72°
KATONAH, N.Y. Local engineers, realty and development company representatives and environmental groups expressed Tuesday their discontent with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservations (DEC) proposed design standards for intermediate-sized wastewater systems. The Westchester County Board of Legislators subcommittee on Septics held a public hearing Tuesday at the Katonah Village Library to discuss these new regulations for 2012.
Subcommittee member and board of legislators majority leader Peter Harckham (D-Katonah) said that from an engineering perspective, the new prohibitive regulations regarding the use of galley systems, which allow for onsite disposal of storm water, and those regarding paving over fields, could negatively impact shopping centers, strip malls and multi-family housing.
Pound Ridge Council member Dick Lyman said at the hearing that as a municipal official, he was disappointed that the DEC would let the plan proceed without consideration for the economic consequences or even their stability in the areas in which they are being enforced, in particular considering the new 2 percent tax cap.
These new regulations have nothing to do with the diverse types of communities in Westchester opposed to ones that have closed storm water systems, he said, stressing that the DEC should work directly with municipalities and local governments to work out better solutions to these issues.
The hearing was videotaped and will be sent to the DEC as a formal submission of comments before the regulations are finalized. All public comment is due by April 30, which is already a 30-day extension beyond the original deadline.
Albert Annunziata, executive director of the Building and Realty Institute in Armonk, said that with something as far reaching as these particular regulations, comment should be extended more than the 30 days already allotted.
Annunziata said that one of his engineering experts told him the 277-page document was excessively complicated, oftentimes self-contradictory and vague, and at other times restrictively precise.
Its amazing that the DEC has come up with this plan when it is already grappling with such weighty issues such as the Tappan Zee Bridge and fracking, Annunziata said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bedford and receive free news updates.
