Somers and North Salem Enter Into Sewer Agreement

SOMERS, N.Y. - The Somers Town Board has authorized Supervisor Robert Scorrano to enter into an intermunicipal agreement that would allow North Salem to hook up to the Heritage Hills sewage treatment plant.

The resolution was passed unanimously at the board’s Dec. 5 work session.

Last month, North Salem Supervisor Warren Lucas got the approval to sign the IMA. The vote was 4-1, with Councilmember Katherine Daniels casting the sole “no” vote.

These were but two of many steps that must be taken before a sewer district can be formed in the hamlet of Croton Falls and the construction phase of North Salem’s proposed $11 million project can get underway.

According to the resolution, North Salem will pay Somers $526,000 for loss of convenience as compensation for sewage treatment capacity allotment (20,000 gallons per day) as well as access, easements, and use of the town’s roads and rights of way.

Any roads dug up for the installation of the main will be repaved.

North Salem agreed to pay the $526,000 upon the IMA’s execution. The money will be held in escrow by Somers. It will be released to Somers upon North Salem’s awarding of construction bids for the project.

If the project doesn’t go forward, Somers will return the money to North Salem.

The IMA ensures that North Salem will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the town and its officers. It also states that North Salem will reimburse Somers for all “reasonable legal, engineering, and professional review services.”

Even the cost of creating the IMA was shouldered by North Salem.

The bottom line is that all expenses will be covered by North Salem alone.

“I want to emphasize this, not ONE dollar will be paid from Somers taxpayers,” Scorrano said.

There’s still a lot of work to be done.

North Salem needs to finalize a financial agreement with Heritage Development LLC and an engineering agreement with the plant’s operators, Veolia Inc.

Lucas said the town has letters of intent to hook up from both entities. They are waiting for the IMA to be finalized.

“Once the needs assessment is completed and people concur with the steps we are taking, a town sewer district needs to be created,” he explained.

That will require the town to finalize a map, plan, and report, a document that sets the boundaries of districts and shows which properties are in them.

Scorrano acknowledged that it’s going to likely a year or two before work could get underway.

“We’re trying to be good neighbors, trying to help our neighbors in need,” he said of the IMA.

North Salem had considered several options for solving septic issues in Croton Falls’ General Business District before deciding that sending its effluent to Heritage Hills was the least expensive one.

“It was a back-and-forth negotiation with many highs and lows,” Lucas said of talks with Somers, adding that the two towns “came to an understanding” this March.

He wrote to Scorrano to thank him and Town Board members for their “support and cooperation.”

The sewer connection not only signifies, Lucas said, “a pivotal step forward in addressing the infrastructure needs of our small business district, but it also underscores the spirit of cooperation and partnership between our neighboring towns.”

“Our towns share more than just a border; North Salem has residents of Somers in our school district, and our emergency services personnel collaborate closely in mutual aid responses. This approval exemplifies the strong bond between our municipalities and reaffirms Somers as a steadfast friend to North Salem,” he wrote.

Septic Issues

Many of the Croton Falls businesses’ septic systems are not actually on their properties, but under town roads and on New York City Department of Environmental Protection land.

“None of them had sufficient areas to repair their system if they stopped working,” Lucas said, emphasizing that that’s a health concern because the Muscoot Reservoir is nearby.

Lucas said the IMA with Somers “now gives us a solution for our sewage.”

“Sewers will address some of the basic problems that the community has,” he added.

The Croton Falls project would include a $5 million below-ground pump station on the NYCDEP property behind Back Street similar to the one at the North Salem Middle/High School that’s connected to the Peach Lake sewage treatment plant.

Finances 

Lucas said that the town already has two grants to apply towards the project’s capital costs.

These total $9.25 million: $8 million from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the NYCDEP and $1.25 million from Congressman Michael Lawler’s office.

It also has “partial approval” for a $4.8 million Water Quality Improvement Grant (WQIP), which is money given to Westchester by the NYCDEP.

The county Planning Department had been waiting for the Somers/North Salem IMA to be complete before it acted on the town’s grant request.

The WQIP money also has to be approved by the county executive, county legislature, and the DEP.

Lucas said that the $9.25 million won’t be available until mid-2025 because New York City’s and the federal government’s fiscal years start in July.

He believed that the portion of the $4.8 million would be freed up “in the same timeline.”

“That totals a potential $14.57 million for capital costs, engineering and legal,” Lucas said. The town has also applied for other grants.

The $526,000 that North Salem got in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding is being used to compensate Somers for its loss of sewage treatment capacity at Heritage Hills and for access to its roads and rights of way.
Concerns 
Daniels explained her reasons for voting against the IMA resolution.

She was concerned that North Salem hadn’t had any “public engagement” on whether the ARPA funds should be used for “this purpose as opposed to other projects that would benefit more town residents.”

Lucas argued that the federal grant originally “could be used for water and sewer infrastructure and emergency services surrounding the COVID pandemic.”

He also pointed out that after the town received it “the allowed uses were broadened” and that there had been a discussion about other projects that the money could be applied toward.

“However, I believe that this is the most important thing that we can do with the ARPA grant as it will support the hamlet and allow it to exist and even flourish for years to come,” Lucas said.

Neither had the town, in Daniels’ opinion, had any “meaningful public engagement as to the pros and cons of creating a sewer district.”

“The few residents who have thought about this want to know whether this could change the character of the village and what our plan is to manage that prospect. Unfortunately, we don’t have one,” she said.

She noted that the town is working on a master plan for Croton Falls but “so far it does not grapple with these issues in any meaningful way.”

Pointing out that the town still yet conducted a needs analysis for the people in the hamlet who are not in the business district or prepared a map, plan and report (MPR), Daniels said that “these steps are required before the district can be formed.”

“In my view, they should have come first,” she said. “As a result, we don’t have concrete data as to whether we are purchasing the right capacity from Somers or even targeting the right properties for inclusion in the proposed district.”

North Salem Planning Board Chair Cynthia Curtis was put off by the apparent emphasis on the septic needs of  business owners.

“For many residents, their home is their single most important investment. Some are limited because their septic is below current standards, some because their lots are so small or their soils do not support fields. They cannot add a bedroom when their family needs one. They cannot upgrade their septic,” she said.

A needs assessment will be made, promised Lucas, who acknowledged that the project might have two phases, one for the businesses and another for the residences.

There are 30 non-residential properties that could be in Phase One, including a restaurant and a gas station on Route 22. Municipal properties listed as being in the General Business District are the Croton Falls Fire House and the North Salem Community Center.

There are 75 residential properties that could hook up in Phase 2.

“No one knows if the residents want to be a sewer district or not; no one has asked. No one has assessed their needs and no one has calculated the costs for a district that would include them. Now the project has two phases and the residents are the afterthought. Why?” Curtis asked.