October 2014 Newsletter: Sewer Project Information Update

Owners of lake properties in both the towns of Ballston and Clifton Park jammed the Ballston Lake Fire Housefor two informational meetings about the proposed sewer project. Sponsored by the Ballston Lake Improvement Association, the meetings were held in the Ballston Lake fire house on Wednesday, Sept. 17, with one at 10 AM and the second one at 7 PM. The sewer project is targeted to ring Ballston Lake and include the Buell Heights, Main Street and Midline Road areas of the Town of Ballston. Eastside Drive, along the south eastern shore of Ballston Lake in the Town of Clifton Park, is also part of the proposed project. Topics included the need for sewers, benefits, costs, time frame and action points. A map showing the designated service areas was available. A lively question and answer session followed the presentations. Seventy five people attended in the morning and sixty nine at night. Since then the Clean Water Committee has conducted a petition drive attempting to talk to as many residents in the potential phase one area as possible. This effort will end on Oct 26 and then we will tally the results.

We have already connected with more than 70% of the residents and are finding strong support for the effort in both the Town of Ballston and the town of Clifton Park. To all those who are carrying petitions for sewers: Thank you for all your hard work! This isn’t easy work, and the community is so grateful for your participation. It is so impressive to decision makers in both the Town of Ballston and the Town of Clifton Park that we – YOU – have achieved so much in such a short time. We plan to present our findings to the town of Ballston at the Nov 6 town meeting. In parallel with this, the Town of Ballston funded an engineering firm to prepare the Map Plan and Report. This effort will take the preliminary plan and work it in further detail to determine the exact boundaries of the district and define exactly who is in and who is out. We expect that the draft of this plan will also be presented to the town at the Nov 7th meeting. A proposal to perform this same task for the Clifton Park portion of the project is being prepared. As we have talked to our neighbors about this one frequent question is “What happens next”? The draft Map Plan and Report will be reviewed, adjusted as necessary, and then finalized. Then, likely in Dec or Jan, a Public Hearing will be scheduled on the plan. The Town is required to conduct a SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) and then can formally adopt the sewer district. A reasonable time frame for this activity to be completed would be the end of the first quarter of next year. Assuming the project successfully navigates these steps the project will be committed. The Town can then seek bonding to fund the work. The engineer will do detailed geology evaluations, archeology checks, easements will need to be arranged, and a detailed engineering design done. These steps could take much of next year with actual construction most likely starting in the Spring of 2016.