Down The Drain

Tonight was the mandatory sewer referendum to extend Sewer District 2 into Masullo Estates. Mandatory only because residents of the subdivision petitioned to have their say after the Town Board surreptitiously attempted to subvert that vote and determine the issue themselves. I’m sure the Town Board was not pleased that the affected residents thwarted the plans to ram-rod the extension through.

From the outset, the 3 ½ year old Neighborhood Action Group (NAG) efforts to secure road reconstruction and drainage relief has been subverted by efforts to have Masullo Estates residents subsidize development of Helderberg Meadows, a nearby approved subdivision that was opposed. That was adding insult to injury as each year saw increasing conflicts of interest and non-productive engineering studies to the tune of $73,500. The consideration of the sewer extension was flawed from the beginning with the Town botching a hand delivered non-binding postcard survey for interest in sewer cost estimates. The Town then spun lackluster survey response into a mysteriously binding result. All the while, planned drainage and road work were held hostage to the sewer vote outcome. (It’s no coincidence that tomorrow’s Town Board meeting agenda has a resolution advancing sewers in Helderberg Meadows.)

I’m happy to report that the prospect of sewers in Masullo Estates has gone down the drain tonight. It met resounding defeat as expected by most residents. It simply was a bad plan they pitched. With that prospect now vanished, it will be especially interesting to see if the Town will expeditiously proceed with the promised road and drainage work or if they will continue to manufacture excuses to avoid remedying this long-acknowledged decades-old problem.