Archive: Opinions

What does the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) have against the Town of Lansing?  As the need for sewer becomes increasingly apparent, the DEC's determination on what it will allow in the Town almost seems like a deliberate attempt to halt environmentally safe development.  And as more developments are proposed the Town's inability to provide adequate infrastructure is making it more costly and close to impossible for the Town to develop according to its own long term plan.

I am sure a shared sewer solution made sense when the DEC pushed six Tompkins County communities to pursue it years ago.  As it turned out it was not a practical solution for the Town of Lansing.  Funnelling effluent from the Town through the Village of Lansing to the Cayuga Heights treatment plant was too expensive despite Herculean efforts of the town sewer committee to find better and alternative funding for the project.  And politically it was too hot a potato.

Once that project failed the Town asked the DEC to consider their original proposal for a separate treatment plant, something DEC had rejected years ago in favor of the shared plan.  Despite the optimism of some Town officials, DEC rejected the idea again.  And when the Town officials asked for reimbursement for considerable out-of-pocket expenses it had incurred pursuing the DEC's scheme, they were again rejected.

Currently there are three major projects in the Town that require sewer to go forward.  The Warren Road sewer district is the only one that is certain to be constructed.  But at what cost?  Because businesses' ability to stay in Lansing is jeopardized by lack of sewer they are willing to pay a relatively enormous cost to connect north Warren Road to the Village of Lansing's sewer system.

The developers of the Cayuga Farms Town Homes on Triphammer Road have stated that project simply won't go forward if they can't get sewer, and that they're willing to pay what it takes assuming they can get approval of the three municipalities involved -- something that is anything but sure. 

The developer of Lansing Commons just south of Woodsedge Drive has chosen to go another route, building his own package plant (a mini-sewage treatment plant) that has recently come under attack by local residents for its potential impact on Minnegar Brook.

Early discussions seem to indicate that DEC will approve the package plant.  Residents within that sewer district will be solely responsible for paying for it under the auspices of the Town.  Even if you grant that it is environmentally safe and that district residents won't default on the building and upkeep of the plant, how is many little plants better than one big one?

Environmentally it is almost certainly less safe, and economically it will be ridiculous compared to the shared economy of a single Town plant.  On top of that the inability to get sewer into an area that can be developed as a town center torpedoes that initiative before it takes its first breath.

DEC needs to get real.  Town officials have repeatedly and convincingly argued that sewer in Lansing is the best environmental solution in a Town where thousands of septic systems sit on shallow bedrock that eventually poops into Cayuga Lake.  While the shared solution is philosophically valid, it has not proven to be realistic.  Any rational person goes to plan B when plan A doesn't work.  The Town's request for a standalone plant isn't unreasonable.

It is time for the DEC to reconsider its stance on a town sewage treatment plant.  That is the only apparent solution that will allow the Town to grow according to its wants and needs in an environmentally and economically safe way, as opposed to the random development that will forever scar Lansing if it doesn't have the proper tools to determine orderly development.

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