Tag Archives: Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority

TOP STORY—UPDATED: Old Lyme Faces Costly Deadline in Sewer Standoff

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Selectman Jim Lampos, First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and Selectwoman Jude Read (from left to right) at their Oct. 6 meeting discussed a possible January referendum vote on the Sound View sewer project.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated with comments from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesman.

OLD LYME — Armed with refined cost estimates, the Board of Selectmen is pitching a January referendum vote for a sewer project that has faced resistance for decades as leaders grapple with how to pay for a cleaner Long Island Sound.

Meanwhile, Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Steve Cinami continues to warn residents a delay could cost millions.

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker at Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting told selectmen that state elections timelines and scheduling for the registars of voters will require pushing the referendum date on the Sound View Beach sewer project to Jan. 13, 2026.

She said state election law requires the town’s tabulating machines to be locked for two weeks following the Nov. 4 election. Also crowding the schedule is the Thanksgiving holiday and a state-mandated training for the registrars in December that will limit the availability of the part-time civil servants, according to Shoemaker.  

Sound View is responsible for up to $17.1 million of the $70 million proposal to require residents of four beach communities to install sewers. State and federal funding would bring the amount to be covered by Sound View residents down to $8.5 million.

Selectmen last month said there were too many unanswered questions to get the question on the ballot in time for the municipal election. But increased clarity on the amount Sound View users will have to pay, combined with the impending cost sharing agreement between the town and three private beach communities, have left selectmen ready to prepare another date. 

The Old Lyme WPCA, which oversees the Sound View project, has been pushing for townwide approval before construction bids expire in mid October. The urgency was underscored when the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) informed local officials that federal funding amounting to about half the project cost is in jeopardy if the town doesn’t get the project approved soon. 

Connecticut DEEP Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Quality Emma Cimino in an Aug. 15 email to Shoemaker said failing to move forward with the referendum by mid October “will significantly impact” the town’s ability to pursue Clean Water Act funding for 25% of the total project cost and a forgivable loan for another 25%.

After Monday’s meeting, Shoemaker said she will send the recommended referendum timeline from the Town’s Registrars of Voters Catherine Carter and Jennifer Datum to the state agency.  

She said the dates were selected in accordance with the state’s election law and calendar. 

“I will tell [the CT DEEP] if they have any other way to get around this, they will have to reach out to the secretary of the state’s office,” she said. 

Cinami, as head of the Old Lyme WPCA, called the proposed delay ridiculous. 

He said a staff attorney with the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office told him locking down machine tabulators after the election doesn’t mean the town can’t hold a referendum using paper ballots. 

Secretary of the State Spokesman Roger Senserrich on Tuesday confirmed the referendum could happen while the tabulators are locked. 

Cinami said delaying until mid-January could be an expensive proposition.

“The registrar of voters works for the town, to do town business,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “This could cost the town $3 million if we don’t pass a referendum and get the project going prior to the beach associations signing contracts with the state.” 

Cinami said the delay could make the town ineligible for the Clean Water Act funds if they are awarded at the end of December or early January, which is the timeline he’s been given.

“I don’t know what the town doesn’t understand,” he said. “I don’t think I’m a genius. I think the DEEP has been very clear what they plan on doing. And if you don’t listen to them, I think you jeopardize funding.” 

The state going back to the early 1980s has pushed for an end to pollution emanating from local beach communities, leading to a 2018 consent order with Old Colony Beach, Old Lyme Shores, and Miami Beach that resulted in the current shared sewer plan. Sound View was added in 2019 after voters in a townwide referendum agreed to spend $9.5 million on the public portion of the project with the understanding that affected neighborhoods would fund it.

The new referendum vote is necessary because inflation drove up the total cost of the project, though the promise of federal funding means Sound View ratepayers would be paying less than the amount authorized in the first referendum. 

The town is participating voluntarily in the sewer plan at this point. But the state has warned a consent order, like the one forcing the private beach associations to act, could be coming if progress isn’t made.

Cinami said the state set the mid-October deadline because that’s when the rest of the beach communities should be ready to move forward. 

Bids on the Old Lyme Shores portion of the project, the last of the four beach communities to solicit offers, close on Wednesday. 

“After that, my understanding is that the DEEP will allow the beach associations to start work,” he said. “And what I believe will eventually happen is that the town will be ordered to put in sewers.” 

Miami Beach WPCA Chairman Scott Boulanger could not be reached Tuesday for an update on the status of the project in that community after bids came back more than $5 million over budget this summer. 

By the Numbers

Selectmen on Monday tied up another outstanding issue with the presentation of a third-party report from the accounting firm HRT Advisors analyzing various budget projections. 

The disparity between estimates from the WPCA, Selectman Jim Lampos, and some residents had raised questions about the true cost to Sound View residents over the 20 year life of the project loan. 

The WPCA in an August presentation put the cost to construct the system at $1,939 annually over 20 years for a typical user, not including annual fees estimated at $565 by the CT DEEP. 

The HRT analysis, applying a 5% construction contingency for unexpected costs, estimated that construction costs and connection fees to the East Lyme sewer system enroute the New London wastewater treatment plant would amount to $2,241 per year. 

Applying an 8% contingency, the number would rise to $2,292 per year. 

There appeared to be consensus among selectmen to use the HRT figures as the official estimate going forward. 

The HRT report noted Cinami’s estimate included an outdated price tag of $4.1 million for the shared pump station, which is now $4.8 million after the low bidder dropped out. The accountanting firm also included interest on the bond accrued during the construction period.

Cinami on Tuesday agreed the third-party estimate was fair. Taking into account that he’d applied the connection fees to the annual operations and maintenance category rather than construction costs, he said there was only about $70 separating his figures from the accountant’s estimate using the 5% contingency. 

