HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetters to SCDHSSCOTT A. RUSSELL
SUPERVISOR
Town Hall, 53095 Route 25
P.O. Box 1179
Southold, New York 11971-0959
Fax (631) 765-1823
Telephone (631) 765-1889
OFFICE OF THE SUPERVISOR
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
£ECEIVED
November 18, 2009
Mr. Vito Minei, P.E., Director
Division of Environmental Quality
Suffolk County Dept. of Health Services
220 Rabro Ddve
Hauppauge, NY 11788-4296
Clerk
RE: Orient/VVater Main Extension
Dear Mr. Minei:
The Town of Southold acknowledges receipt of your letter dated October 27,
2009 to Stephen M. Jones, the Chief Executive Officer of the Suffolk County Water
Authority ($CWA), and takes issue with certain statements made therein. While the
Town understands the missions of both the SCWA and the Suffolk County
Department of Health Services (SCDHS), the Town has consistently taken the
position that issues regarding the provision of public water within this Town cannot
be viewed in a vacuum. The Town and the SCWA have adopted a water map and
instituted a process for amendments thereto, that protects the public health and
welfare and allows citizens of our Town to offer comment on the availability and
extension of public water within the Town, and that provides for amendments to the
map.
As you are well aware, the Town has coordinated to the greatest extent
practicable with both the SCWA and the SCDHS in its adoption of and amendments
to the water map. The Town initially adopted the water map in 2000 and most
recently amended the map in 2007. The SCDHS has not endorsed the water map.
Contrary to your suggestion, the reasoning offered to the Town by the SCDHS for
not endorsing the map had nothing to do with the extension of water to Odent, but
the distinction between water mains and water transmission lines on the map.
Your recitation of Town Board action at the meeting in August 2009 is
inaccurate. Three of our Town Board members attended that meeting and all parties
Mr. Vito Minei
November 18, 2009
Page 2
Mr. Vito Minei, P.E., Director
November 18, 2009
Page 2
agreed to work together with respect to the provision of public water. At that
meeting, providing water in Odent was not discussed in any particular detail. The
Town Board members in attendance could not have agreed to amend the water map
at that time. The water map can only be amended upon a petition to the Town
Board, a public hearing and a majodty vote of the Board. Any concems regarding
the purported ineffectiveness of in-home treatment systems and the quality of the
water in Orient are precisely the type information that the Town Board would take
into consideration when making a determination on a petition to amend the water
map. At this time, however, there is no petition before the Town Board to amend the
water map to provide for the extension of public water to Odent.
In conclusion, I note that while the Town appropriately utilizes the water map
as a tool for planning purposes, it is used in furtherance of our comprehensive plan
currently comprised of nearly fifty independent studies and planning documents, as
well as our Zoning Code and Map that currently guide the development of the Town.
I note and welcome your recognition of the Town's responsibility to plan the future of
the Town and the role of public water in it. If you would like to discuss the water map
or priority areas that have been designated by the SCDHS and the basis for those
designations, I would invite you to contact me or to attend one of our bi-weekly
public meetings.
Very trul~,'~/ours,
ff~A.~R~ssell
Supervisor
SAPJIk
cc: Members of the Town Board
Ms. Elizabeth A. Neville, Town Clerk
Martin D. Finnegan, Town Attorney