Judge refuses county's request to dismiss sewer suit

Woodbury — Municipalities who say Orange County wrongly approved the expansion of the Harriman sewer plant won a victory this week, when a Supreme Court judge said their Article 78 lawsuit “has merit” and should be allowed a hearing. Woodbury, Harriman and Kiryas Joel argued that the county overstepped its bounds when it failed to consult them or do a proper environmental review. Supreme Court Judge Francis Nicolai of the Ninth Judicial District refused the county’s request to dismiss the suit. He came to his decision after reviewing nearly 30 years of documents related to the Harriman plant’s long struggle to keep up with development. The county questioned the municipalities’ “standing to sue and the timeliness of the suit,” along with many of their other arguments. The court’s dismissal applies to all of the county’s contentions. It refers to the “rights of the towns as involved agencies,” and says “no statute of limitations applies.” The argument is over home rule and prior agreements the county made with the plant’s original users, which include Harriman, Woodbury and Kiryas Joel, as well as newer users, including the Moodna Group of Chester, Monroe and Blooming Grove. The municipalities are continually confronted with the problem of supplying sewer service to the many high-density developments now in the works. The original users say they should have first rights to any additional sewer capacity developed. Three lawsuits pending There are actually three separate lawsuits to sort through: The Village of Kiryas Joel claims a right to connect to the New York City aqueduct to meet its growing need for water and sewage treatment. That suit has all but been decided in the village’s favor, with one appeal remaining. Orange County declared irrelevant a prior agreement to consult with the municipalities and to make a new contract if any changes were made to the sewer plant. The county also claimed that a state environmental review was unnecessary. In his finding this week, Judge Nicolai said any expansion of the sewer plant would likely have “nuisance STP [sewer treatment plant] effects,” particularly on the Ramapo River, into which the sewer discharge flows. The Ramapo is a source of drinking water for more than one million New Jersey residents. Ramapo has its own secondary treatment plant, but recent problems have shown there is a limit to the quantity of sewage the Harriman plant can handle. The Town of Blooming Grove is suing the county for expanding its sewer district to include the 258-acre property of the former Camp LaGuardia homeless shelter campus, located in Chester and Blooming Grove and now owned by the county. Mountco Construction and Development Corp. of Scarsdale hopes to build a high-density development of 900 residences there. As part of the county’s contract with Mountco, the county executive and legislature promised the sewer infrastructure to go with it. The suit says the county overstepped when it expanded the district without first consulting the towns, and when it failed to do a thorough environmental review. County Executive Ed Diana said the changes were only on paper, and that the environmental review would be done in good time. This suit is expected to be decided very soon. This week’s decision, if it holds, will deal a blow to Diana’s claim that, for the sake of public health, he must expand the Harriman plant whenever it reaches 85 percent of capacity. But another haunting issue remains: with so many towns involved, each joining at a different time, which town will be given the right to any new capacity at the sewer plant? Or will there be a bidding war? Town Supervisor Frank Fornario of Blooming Grove called this week’s decision a victory for home rule. “Not to say whether one is for or against the Mountco project, but this preserves our rights in determining the best use of the property,” he said. He said Blooming Grove has done a favor for the other involved towns in pursuing its legal action. He had pleaded unsuccessfully with the Chester town board to join the suit. Chester officials said the town was involved in other suits and did not want to become overextended. This week’s decision does not settle the Woodbury complaint. But the judge’s comments clearly weigh in the towns’ favor.

The decision refers to the “rights of other towns as involved agencies” and says “no statute of limitations applies.”