Wed, Oct 28, 2020 • Westchester Joint Water Works
UPDATE FROM LAST NIGHT'S PLANNING BOARD MEETING
WJWW Purchase Street & Tower Road Plant Proposal and Rye Lake UV Facility
Designation of Intent to Serve as Lead Agency SEQRA
The WJWW requested that it be lead or co-lead agency with the Town with respect to the construction of the water filtration plant on the airport property. This plant is estimated to cost over $100 MM dollars. In response, the Harrison Planning Board’s counsel recommended that the Planning Board act as sole lead agency with respect to the review of the water filtration plant project. At the Planning Board meeting last night, counsel for WJWW argued that WJWW was best suited to conduct the environmental review of this project. PEPA has submitted letters stating that allowing WJWW act as lead for its’ own project is akin to “the chicken guarding the henhouse.” Chairman Heaslip responded to WJWW’s counsel that the Planning Board should clearly serve as sole lead agency. The Planning Board then voted to have counsel draft a resolution to declare the Planning Board as the sole lead agency which will be considered at the November meeting. This is a positive development because it indicates that the Planning Board will take the “hard look.”
Looking forward this will mean WJWW will need to consider possible alternative locations for the water filtration plant that do no locate it close to the Quaker meeting house, as well as alternatives to construction the water filtration plant which will have a significant economic impact on the WJWW’s customers.
In addition, at its meeting last night the Planning Board also held off on considering whether it should grant approvals for WJWW’s UV Facility which is proposed to be located on property owned by New York City adjacent to Rye Lake. The Planning Board Chairman also stated that the Planning Board should act as Lead Agency with respect to the construction of the UV Facility. The Planning Board also discussed whether the UV Facility should be considered as part of the same SEQRA review process as the water filtration plant. WJWW’s counsel stated that WJWW was hoping to move forward with the UV Facility as soon as possible and stated that WJWW was better equipped to act as Lead Agency regarding this project. No action was taken by the Planning Board at last night’s meeting.
There is an October 28th meeting of the WJWW’s Board of Directors later today at 3:30 PM where it is anticipated these issues will be discussed. Below is the Zoom meeting information for anyone interested in observing the meeting:
Access to Meeting Via ZOOM:
Meeting ID: 929 1306 4695
For more information about PEPA please contact Anne Gold, Executive Director at email@example.com or (914) 960-3088