Plumbing the depths of a sewer controversy

Story on Watershed Post website on Phoenicia sewer project. A local expresses a local's viewpoint.

Detail of a map showing the location of a proposed Phoenicia sewer district, the subject of negotiations between the town of Shandaken, the Catskill Watershed Corporation and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection that broke down earlier this month. Source: Lamont Engineers's 2011 project report on the proposed Phoenicia sewer project.

A local's point of view.


This column had been on hold, waiting for another shoe to drop. Something was bound to change, and it did: New York City pulled a flawed sewers deal for Phoenicia off the table, while continuing to wave a big stick. By steadfastly ignoring all flies in the ointment it was offering, it readily assigns all blame for failing to seal a deal on Shandaken, and those ornery and ungrateful members of the proposed Phoenicia sewer district – all 200-odd potential members of it.

Of course I present a one-sided view, but this is mostly a one-sided conflict. The only power Phoenicia has is the power to say no, until we get something we can live with, not just now, but for well into the future. The CWC did what they could to develop the best plan New York City would agree to underwrite on its terms. Resistance would vanish immediately if New York City tangibly capped Phoenicia’s fears of unsustainable costs and liabilities arising now and/or down the road.

Shandaken Day 2012

Shandaken mulls sewer flush

Another story in the Woodstock Times about the (apparently) never-ending saga of the sewer, Shandaken, and NYC.

Photo © S. Weir

Shandaken supervisor Rob Stanley expressed disappointment with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), not only for pulling the remaining $15.8 million in funding for the proposed Phoenicia sewer but also for failing to respond to any of the concerns Stanley noted in his request for an extension on the timeframe for the project’s development.


The DEP’s letter of June 1, notifying Stanley that they were dropping the project after 15 years of trying to get a Phoenicia sewer system into the ground, caught the town board by surprise and caused widespread dismay.


Restaurant owner Mike Ricciardella, who has been a leader of the opposition to settling for the city’s offer, remarked, “The city wanted us to sign on to an open-ended agreement. The proposal didn’t have a concrete accounting of the costs, and the board said they needed more time to make it complete. It’s a shame the city backed out. The board did a good job. As a business person, you want to have all the costs made clear before you make a decision.”


Ironically, Ricciardella is having difficulty getting a loan to purchase Al’s Seafood Restaurant because of issues with the town’s septic systems. “I’m applying through the CWC,” he explained, “and they had concerns about the general conditions of septic systems in town,” such as the violation against Sweet Sue’s last year that resulted in the restaurant’s owner, Sue Taylor, having to install a new septic system after Main Street flooded in 2010.

Phoenicia realtor and water commissioner Rick Ricciardella commented, “The sewer system is a good idea, but if the city needs it to protect their waterways, they should pay for everything. We don’t need it — the systems we’ve had have worked for 200 years. We have good soil for filtration, sand and gravel. I have a septic system the city put in for me ten years ago, and it works fine.”

Phoenicia without a paddle

A story in the Woodstock Times (Without a paddle: City pulls the plug on Phoenicia sewer), details the fate of the funds NYC had set aside for Phoenicia.


The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has withdrawn its participation in the proposed Phoenicia sewer project, rejecting the Shandaken Town Board’s request for an extension of the deadline to establish a local sewer district. In a letter to Shandaken supervisor Rob Stanley, dated June 1, DEP commissioner Carter H. Strickland, Jr., stated that the $15.8 million block grant that has been reserved for the Phoenicia sewer for the past 15 years will be released to other towns, and that the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) “intends to terminate its contract” with Shandaken.

In his letter to the town, Strickland noted that the city has spent $1.9 million over the past 15 years to study and design a wastewater treatment plant for Phoenicia, granting several timeframe extensions, as the community considered various options.

“However,” he wrote, “with many missed milestones for action by the Town of Shandaken, it has now become clear that the community is not prepared to take the concrete steps necessary to advance a project to completion…While we view this outcome as unfortunate, DEP can no longer justify reserving funds for a wastewater treament plant (WWTP) for Phoenicia.”
The letter concludes with an expression of willingness to continue working with the town on “stream restoration projects, our septic program, and enforcement of watershed regulations.”

As pointed out in the DEP letter, New York City has built similar systems at its expense in Hunter, Fleischmanns, Windham, Andes, Roxbury, Prattsville and Pine Hill. The latest one began operations last year in Boiceville.

Phoenicia bridge open

Items in MidHudson News (Bridge Street crossing reopens in Phoenicia) and Woodstock Times (Bridges to somewhere: Ribbons cut, Shandaken spans again taking on traffic) on the re-opening of the Main Street bridge in Phoenicia.

Shandaken Supervisor Robert Stanley (podium), County Executive Michael Hein, pleased the bridge has reopened


The whole neighborhood turned out Friday morning for Phoenicia’s long-awaited reopening of the Bridge Street crossing, devastated in late August by Hurricane Irene. It was the second infrastructure  ribbon cutting this week for county officials in Shandaken, just in time for the lucrative summer season, The new bridge along Route 47 in Olivera was unveiled on Monday.

Rob Stanley and Mike Hein cut the ribbon to open the bridge. (Violet Snow) 

About 200 people showed up to celebrate the reopening of Phoenicia’s Bridge Street bridge on Friday, May 25, as Ulster County Executive Mike Hein extolled the county highway department workers for restoring the bridge after Hurricane Irene ripped down most of its guardrails and shifted the roadbed by 18 inches.