Representatives from Orange County Transit appeared at Walden’s May 21 meeting to answer the village board’s most burning question: what steps has the bus company taken to connect its facility to the village’s sewer system since last August?

Sometime during 2020, OC Transit requested sewer hookup for its facility at 1041 State Route 52 in the village. In August 2023, the board granted a 12-month extension for the sewer connection after the DOT continuously delayed the company’s highway work permit. The board also asked the company to return monthly to the village’s meetings and provide updates on the project. Aside from some letters and emails, OC Transit had not personally returned to the board until last week.

John Mensch, founder of OC Transit, and Anthony Miranda, the company’s attorney, explained where they currently stand in the sewer process. In October 2023, the company obtained a use and occupancy permit as required by the DOT, allowing it to move forward with its application for a highway work permit. On April 16, the DOT confirmed that OC Transit submitted everything needed for this work permit, and the remainder of the application process fell into the state department’s hands to finish.

“After we got the extension last year, a couple of months later we got the use and occupancy permit. You may recall that once the DOT decided we needed one of those, they paused the highway work permit process,” Miranda said. “As of April 16, Orange County Transit got a response from the DOT that said they have everything to issue the permit, but that was about five weeks ago. I’m not making any statements on when that can be issued.”

“The state denied us a work permit and a use and occupancy permit at first, and then we had to go back and reapply a second time, which they did give us a use and occupancy permit,” Mensch said. “And then, we didn’t even need to apply for the work permit; they used the first one that they denied to utilize the second process. That’s why it’s taken even longer.”

Trustee Bill Taylor asked when OC Transit submitted its application for a highway work permit, and Miranda stated that the company began the application process in 2022, emphasizing how long it took for the DOT to respond.

“It’s somewhere in the middle of 2022 I believe, but the highway work permit and the DOT process was going on during the planning board process,” Miranda said. “It took us more than a year, maybe two years, to get a response on the siteline application from the DOT.”

Taylor then asked about an incident at OC Transit’s facility some time ago involving a broken pump; Mensch clarified that the pump was owned by the neighboring tenant and was fixed immediately.

“There was a broken pump that pumps the sewer from a holding tank to a bigger tank. That pump is for one of the buildings of a tenant; it had nothing to do with the bus company side,” Mensch said. “It was the body shop in the front and his pump had broken. It was fixed the same day.”

Trustee Becky Pearson questioned what the company has accomplished in the last two years since submitting its applications to the DOT; Miranda and Mensch stated that they added screening to the facility, planted trees and bushes, and shut down lights that were bothering a neighbor.

“The berm is up; it’s high, it’s hydrated, and it’s irrigated. The acoustical fence is up, all that work has been completed,” Miranda said.

“The lights that were existing that the neighbor complained about, we agreed to shut those off. They’ve been off for months because of daylights saving time,” Mensch said. “We don’t need them on now but in the wintertime, we had shut them off.

At the end of the discussion, Taylor asked what OC Transit’s current priority is, and Miranda answered with three words: highway work permit. Once the company obtains the permit, it can begin work on the sewer hookup. Mensch also assured the board that the company would begin sending a representative to the village’s meetings for monthly updates on the project.

“You were directed by the board to come once a month when you were here the last time. The board said ‘Please come and update us once a month,’” Pearson said.

“We can get back on that schedule to come once a month, because obviously, the time is crucial.” The DOT already said that they don’t need anything else from me, it’s just a waiting game on their part to be issuing a permit to us, and we have a deadline coming up,” Mensch responded.