קאונטי ארויס אין קאמף קעגן קרית יואל

Investigate KJ builders, Diana says

Goshen – Orange County Executive Edward Diana struck two blows at Kiryas Joel housing developers yesterday, calling for investigations into allegedly illegal sewer hookups and clear-cutting of trees in a corner of the village where most of its growth is occurring.
Diana announced that he's asked District Attorney Frank Phillips and Sheriff Carl DuBois to look into illicit connections to the county's "west branch" sewer main and "the clear cutting and deforestation of lands on County Route 44."
Kiryas Joel wasn't mentioned in the news release, but Diana spokesman Steve Gross later said both alleged problems were in that village. He said 26 illegal sewer hook-ups were found.
"We are concerned that additional sewer hookups could lead to sewage overspill," Diana said. "If raw sewage backs up into public areas, the public health of residents in the area could be in danger."
The announcement heightened the tension between Orange County and Kiryas Joel over the village's rapid growth and related issues. Sewage treatment often fuels the friction because the county treats wastewater for the southern part of the county at plants in Harriman and Kiryas Joel.
The issue of illegal hookups appears to stem from a long-standing dispute between the county and Kiryas Joel developers over a new pipe needed to handle wastewater from new homes built off Route 44, known locally as Mountain Road.
The developers agreed in January 2004 to pay for the pipe, one bone of contention. According to village officials, 426 homes have been built in the Mountain Road area since 1997, and 326 more are under construction.
Diana said developers have ignored sewer violation notices and let residents occupy homes without "adequate sewer facilities."
The county will seek a court injunction to prevent further connections, he said.
Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin offered a brief response to Diana's statement yesterday: "The village is going to try to mediate between the development community and the county to bring this issue to a resolution."
The county and Kiryas Joel were already fighting in court over the environmental review for Kiryas Joel's proposal to tap New York City's water supply – a dispute churning the same brew of growth issues, particularly sewage treatment.
A more recent conflict centered on improvements Kiryas Joel wanted the county to perform on Route 44. Impatient to have the road widened for commuter buses and sidewalks installed for pedestrians, village officials have threatened to seize the road through eminent domain and do the work themselves.

Timing is everything

It was what folks in politics call a "coincidence."
Thursday afternoon, just hours before Democrat Michael Edelstein was expected to announce his bid for Orange County executive on a platform of environmental restraint, his opponent, County Executive Edward Diana, released plans to investigate alleged clear-cutting and illegal sewer hook-ups by a pair of Kiryas Joel developers.
So, while most local news outlets covered Edelstein's announcement, they also carried stories about Diana's evironmentally themed investigation. But Diana, a Republican, denied the story was timed for purposes of campaign strategy.
"You don't know how long we've been looking into this," Diana said. "It has nothing to do with Mr. Edelstein's announcement. We don't run Orange County based on statements and press conferences and political matters. We do what's best for the people of Orange County."

Someone, make things happen

We have found the straw man in the race for Orange County executive.
It's Kiryas Joel, the repository, apparently, of any number of evil things. Enough evil, anyway, that County Executive Edward Diana on Thursday called on District Attorney Frank Phillips and Sheriff Carl DuBois to look into what Diana said are illicit connections to a county sewer main, as well as into the cutting of some number of trees. Or, as Diana put it, "clear-cutting and deforestation of lands on County Route 44."
One wonders what the percentages are here. Is Diana's target the Kiryas Joel developers? Or might it be the many county residents near Kiryas Joel who think the village is growing too fast and have been agitating against it?
My money's on the latter. If developers are indeed hooking into a sewer main for which they have no approval or right to do so they should be stopped. But let us also remember that the histories of Kiryas Joel and of the county sewer plant are intertwined and have been so for some years. That plant has been chronically under the needed capacity for some years.
One can make a substantial argument that the development of southern Orange County in recent years would have proceeded in a far more orderly and logical fashion if adequate sewer service had been in place. As it was, years without new hookups meant that when new capacity was finally at hand, the development floodgates opened even wider.
And who is to blame for this rampant development, and the $500,000 houses now common in southern Orange? Why, it's Kiryas Joel. Likewise, why is it that the county is on the cusp of big-time water problems? Kiryas Joel again, which wants to tap into the New York City aqueduct, another thing the county now opposes.
At least Kiryas Joel had the vision and guts to try to solve its obvious water problems. And if the little village has enough political power to make something happen that Orange County either never thought of or couldn't make happen, what does that tell us of Orange County's political influence? Nothing good.
This did not occur under Diana, I know, but the county once had a plan to address its water issues. It was a water loop, and it made a lot of sense, more sense than large-lot zoning, that's for sure. The county response today on large-lot zoning seems invariably to be that the municipalities have home rule, which of course, they do. But large-lot zoning will make our development problems worse, not better, and that's crazy.
In any case, the water loop withered after Lou Heimbach left office, and he was the last county leader to understand Robert Moses. Today, political leadership on development and growth issues in some of our towns seems to have done a 180.
Montgomery is but one example, though Chester is rapidly closing the gap. No growth, no development. No water, no sewers, no traffic, no new roads. Definitely no new businesses. We'll live on green space. My friends, only the squirrels can live on green space. The rest of us need jobs and goods and services.
Also Thursday, Michael Edelstein, environmental activist and professor, announced he wants to be the Democratic nominee, against Diana.
We shall see whether the county executive's race this time brings us a substantive discussion of growth and development. If this turns into a contest of who can save the most trees, then no one wins.

Talks held to resolve KJ sewer flap
Goshen - Orange County officials met today with Kiryas Joel officials and developers to resolve a sewer dispute that only days earlier had prompted County Executive Edward Diana to call for criminal investigations.
On Thursday, Diana announced that he had asked District Attorney Frank Phillips and Sheriff Carl DuBois to look into illegal sewer hook-ups in Kiryas Joel and planned to seek a court injunction preventing additional connections. In an area off Mountain Road where hundreds of condominiums are being built, residents were allowed to move into 26 new homes and begin using the sewer system without proper permits in April, county officials say.
This morning, Diana and other county officials met for more than an hour and a half with representatives of the village and its developers and emerged with what participants said was a potential resolution. They wouldn't discuss the terms. More meetings will follow, Acting County Attorney David Darwin said.
Darwin said the two sides are also trying to resolve another issue Diana raised in his announcement last week: the clear-cutting of trees for more planned development off Mountain Road.
Chris McKenna