An Open Letter to the Citizens of Old Lyme
On Oct. 1, a special meeting was held by the Town to present new boathouse plans for rowers at Rogers Lake. Construction costs are estimated to be $883,000: with $478,000 being a CT STEEP grant, and the remaining $405,000 to be contributed by the town of Old Lyme from its rainy day account.
The Town is in a hurry to move this project forward in a very short time so that construction can begin. Some would say the Town is in too much of a hurry.
While a boon for the approximate 100 rowers in Old Lyme (50 students and 50 adult rowers), there is next to nothing in this project for the other citizens who are being asked to pay for this effort.
Several areas of concern are:
- The scope has changed so much from the original grant proposal, the Town will have to resubmit scope to ensure the grant is still valid. For example, the existing boathouse will be torn down, not renovated, and construction of new docks will not be included. We are being asked to approve funding of $405,000 to support a grant we aren’t sure will be re-approved by the state. Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?
- The President of the rower’s association anticipates program growth to be no more than 10 to 20%. Whether that growth is measured in participants or boats, the proposed boathouse appears substantially over designed. The current program is supported by approximately 35 boats, whereas the new boathouse is designed to house 53 boats.
- A scant 1 week of public discussion has been allowed before a vote. Don’t you believe more time and consideration is warranted to make an informed decision on such a large expenditure?
- As a community, we are proud of the success and accomplishments of our rowers. However, since the boathouse stores boats donated by the rower’s association to Region 18, wouldn’t it make sense to have Region 18 pay rent until the costs to Old Lyme are offset?
As with any project being rushed, too many questions remain unanswered to request the good people of Old Lyme to approve spending over $400,000 of its $4.9 million rainy day fund for so few citizens Some would even question whether this is a proper use of a rainy day fund.
Not allowing proper consideration for other potentially-interested parties to comment on how to broaden the public interest in the project would be a mistake … politically and possibly economically. For instance, why not renovate and heat the existing bathrooms for everyone’s use, in lieu of constructing new bathrooms for rowers only for an estimated cost of $130,000? (9/15/2014 Committee minutes)
This project should be delayed to allow ample time to improve the project in the interests of the Town as a whole. Even if, in the event, there are no other interested parties, at least everyone would have been given a chance to respond. Please attend the Town Meeting and vote for what is best for the community.
See you at the Middle School at 7:30, Oct. 6!
Sincerely,
Steve Cinami,
Old Lyme.
Thank you for shedding needed light on one of the best kept secrets in town! The $46 million plus sewer project that was unveiled at the First public informational presentation to Old Lyme Last Tuesday is barely off the drawing board and is being put to a vote to request the funding process in a Town Meeting Forum in November. This is when a majority of the taxpayers who this impacts will have gone back to their primary homes for the winter..some out of state. Absentee ballots will not be allowed. Only registered voters and those who own a minimum of $1000 property and are present at that meeting can vote on a not ready for prime time sewer plan. I hear this morning that the previously announced date for the next public information presentation has been rescheduled to Oct. 30 and Nov. 18 at 7:30 pm.
Old Lyme has a long history of sewer avoidance in order to keep development down and retain it’s small town charm and its groundwater in place. Point O Woods got around this about 8 years ago when this chartered beach chose to form its own WPCA to solve it’s stated pollution difficulties, hired an engineering firm and got its own bonding to correct their issues. They paid for it themselves and are happy with the result being a clean water environment and the ability to winterize their community.
Two other chartered beaches decided to follow suit seeing the success their neighbors had with solving septic issues and the benefit of having year round use of their cottages. Old Lyme Shores and Old Colony Beach approached DEEP to ask for a consent order to sewer .They followed the same path as their predecessor and are well on their way with or without the OL WPCA. Miami Beach is following suit.
The OL WPCA, headed by Curt Zemba , asserts in general terms that we have a pollution problem. Without specifying which beaches are showing pollution problems and of what nature, all of Old Lyme’s beaches were included in this assumption. It was also assumed that all beaches have the same sub standard soils. There were no requests made to assess these conditions in Hawk’s Nest or White Sands Beach, yet there were soil test samples done along the two Hawk’s Nest roads a few years ago, showing sand and gravel, excellent conditions for optimal leaching.
In 1998, The Jacobson and Associates engineering firm of Chester was hired to put test well monitors in several areas around Old Lyme to watch ground water quality. Hawk’s Nest Beach has seven sites, which have been tested up until a year ago when testing was stopped. If these sites were installed to monitor and safeguard our community, why was testing discontinued?
Last Friday, I contacted Brian Curtis of Jacobson who stated that the sites in Hawk’s Nest were tested for nitrogen and bacteria and consistently showed results well within the safe standard drinking water range..below 10 for the last several years.
Now, there is an additional basis for assumed pollution and that is density. The assumption being that so many cottages in close proximity MUST be polluting because there is not enough filtering capability. There are no failed septic systems in HNB or WSB according to the Town Sanitarian. The argument for sewers on a NEED basis falls apart here.
I challenge the basis for a collective solution to a problem that has not been proven to exist in two of Old Lyme’s beach communities. I challenge the assertion that Old Lyme is under threat by DEEP to sewer all beaches in this town..an assertion that a DEEP engineer claims is untrue. I challenge the report by W and C as incomplete and lacking financial clarity.
I challenge the Town’s plan to rush a request for financing within 60 days from it’s first public notice in a forum where few people are even aware of what is on the table. If this is of such great benefit to the taxpayers, why don’t they know about it and why the rush to push this through without full disclosure to the people who are told they have to pick up the tab?
Answers, please!
Sandy Garvin