Lloyd Building Department Director Dave Barton said the town is still waiting for the representative of the proposed residential Falcon Ridge project, Dan Gueron of ADC, to respond with cost estimates and exactly where a sewer line would be run from his project site on Upper North Road and into the town’s system. The initial idea was for Gueron to bring a sewer line down Route 9W but a more recent concept was for him to tie into the existing line at North Road, a far cheaper option.

Councilman Joe Mazzetti said when this project was first proposed the Town Board was, “dead set against North Road and the developer said he would run it past the Little League field [on Grand Street] where we wanted the water and sewer, and run it that way and he had no problem doing that if we gave him concessions for more lots. So now I’m hearing it’s a million dollars cheaper to run it down North Road and yet we’re still giving him the same concessions for all the lots; again it’s take, take, take. I’m very excited about businesses coming in, that’s great on the Route 9W corridor and it is smart growth...but I’m concerned about the number of rooftops there at Falcon Ridge and the impact on our facilities and schools.”

Mazzetti suggested that a presentation be given to the Town Board by the company that would actually install the line, “showing exactly how that works because I don’t want to vote for North Road, if I do decide to do that, and come to find out that what they did was more damage and doesn’t work right and people are suffering and costs even more money for the taxpayers because we have to repair what they broke.”

Barton assured the board that a detailed presentation will be scheduled once they complete the feasibility study on where they feel the line should go. Barton informed the board that although Gueron has spent $38,000 on the study, “he’s aware that he doesn’t have any rights as of this moment here.”

Mazzetti said he does not want Lloyd to turn into a “Levittown” styled project because Falcon Ridge has, “houses that are smack dab right on top of each other and that’s not good for families. I want to see some yards, I want to see them spaced apart, and 2,600 sq/ft houses on about a quarter of an acre is the concern I have. One thing they put to us is that if we would let them do that, they would run this water and sewer line down Route 9W for an extra forty houses. Then they said if we didn’t let them, they could build their own [on-site] sewer plant and we said that is not going to happen. It’s give and take, but again, if he didn’t know he could make money with the property he wouldn’t have bought it in the first place...He knew he could make money on what it was zoned for.”

Barton agreed but pointed out that Gueron doesn’t need the town; he could build his own wastewater plant, “which is not something that we want.” He said if the town were to stop a plant from being built on the property, a lawsuit may be filed by the developer against the town, claiming the town is preventing him from developing his land to its fullest potential, a claim Barton feels would be upheld in court.
Mazzetti said houses in developments that have their own private wastewater treatment plants sell for less than homes that are serviced by town water and sewer.

“His plant is going to cost him a lot and cost him more when he tries to sell these houses versus if he had town water and sewer,” he said.

Lloyd Water and Sewer Administrator Adam Littman does not support bringing wastewater from this project down North Road.

“The feasibility studies for the sewer to come down Route 9W, connecting to Lumen Lane and coming down Grand Street, I am much greater in support of that because I think it would benefit us,” he said.

Littman pointed out that water and sewer flows ultimately end up coming into the hamlet area and tie into much older piping systems that may need a “considerable” amount of work. He said any study should take into account the sewer impact from the Falcon Ridge project to the entire piping system in this area of town.

Mazzetti said he does not want the town to think they are getting a “golden goose and then find out we got the other end of the goose.”