TOWN OF WALLKILL – Members of the Orange County Association of Towns, Villages and Cities voted during a closed meeting Wednesday night to support two pieces of state legislation that would add transparency to large scale proposals to annex land from one community to another.
That stems from an effort to annex 507 acres of Monroe land into the Village of Kiryas Joel. The county municipal officials support having proposals like that reviewed by the county planning department.
Association President and Town of Warwick Supervisor Michael Sweeton said the local officials also support a resolution for the county to study expanding county Sewer District #1 treatment plant in Harriman and not to allow additional flow until the study has been completed.
“That’s critical to the growth of all of Southern Orange County in terms of knowing exactly what that plant is capable of handling before we permit additional flows to it and I think those two issues apply to everyone in our association,” Sweeton said. “They are affected; certainly all the members of Orange County Sewer District #1 as well as the Moodna Basin southern region communities, and the impact can be felt, if that is not done properly, would be felt on all the taxpayers of Orange County.”
While the special association session was called at Wallkill Town Hall to discuss possible ramifications of the KJ annexation on the entire county, officials of the Town of Monroe and Village of Kiryas Joel did not attend.
