An 1890s water line runs from the Village of Dryden along North Road to the TC3 Head Start building, and its slow collapse is causing problems. Because it's outside of the village, the village can't repair it; because there's no water district, the Town of Dryden can't do anything either. There's long-term hope for a new water district around the village, but there's no way that can be done quickly.
The shutdown seems to be coming sooner than I'd heard earlier:
A letter informed the town residents the water would be cut off
Mayor Randy Sterling told residents at the village board meeting Thursday that the Tompkins County Health Department considers the leaking pipes situation an emergency, which requires cutting off the water supply to prevent groundwater from possibly contaminating the whole system, and also saving the village money on costly repairs.Dec. 29FEBRUARY 28 [per comment below].
The speed of change creates problems for long-term solutions:
"I'm concerned that four or five parcel owners who drill wells [now] will be out a lot of money if the water district happens in the future and we have to pay into it," [Mark Bell] said.
There will be another meeting November 30th.
In brighter news, the Finger Lakes Land Trust closed on 169 acres of land on Irish Settlement Road, including 6000 feet of frontage along Six Mile Creek. It borders both Hammond Hill and Yellow Barn State Forests.
Other recent news includes the Dryden Animal Control Officer helping out in the Town of Ithaca, dog licenses moving from the state to municipalities (bad idea!), comparisons of Halloween trick-or-treaters, and a Dryden woman sent to Drug Court. Oh, and Mike Arcuri says he won't run for Congress again.
Posted by simon at November 23, 2010 5:54 AM in Ithaca Journal , Village of Dryden , crime , natural areas , water and sewer
Oh, dear. Is your info about the water district from the Ithaca Journal? The cutoff date the village announced is FEBRUARY 28. Three customers north of the most recent disasterous leak have already been cut off: Headstart, a TC3 mantenance building and a residence adjacent to the MHP. They have all been reconnected to private water sources at their own expense.
Let me explain the the ongoing repair problem. It's not that the town or village can't do the repairs. It's that neither of us has a legal way to pay for the repairs. The Village can't spend village tax money to benefit residents outside of the village and the town can't spend townwide tax money to benefit a select few town residents. The solution must be either to annex the affected properties to the village so they're paying village taxes; or to create a water district so they can be assessed for repairs separately and in addition to their town taxes.