Board approves water district rate, Hudson Highlands inclusion

By NEAL RENTZ

The Pound Ridge Town Board voted unanimously March 3 to approve two resolutions related to a potential new water district in the Scotts Corners hamlet. 

The water district is being considered because Scotts Corners is contaminated with PFAS and other compounds, the resolution approving a “Water Supply Agreement Term Sheet” stated.

The board approved a resolution to submit the worksheet, in response to the request from the New York State Comptroller’s Office. 

Lewisboro is exploring a connection between Scotts Corners and the Aquarion Water Company in Connecticut for drinking water. The purpose of the term sheet is to provide a summary of terms for a future water supply agreement between the Town and AWC. “This Term Sheet is a summary only and is not comprehensive or definitive,” the sheet stated.

Supervisor Kevin Hansan said he was recommending that the Town Board submit a signed work sheet to the comptroller’s office despite some concerns he had. “I do believe that there are a lot of questions still to be raised with this, considering first is the fact that I’m signing it without being a water district,” he said.”

Hansan said he expected further negotiations with the comptroller’s office.

Councilman Dan Paschkes said the term sheet is not binding and noted that a potential water district would need to be approved by the Connecticut Department of Public Health and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

In a related matter, the Town Board agreed to submit funding requests to Congressman Mike Lawler and Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand for federal aid for the potential water district.

Hansan said federal funding would help the town “bridge that gap between the 70% that we’ve gotten from the state, who recognize that we have PFAS issues in the town that need to be remediated.” 

Two applications with the federal government submitted last year were unsuccessful, Hansan said. 

“We’ve got feedback to make it a stronger application,” Hansan said. 

Earlier, during the public input portion of the meeting, John McCown ,who challenged Hansan in the last two supervisor elections, questioned why the document was brought forward.

“The proposed water supply term sheet you have on tonight’s agenda would have raised more questions than it answered even if it was offered up 22 months ago,” he told the board. “But to have a virtually meaningless term sheet like this two years into a project being launched is baffling to me. It is clearly nonbinding on Aquarion. It is further subject to the approval of three Connecticut agencies.  That seems implausible with the current water shortages in the Stamford area.”

“More to the point,” he continued, “that approval won’t even be sought until the New York Comptroller’s Office approves the formation of the water district. Unless we’re in Alice in Wonderland and ‘down is up,’ that isn’t going to happen because the Comptroller’s Office doesn’t do things in a backwards way.”

Identity theft concerns

Also at this week’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve legislation to protect the confidential information of individuals who have applications before various town agencies.

Hansan said he and Town Attorney William Harrington were recently notified by the New York State Department of State’s Division of Local Government Services Training Program about increasing fraud due to municipalities publishing email addresses, cellphone numbers and other information from people with applications before planning, zoning and water control boards. With the information, those committing fraud create false invoices that state they are from municipalities and tell applicants they owe money, he said.

“It’s a brave new world in terms of the internet,” Harrington said. “The state of New York is finally waking up to that reality.” 

“The information that’s made available to the public should be sanitized so that it would prevent the type of activity that is rampant throughout the country, throughout the world,” Harrington said.

“I think, unfortunately, it’s very timely and maybe even we’re behind the curve on it,” Paschkes said. 

Federal Highlands boundary

Also at the meeting, the board voted unanimously to be included in the federal Highlands boundary, which will allow the town to seek federal grants.

Hansan said the Highlands includes 3.4 million acres in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. 

The Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program provides funding to states and municipalities for the protection of water, habitat, and agricultural resources. Prior to the passage of the legislation, Lewisboro was not included in the area eligible for funding.

Passed in 2004, the Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program has provided funding to protect clean drinking water, healthy forests, thriving wildlife populations, productive agriculture, and abundant recreational opportunities. The act has brought in over $80 million in conservation funding to Highlands communities resulting in the permanent protection of over 16,000 acres. The grant program is administered by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service.

The town’s Open Space Advisory Committee recently hosted a meeting of leaders of several conservation organizations in the Hudson Highlands region, and the federal grant program was one of the items discussed, Paschkes said.