Conditional OK given for sewer district grant

The state has given conditional approval for a $750,000 grant to establish the Spring Lake Sewer District.

State approval has been given for a $750,000 grant to establish the Spring Lake Sewer District, provided the city of Kingston will allow a transfer of capacity from another system that produces far less waste water than authorized.

Supervisor James Quigley on Thursday said a contract is being drafted that would transfer 20,000 gallons per day of capacity from the Washington Avenue and East Kingston sewer districts, which currently only uses about 6,000 gallons per day of its 75,000-gallon limit.

“This project is dependent upon an intermunicipal agreement with the city of Kingston for them to accept the sewage from this collection system,” he said. “That agreement ... will be based upon the two existing intermunicipal agreements that the city and the town already have for sewer services. This 75,000-gallon capacity and the reserve that’s in the Washington Avenue agreement are already calculated into the capacity of the Kingston (sewer treatment) facility.”

The proposal for a new sewer district with about 120 connections on Catskill Avenue, Golf Terrace, Spring Lake Drive and Saccoman Avenue, as well as the Spring Lake Trailer Park, is the first phase. Lines would be extended to Maxwell Lane in the second phase.

Funding comes from the state Office of Community

Funding comes from the state Office of Community Renewal through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Renewal Development.

Renewal through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Renewal Development.

Quigley previously said homes on Catskill Avenue and Golf Terrace were built on small lots between 50 and 60 years ago.

“The septic fields have saturated the ground and they’re now coming to the end of their useful life,” he said. “They’re really facing an issue of how to address their sewer needs.”

Quigley added that trailers on lots that surround Spring Lake are also having problems.

“Both of the trailer parks sit right next to Spring Lake,” he said, “so everything they put into their septic fields, you know, go into the lake through ground water. That’s why they had contaminated drinking water which served as the basis for the Spring Lake Water District expansion back in the ‘90s.”

Approval was given during a Town Board meeting Thursday to issue a request for proposals for administrative, legal and engineering services for the proposed district.