TOP STORY: Old Lyme Board of Selectmen Need Answers Before Sending Sewer Project to Referendum

OLD LYME–The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen on Monday decided they need more time – and more transparency – before a years-long push to install sewers in the Sound View Beach area comes back up for a townwide vote. 

The three-member board – composed of First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and Jim Lampos, both Democrats, and Republican Jude Read – declined to send to the Board of Finance a resolution that could trigger a referendum on whether to add $7.6 million to the $9.5 million approved by voters in 2019.

The costs are part of a broader plan that would require residents of three private beach associations and the public Sound View community to install sewers at a total cost of $70 million, according to estimates from the Fuss & O’Neill engineering firm released Monday.

About half of the new $17.1 million price tag for Sound View will be covered by federal grants and a forgivable loan from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). 

Shoemaker at the meeting said selectmen will not move forward until “further information is made available” by the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), which has been working with the other beach communities to address concerns from the state that their septic systems are threatening the health of the Long Island Sound. 

Sound View residents have long asked for more specific information about how much they will have to shell out as the municipal bond is repaid over 20 years. They’ve also questioned the data underlying the state’s contention that sewers are necessary to resolve the potential for pollution in the area.

The WPCA is set to host a public information session at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 18, to answer questions including those raised Monday by selectmen and residents. Shoemaker said selectmen and finance board members would have to agree to send the question to a public vote by Aug. 28, in order to stay on track for the tentative Sept. 9 referendum. 

WPCA Chairman Steve Cinami said about $4.05 million has been spent on the total project so far. That includes $1.1 million in shared planning costs for a pump station and force main to be located in the Sound View area, as well as $406,412 in estimated out-of-pocket expenses. The Old Lyme WPCA itself spent $615,200. 

Part of the WPCA’s urgency to hold the referendum stems from contractor quotes for the Sound View project that will expire in October, which could lead to more price increases if officials have to go back out to bid. The project has already been through multiple rounds of bids. 

The bid process for two of the three private beach associations is ongoing. 

The sewer plan stalled following the first referendum due to economic fallout from the pandemic, which had the effect of galvanizing grassroots opposition to the already expensive project.

Taxpayers approved the Sound View plan at referendum six years ago based on the assurance that only residents of the affected beach community would foot the bill. 

Sound View property owner Kathleen Tracy during a public comment portion of the meeting called for leaders to “slow down,” even as she acknowledged the project has been going on for years. 

“It’s very complex, but even in its complexity, it should be transparent,” she said. 

Mary Daley and Dennis Melluzzo, both Sound View residents appointed to the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority by the current selectmen, said the authority’s membership has a history of putting a “rubber stamp” on decisions made by project leadership without public inspection or input. 

“I did not volunteer to be on the WPC board to rubber stamp documents that will change the history of this town,” Daley told selectmen. “This has to change. We need strong leadership that listens and works with the team, not in solitude.”

Sound View resident Frank Teti argued it’s unfair for residents across town to decide whether Sound View residents should be forced to pay for sewers.

“I feel that since the whole town had to vote on this referendum, it should come out of our taxpayer money.” 

Others argued officials have not done enough to explore alternative septic system options. 

Old Lyme WPCA member Andrea Lombard, speaking virtually, reiterated the “very complex” nature of the longstanding project. 

She said the authority started out with the goal to avoid sewers, but state directives narrowed the options. “For many years we explored alternative systems, and they were not accepted by DEEP,” she said.  

She acknowledged the unique position in which the Sound View residents find themselves. “There’s a lot of anger and tension, and that’s being received. We’re trying very hard to work through what we can, but we can’t always give you what you’re requesting,” she said. 

The authority’s goal, according to Lombard, is to be “100% transparent.” 

By the Numbers

The latest estimates from the authority put the project cost at around $1,939 per year over 20 years for a typical user. That’s someone whose house has one bathroom, a kitchen, and four bedrooms or less, which Cinami said applies to about 70% of Sound View households.

He said additional fees to operate and maintain the system are likely to come out to $500 to $600 per year, per household.

Expenses include the town’s portion of capital costs for infrastructure in East Lyme and New London through which Old Lyme’s wastewater will run. Also included is electricity, maintenance, and corrosion and odor control at the planned pump station in Sound View.

DEEP Project Engineer Carlos Esguerra last year said the agency sets the amount that residents can reasonably be expected to spend at 2% of the town’s median income, which he identified at the time as $122,000. That equated to $2,440 a year.

Cinami said the state does not consider annual operations and maintenance fees as part of its affordability calculation when it comes to installing a municipal system. 

Esguerra could not be reached Tuesday for more information on how the agency determines if a project is affordable for residents. 

Cinami also told selectmen the issue will not go away if they don’t act. The current plan for a shared sewer system is the result of formal consent orders from the DEEP requiring the private beach communities to fix the pollution issue, with the town participating voluntarily under the threat of a similar mandate. 

Cinami said voting down the plan at a referendum could result in fines and increased oversight from the state that would force the issue. 

“We will probably lose the 25% forgivable loan. Any delay will probably increase the cost over time. And there’s continued environmental and property risk,” he said. 

Unpopular Decisions in an Election Year

Lampos said he’d be concerned about moving this project forward without knowing the status of the bids for Miami Beach and Old Lyme Shores that will affect whether they can afford to continue with the project. Bids are expected to be opened at Miami Beach later this month, while Cinami said Old Lyme Shores has been ordered by the DEEP to award a contract by Oct. 10.

But Cinami countered that the townwide referendum is separate from what happens in the private beach associations because it is contingent on participation by all four entities. That means the Sound View project has to come back to voters with adjustments if any of the participating beach associations drops out. 

He said he expects all four entities to remain as part of the project. 

“But if one doesn’t, we will not be able to move forward without having another referendum,” he said.

Lampos emphasized the importance of getting all questions answered up front when he likened the sewer situation to another longstanding and as-yet unproductive project on Halls Road. 

Both initiatives, according to Lampos, put unfinished business from previous administrations in front of the current Board of Selectmen. 

The Halls Road Improvements Committee began under then-First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, a Democrat, to chart a new course for the commercial strip. The committee’s plan evolved in subsequent years to include a vision for first-floor shops and upper level apartments, but the idea ended up going nowhere while Republican Tim Griswold was in office. 

Opposition to an application to modify zoning regulations to allow for the mixed-use approach on Halls Road reached a fever pitch at a meeting of the Zoning Commission attended by 550 people this spring. The proposal, which was ultimately denied by the commission, had been endorsed by selectmen in a 2-1 party line vote. 

“When Halls Road came to us, the notion was, ‘Well, this has been funded under Griswold. It was all put together before you came in. It’s been voted on in town meetings. You have to move this along,’” Lampos recounted. “And rather than bog it down here, we moved it along to zoning. In the end, we got blamed for it, or at least Martha and I got blamed for it.” 

Lampos emphasized intermunicipal agreements were signed and the previous referendum occurred under Griswold’s leadership. 

“Halls Road is just like sewers. This is going on long before this administration. But it’s in our lap, and we get blamed for it if it goes wrong. So we have to make sure that it goes right,” he said.

He reiterated there are questions selectmen need answered before they can set the referendum. Included are whether Miami Beach will remain involved in the project, whether a cost sharing agreement will be reached to the satisfaction of all parties, and whether language for the sewer ordinance is in place. 

“If we have those three legs of the stool, I would feel more comfortable moving this to a referendum because people will have the information they need to make an informed decision,” he said. 

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct the total project cost and clarify the cost per user.