County legislature committee in no hurry to approve WJWW filtration plant land swap
October 5, 2023 at 2:18 a.m.
What a difference one month has made for the Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW) effort to get the County Legislature and County Executive George Latimer to approve the land swap at the County Airport which will enable WJWW to start the process of constructing its 20-year court-mandated and Justice Department required water filtration plant for its 100,000 customers, including everyone who drinks water in Rye Brook and Port Chester.
On Aug. 30, this newspaper reported that Latimer told Editor Jananne Abel in an interview that “I want a singular set of discussions, not an administrative and legislative. That will happen September to November.”
Latimer added that he expected “to see a final decision one way or the other made by late November or early December.”
For WJWW Manager Paul Kutzy, that promise from the top person in County government proved…fleeting.
WJWW’s first encounter
with the County Legislature
On Sept. 26, at the first scheduled meeting of the County Legislature’s Committee on the Environment, Energy, and Climate considering the WJWW land swap, Kutzy heard Committee Vice Chair Erika Pierce tell him that she did “not want to confuse ...urgency with haste.” She then pledged to have a “full public process” which would result in a “deliberate schedule which runs through the Spring of 2024.” And further, she reminded the WJWW team that there’s the risk that the land swap might not be approved.
For Kutzy and his team, that’s unnerving news. They have spent four years and $7 million preparing engineering plans for the proposed plant at its proposed site.
Pierce’s announcement was the first time they heard the process would be delayed at least through the Spring of 2024, WJWW officials related.
As they pointed out to Pierce and other committee members in attendance, including District 6 Legislator Nancy Barr from Rye Brook, that means:
*The construction schedule has already been pushed back, raising its cost to $138 million, not including the increased costs of borrowing. This additional delay will increase the cost of construction and borrowing even more, a staggering bill ultimately to be paid by water users.
*Up to $75 million in federal penalties will go into effect if the land swap isn’t approved. In that case, in addition to the fines, WJWW would have to regroup, find a new piece of land (if that were possible), start the environmental review process all over again, and face another minimum delay of three years. The “old site” can’t be revisited, they said, because the new technology to be used in the proposed plant can only work in the new setting.
The proposed new plant location is on Purchase Street and adjoins power and water lines, as opposed to the "old" location which was some distance from Purchase Street and inside land owned by developer Michael Tokarz. A detailed technical explanation of the new setting was made at the legislative hearing.
*The Federal court that has mandated the filtration plant construction will maintain jurisdiction over the project until the plant is built.
*The Department of Justice “will not be pleased” when they learn of the delay.
*When Kutzy pointed out that all the documentation for the necessity of the plant’s construction has been “in house” at the Legislature’s office, Pierce claimed “that documentation hasn’t come to us yet.”
The committee hearing did reveal some dysfunction in both the legislature and the County administration.
Pierce opened the meeting with the surprising announcement that the committee’s chair, District 12 Legislator David Inamura, felt the necessity to recuse himself from the entire process because the law firm for which he works, Abrams-Fensterman LLP, has as a client one of the longtime opponents of the plant’s construction—just who wasn’t revealed.
Those filtration plant opponents include billionaire Purchase Street landowner Michael T. Tokarz and his Purchase Environmental Protective Association (PEPA) and members of the Purchase Street-based Quaker Friends Meeting House.
Additionally, the one representative from the County who was invited to the meeting, David Vutera of the County law office, told the committee that he was totally unprepared to participate as he only learned he was supposed to attend the meeting one hour before it started.
Why the County administration didn’t assign an interlocutor to be sure the legislature and its committee were up to speed on all the WJWW plans and paperwork was never explained.
Kutzy’s anger toward Harrison
In a post committee hearing interview with the Westmore News last Thursday, Sept. 28, Kutzy aimed his frustration and anger primarily at the Town of Harrison and its Planning and Town Boards. Harrison’s Purchase Street is where the plant is slated to be built, and town officials control local zoning regulations which affect everything from the plant’s height to its fencing.
“The Town of Harrison has not been very good about working with us towards getting our permits, and that’s a problem. Their counsel is saying that they don’t want to entertain any permit applications until after the land swap is complete. That’s crap. ...You can work on a parallel track in getting your permits…if the deal doesn’t go through, OK, you have the permits, but you won’t be able to use the permits.
All I know is their legal team says there is a legal reason, but I see no reason why they can’t move forward and simply not issue the approvals until there is a land swap. You can do everything you need to do before the land swap and not issue the approvals. Then fine. But they’re saying they don’t want to even start the process, and that will set us back even more. That’s ridiculous. I believe the Town of Harrison Planning Board and the Town Board are simply being obstructionist.”
For all the details,
where readers should go
The Sept. 26 Legislative Committee hearing lasts nearly two hours. Readers who want to watch the entire hearing, which includes a detailed PowerPoint explanation of where and how the plant will be built and how it will function, and how it will use existing infrastructure from power to water mains for support, can find the hearing at this website: https://westchestercountyny.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
Scroll down to the Sept. 26 meeting of the Environment, Climate and Energy Committee, then click on the tab farthest to the right marked “video.” The video will automatically appear on your computer screen and give you the controls to play it, fast forward and reverse, and freeze a frame.
For those wanting to study WJWW’s PowerPoint presentation exclusively, click here.
Finally, WJWW has set up a web page: www.demandsafewater.org. Residents wanting to communicate with WJWW and/or County legislators and executives can find out where and how they can help.
Kutzy said that as of Sept. 29 WJWW had received responses from 290 citizens or their organizational representatives that have generated 900 letters which are then sent to both their respective legislators and the Latimer administration.
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