He has been conferring individually with board members regarding how to respond to the city’s letter. “There are several options on our plate. I’m not sure another letter back is the answer. It might lead to finger-pointing and blame-gaming, which is not going to get this done. Maybe we’ll need a special meeting to discuss what to do.” Stanley declined to specify what options are under consideration.
Along with the city’s withdrawal from the project, the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) has decided to terminate its contract to help evaluate and design a system for Phoenicia. Richard Parete, CWC board member and county legislator for Olive, Marbletown, and Hurley, when asked if there was a possibility of reviving the project, commented, “I can’t speak for the CWC, and you don’t ever want to say ‘never’, but it does look like the town has burned its bridges. I wish the town board had voted to have a public hearing and possibly a vote.”
He said members of the Boiceville community, where the DEP recently funded installation of a sewer system, are “thrilled with the plant. Phoenicia had a lot of questions, but in Boiceville, it’s working. The communities that have it are happy.”
Parete said his father, John, owner of the Boiceville Inn, is relieved not having to worry about replacing or pumping out his septic system. “The cost associated is minimal for the peace of mind. And it’s a public health and environmental issue. I know it’s a big decision for a community, but it was a close vote the first time, and this time around it could have moved ahead. This may hinder Phoenicia’s growth.”
He did offer a glimmer of hope for bringing the project back to the table, saying, “If the town board voted next week to build the plant, I’d hope the city would reconsider.”
No loan for Al’s
Restaurant owner Mike Ricciardella, who has been a leader of the opposition to settling for the city’s offer, remarked, “The city wanted us to sign on to an open-ended agreement. The proposal didn’t have a concrete accounting of the costs, and the board said they needed more time to make it complete. It’s a shame the city backed out. The board did a good job. As a business person, you want to have all the costs made clear before you make a decision.”
Ironically, Ricciardella is having difficulty getting a loan to purchase Al’s Seafood Restaurant because of issues with the town’s septic systems. “I’m applying through the CWC,” he explained, “and they had concerns about the general conditions of septic systems in town,” such as the violation against Sweet Sue’s last year that resulted in the restaurant’s owner, Sue Taylor, having to install a new septic system after Main Street flooded in 2010.
“I went to the CWC meeting,” said Ricciardella, “and told them that Al’s has a new system with a capacity of 10,000 gallons per day, and it has a SPEDES permit,” a state-issued certification.
Ricciardella added that he has kept the septics for his three Main Street restaurants up-to-date, upgrading them as needed, and when they were tested after last year’s flooding, there were no problems. He observed that Al’s is not even in the floodplain and has never flooded.
He hoped the CWC would take into consideration the information he provided, but Parete reported, “The loan committee voted not to revisit the loan.”
Parete pointed out that the CWC has to consider carefully whether to lend money. “If future businesses come into the floodplain, if we loan them money and the septic fails and the business closes, they won’t be able to pay it off.”
200 years of good filtration
Phoenicia realtor and water commissioner Rick Ricciardella commented, “The sewer system is a good idea, but if the city needs it to protect their waterways, they should pay for everything. We don’t need it — the systems we’ve had have worked for 200 years. We have good soil for filtration, sand and gravel. I have a septic system the city put in for me ten years ago, and it works fine.”
Dave Pillard, proprietor of the Tender Land Home gift shop on Main Street, sympathized with property owners who have to worry about undetermined future expenses. “It’s been a choice between the devil they know and the devil they don’t know. If I have to replace a septic system, I know what the expense might be, but with the sewer, who knows what we might be liable for down the road? I fault the city — if they had made an offer we couldn’t refuse, it would’ve been accepted.”
Other Main Street business owners were impatient with the town. “On issues like the sewer, the Scenic Byway initiative,” said Mama’s Boy Cafe owner Michael Koegel, “this town board has been completely ineffectual because they can’t make a decision for themselves. They postpone everything. Personally, I think this sewer is something the town needs to have done. If one of the reasons some people don’t want the sewer is because they don’t want the town to grow, just look at all the new restaurants just outside of town — it’s happening anyway.”++
Stanley lies. Again. His resolution with the CWC clearly stated deadlines for the creation of the sewer district. His claim that the district would not encompass residential areas is ludicrous. Creating the district, creates the boundaries! As they say, Mike, Karma is a bitch.
Also, the issue of a sewer pipe under the bridge HAS BEEN ANSWERED over and over in the past 25 years, as have every single imaginable issue.