Somers Rejects Sewer Hookup With Carmel
A proposed sewer district pegged for Route 6 in Mahopac could face a potential blow after the Town of Somers informed the Town of Carmel and Putnam County it doesn’t want to extend its sought after sewer capacity beyond its border.
In an Aug. 16 letter to Carmel and county officials, Somers Supervisor Rick Morrissey wrote the town board doesn’t want sewer capacity from the Heritage Hills Sewer Plant used for development in Putnam. The county’s plan is to create a new sewer district in Mahopac that would tap into the Heritage Hills plant and run from Union Valley Road north to Buckshollow Road.
Morrissey wrote he’s been reading “newspaper accounts” of a proposed plan to connect future development on Route 6 to that sewer line and that developers in Carmel have entered into a Sewer Reserve Capacity agreement with the Heritage Hills plant.
But while Heritage Hills is privately owned and operated, Morrissey wrote its boundaries must be “co-terminus at all times with the boundaries of the Heritage Hills Sewer District” established years ago by the town board.
“My Town Board members have individually indicated to me that they would have no interest in seeing the Heritage Hills sewer capacity used by development outside the Town of Somers,” Morrissey wrote. “And that they believe they have a fiduciary obligation to see that the (Heritage Hills) excess capacity be reserved for both present and future residents and businesses in Somers.”
In an interview, Morrissey said the district was set up in the 1970s and the board eventually extended it to include a couple of Somers school buildings and most recently to include the development, Somers Crossing.
“The Heritage Hills Sewer Plant is a resource for the Town of Somers,” Morrissey said. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to get it used for the residents of Somers, not the residents of Putnam County.”
Morrissey said Somers and officials from Putnam and Carmel are now in communication since the letter was sent.
Carmel Supervisor Kenny Schmitt said he’s asked the town’s legal counsel to review the letter and determine whether the Somers town board has jurisdiction to prevent Putnam from hooking up to the Heritage Hills sewer plant. More research is required and documents need to be obtained, Schmitt said, before any further action is taken.
Carmel town board members have been receptive to the sewer line proposal. Schmitt said in an interview it would be beneficial to the town and business community.
“If the Town of Somers has authority… then that could be an obstacle to our effort and the county’s effort to create a sewer district,” Schmitt said. “It could create an issue.”
The county is seeking a task force to discuss the potential for a sewer and water project on Route 6.
Deputy County Executive Bruce Walker said all the questions, including whether the county can hook up into the Heritage Hills plant, will be addressed during the course of a feasibility study the county is conducting. The county Legislature approved $75,000 for the study in Mahopac to be carried out earlier this month. He stressed it was too premature to draw any conclusions about sewer in Carmel from Morrissey’s letter.
“None of that due diligence has been done, which is really the purpose of doing that facilities studies,” Walker said.
Walker said he understands Somers board members have to make decisions that are best for their town. But if Somers participates in the task force and once all details are laid out, he thinks Somers town board members can revisit their informal decision going forward.
He said the task force could look at several different options and wasn’t “particularly concerned” that the letter from Morrissey could stop the task force. He noted there are other sewer plants not in Westchester the county could use.
“There are lots and lots of different solutions out of this,” Walker said. “Some that may involve the Town of Somers, some that don’t necessarily even go over the county border so wouldn’t involve the town of Somers.”
