this new line, the capacity issue has been resolved." The developers will apply for permits for any new construction, he added. As to whether the criminal investigation, Darwin said this is in the hands of Sheriff Carl DuBois and District Attorney Francis D. Phillips II. Legislator Michael Amo of Central Valley, whose district includes Kiryas Joel, said the developers appeared to have been frustrated by the slowness of the county to install the new sewer line. They went ahead without waiting for the necessary approvals. "People in the district are paying for the capital costs, including those who are not on the sewer system," he said. "That seems to me to be inherently unfair." The county must prioritize new sewer main construction among the many requests, Amo said, while a given developer is concerned only with his own project. While this doesn't justify breaking the rules, he said, it makes the desire to move ahead more understandable. With rapid growth in the county, the demands on sewer mains are outstripping their capacity, Amo said. On the other hand, Legislator Frank A. Fornario Jr. of Chester faults the Kiryas Joel village government and building inspector. "My concern is that the local municipalities don't monitor sewer hookups more closely. If developers weren't following the rules, the municipality (Kiryas Joel) should have stopped them. It should not have become the responsibility of the county." People outside Kiryas Joel who have sewer permits have not been able to hook up to the system, Fornario said. Yet the Kiryas Joel developers seem to have received a pass on their illegal hookups. "I hope we aren't sending the wrong message to other communities: Go ahead and do things illegally, then get an amnesty," he said. Fornario noted that the developers' attorney, Dennis Lynch, was quoted in a published report as saying that the same conflict could happen again with more development. "We need to send a message that this won't be tolerated," he said.