Boiceville residents invited to info meeting

MARGARETVILLE, N.Y., April 23, 2007- Representatives of the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) and Lamont Engineers will be on hand at the Olive Town Board meeting Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Town meeting hall on Bostock Road to describe the proposal to construct a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to service homes, businesses and institutions in the hamlet.

A public vote on a proposition to create a Boiceville sewer district is scheduled for Tuesday, May 8 when property owners in the proposed district will vote to formally establish the district to be served by the plant.

"We strongly urge all property owners to attend the Town Board meeting Tuesday night to get accurate information on this important project," said Town Supervisor Berndt Leifeld.

For more information on voting procedures and locations, contact the Supervisor’s office, 657-8118.

The WWTP is intended to protect water quality in the Esopus Creek, which feeds the Ashokan Reservoir; to improve economic development potential in the hamlet; and to eliminate homeowner management of individual on-site septic systems.

The project is part of the Catskill Watershed Corporation’s Community Wastewater Management Program (CWMP), which is primarily funded by New York City. The CWC selected Lamont Engineers of Cobleskill to coordinate, evaluate and design wastewater management projects for six hamlets, including Boiceville, in the City’s Catskill-Delaware Watershed.

The governing town boards of these hamlets were asked to voluntarily participate in the CWMP program and may opt out of the program up to the point of commencement of construction of a wastewater management system.

Following a study which concluded that a wastewater treatment plant would be the most efficient and effective means of treating sewage in Boiceville, the Olive Town Board agreed to proceed to the design phase, in which a WWTP was designed to handle an estimated 62,240 gallons of wastewater per day from 92 customers within a specified District. The District was the subject of a public hearing in March, but the Town Board felt citizens should have another opportunity to hear and ask questions about the project before the May 8 vote to establish the District.

The cost of construction of the collection system will be paid from a block grant out of the CWMP program fund. Operation and maintenance fees for residences will be capped at $100 per year. Businesses will be charged according to usage, with a $250 minimum fee per year.

Should voters decide on May 8 not to establish a Boiceville Sewer District, CWMP Program funds would then pass to another eligible community listed in the 1997 NYC Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).

For more information on the CWC’s Community Wastewater Management Program and other environmental protection, economic development and education programs, go to www.cwconline.org.