Sewer woes may clog hotel's progress

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September 28, 2009

By DENISE A. RAYMO The Press Republican Mon Sep 28, 2009, 11:28 PM EDT

MALONE — The proposed Holiday Inn project could be in jeopardy unless the town and village agree to establish a legal sewer district on Malone's West End.

And nearby businesses in danger of discharging more raw sewage while hooked to the current antiquated disposal system may face fines if they can't access a legal sewer district.

DEC RESTRICTIONS
However, these businesses can't connect to the village's sewer-treatment system right now because the State Department of Environmental Conservation won't allow users from outside the village limits to be added without an inter-municipal agreement in place.

That agreement must cover not only new district users but all existing public and private sewer lines outside the village limits.

At the same time, DEC says it will not issue operating permits to any proposed facilities regulated by the State Department of Health that connect to unauthorized sewers outside the village limits.

"This will prevent any proposed food-service establishments, motels, hotels, public swimming pools etc. from legally operating," DEC's letter states, adding that any business that operates without a permit will face legal action and possible fines.

Permits will be issued only "after the town and village have established the legal authority for community-sewer service in areas where they previously were unauthorized to do so."

Representatives from the town, village and DEC met in a closed session recently to begin hashing out a solution, and DEC representative Jason Denno is on the agenda for the Town Council's Oct. 14 meeting.

PROBLEM LINE
It was a clog in a private line that services Cedar Commons Plaza, Aldi's Plaza, Bailey Motors, NBT Bank, Auto Zone and Kinney Drugs that brought everything to the surface.

Sewage was discharged on July 22 into a storm-water basin near Kinney's and crept into a wetland, according to a letter from DEC to Kinney's property owner, Renshaw Trust Co. of East Syracuse.

The state on July 24 ordered the impacted businesses to quit using the sewer line until the problem is fixed.

It took six days for the clog to be removed and repairs made to a damaged pipe. DEC says the damage may have occurred during installation of a fence post or a concrete post near the Kinney's sidewalk.

The aging sewer-piping system once served the former Franklin County Poor House on Route 11B, which has since caved in on itself into a pile of rubble near Lime Kiln Road.

The DEC letter warned Kinney's owners that it had to find a solution to the raw-sewage problem or face fines up to $37,500 a day for violating environmental-conservation law.

TOWN REPAIRS
No one owns the poorhouse sewer line, according to Town Supervisor Howard Maneely, but the town is responsible for it because it sits within its jurisdiction.

"The DEC says we have to fix it and put in a line," he said, adding that it is the town's hope to connect it to a sewer line established when Walmart opened on Route 11 to carry service to Glazier's Meat Products and Meehan Road on the south side of the highway.

Branch Commercial Development LLP of Malone has proposed building an $8 million four-story, 81-room hotel with a swimming pool and, eventually, a restaurant.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com