Water approved for proposed supermarket

MILLERTON — The Village Board met on Monday, Feb. 27, and passed a resolution to supply water to the unnamed supermarket proposed for Route 44 behind Thompson Plaza.Southern Realty Development LLC (SRD) is the applicant behind the 36,000-square foot supermarket, which was first brought to the North East Planning Board in November 2010. While SRD has not confirmed the name of the store, others involved in the project have referred to it as Hannaford.The resolution before the Village Board passed 3 to 1, and it sparked much discussion among the board members.Town Engineer Ray Jurkowski had taken the extensive study done for the previously proposed Millerton Overlook affordable housing project and updated the model. He then used the updated model to come up with his findings for the board.“We can see no anticipated adverse effect,” he said.The usage proposed by the supermarket project is 2,000 gallons per day.“Even in our problem areas, we don’t see this number creating any disturbances in the flow or pressure,” Jurkowski said.Trustee Debbie Middlebrook said she was uncomfortable with the process leading up to resolution.“This whole thing has been very bothersome to me,” she said.Middlebrook expressed feeling as though the Town Board and the town Planning Board have been moving along without keeping the Village Board abreast of what has been going on with the project.“We should’ve been a part of this from day one. We have no overall plan,” she said.Mayor John Scutieri assured Middlebrook that this issue has been discussed at prior meetings.“We’ve had several discussions here,” he said.According to Village Board minutes, the issue was discussed at board meetings on Feb. 28, 2011, April 18, 2011, and June 20, 2011 — all of which Middlebrook attended. According to the minutes, Middlebrook participated in detailed discussions about the issue at some of the meetings.“When you did the water study, do you assume they will be hooked up?” Middlebrook asked Jurkowski at the June 20, 2011, Village Board meeting.But at last week’s meeting, Middlebrook noted she has missed very few meetings and did not recall discussions regarding the water issue.“For instance, Ray has had this report on the water for a while now, so why are we all of a sudden hearing about it? Why weren’t we given this much sooner?” she questioned.Middlebrook also questioned whether the Village Board had been contacted by the town and notified that the village is an involved agency.“I don’t remember seeing that letter, that we were an involved agency,” she said.After the meeting, the town of North East planning office supplied The Millerton News with a copy of the notice sent to involved agencies declaring its intent to be lead agency. This document was dated June 9, 2011, and was sent to seven involved agencies including the Millerton Village Board (Water District). Trustee Marty Markonic tried to simplify the issue at hand.“All we’re doing is approving the use of 2,000 gallons per day. This is a very limited resolution,” he said.He also showed frustration at the number of concerns being raised.“This is why people don’t come here. This overregulation — it’s ridiculous,” he said.Markonic said he believed the issue was a simple matter of usage, while Middlebrook was more concerned with the process and communication with the Town Board.To move the discussion along, Markonic made the motion to supply water to the SRD supermarket project.Trustee Jay Reynolds suggested adding to the resolution.“It should also state that all expenses are to be incurred by the applicant,” he said.Scutieri then restated Markonic’s resolution, which was seconded by Reynolds and approved by everyone except Middlebrook, who voted against the resolution based on her reservations about the process.

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