Lampos, who is both a selectman and resident of the Sound View Beach community, said the numbers prove the project is too expensive for the residents, who will have to foot the bill. 

He referenced the state “rule of thumb” articulated last year at a public meeting by agency project engineer Carlos Esguerra. The rule, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance from the 1990s, says the cost is affordable to residents if it does not exceed 2% of the town’s median household income (MHI). Esguerra at the time identified Old Lyme’s MHI as $122,000, which equated to $2,440 a year.

Connecticut DEEP Spokesman James Fowler has not provided an updated affordability estimate despite several requests from LymeLine over the past few months. 

Based on the accountant’s lower estimate, the cost per user goes up to around $2,800 per year when annual operations and maintenance costs are included. Lampos described that figure as “well north” of the affordability threshold.  

The CT DEEP did not confirm whether the federal affordability threshold includes annual operations and maintenance costs. Cinami has said it does not. 

Lampos and Shoemaker said they have not been able to get confirmation from the state agency on the affordability calcuation or its implications for this project. 

Shoemaker called for answers from the state. 

On Wednesday, the CT DEEP spokesman in an emailed response to questions from LymeLine said there is no affordability criteria that would allow pollution to continue because the cost was over a certain threshold.  

“Affordability would only be used to determine a suitable compliance schedule,” Fowler said.

He described a financial impact assessment used by sewer service providers – sometimes referred to in shorthand as an “affordability” assessment – when a corrective plan is needed to address a pollution problem. If the assessment indicates a higher impact on residents, communities can break up projects into phases to reduce the financial impact, or seek increased funding.  

“In Old Lyme’s case, DEEP offered $15 million to lessen the impact,” he said. “In bigger communities like Hartford, its sewer utility is under order and has phased projects on a priority basis and is following a specific compliance schedule to work projects to address the pollution.”

Lampos told selectmen that taking a couple weeks to get the accountant’s analysis did not add to the overall project delay. That’s because negotiations on a Cost Sharing Agreement between the four beach communities are still being ironed out and the bids for Old Lyme Shores remain outstanding. 

He maintained that understanding the cost to Sound View residents and ensuring they are represented throughout the project is critical.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Sound View resident Mary Daley commended the three selectmen for their work on the complex issue. 

Daley, a vocal project opponent, was appointed to the WPCA last year. 

She said Lampos, Shoemaker and Selectwoman Jude Read each kept their campaign promises from two years ago. 

“Because, Jude, you promised to listen, and you certainly have. And, Martha, you promised to do this also, and to ensure that Sound View was represented on the WPCA, and you have accomplished that. And, Jim, you have gone over and beyond all expectations to affect and to ensure that Sound View is treated fairly in the sewer project, and we so appreciate your efforts,” she said. 

TOP STORY: Old Lyme Seeks Clarity on Sound View Sewer Costs as Funding Deadline Nears

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The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen this week agreed to bring in a consulting accountant to go over estimates from the WPCA, its engineer Fuss & O’Neill, residents, and state officials to come to a better understanding of the cost to residents. From left to right: Selectman Jim Lampos, First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and Selectwoman Jude Read.

OLD LYME–The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen’s plan to hire a third-party accountant to review cost estimates for the Sound View Beach sewer project has raised concerns that delaying a townwide referendum could put millions in state funding at risk.

The selectmen on Monday during its regular meeting reaffirmed a plan to bring in a consulting accountant to analyze various budget projections for Sound View’s portion of a total $70 million sewer installation project to be shared by four beach communities. 

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said she needs more clarity on the financials before asking voters to approve it at a townwide referendum. 

“I know that no one in government will go forward with any type of referendum on a budget application unless they know that these numbers are firm,” Shoemaker said. “I am not putting it to a referendum resolution until it’s taken care of.” 

She said it’s already too late to put the issue on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election based on scheduling deadlines from the Office of the Secretary of the State. 

The Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), which oversees the Sound View project, has been pushing for townwide approval before construction bids expire in mid-October. Meanwhile, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is warning that roughly half of the project cost is in jeopardy if the town misses the Oct. 15 deadline.

Shoemaker said the selectmen are also waiting to see how the finances play out for the Miami Beach Association, where bids came in about $5 million higher than expected last month, and for the Old Lyme Shores Beach Association, which is in the process of going out to bid.

Lampos after the meeting said the cost estimates under review came from the Old Lyme WPCA, its engineer Fuss & O’Neill, residents, and state officials. 

On Tuesday evening, Shoemaker said over the phone that she hired an accountant in consultation with the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, a regional planning organization. The consultant, whose firm she could not specify while away from her desk, will start on Sept. 16.

The move comes after upwards of 60 people gathered in the Lyme-Old Lyme High School auditorium late last month for a contentious back-and-forth between Old Lyme WPCA Chairman Steve Cinami and residents of the Sound View Beach area. 

A major concern was the uncertainty over how much each Sound View homeowner will have to pay. They also cited a lack of current testing to show a pollution problem exists and questioned why Hawk’s Nest Beach and White Sand Beach were excluded from the project. 

CT DEEP Spokesman James Fowler in a Tuesday email said the town will still be obligated to address “community pollution problems that can arise from areas of substandard septic systems” even if they lose their state and federal funding by failing to act quickly. 

“The Department will be reaching out to the Town this week to set up a meeting to discuss next steps and timing, as we look to continue to assist the Town with resolving this important issue,” he wrote. 

‘With or Without the Town’

Scott Boulanger, chairman of the Miami Beach WPCA, told LymeLine in a Tuesday phone interview that the association is trying to figure out how to proceed “with or without the town.” 

Acknowledging the Miami Beach costs came in higher than expected, he said the project will only become more expensive once the existing bids expire. 

“If this doesn’t go through in October, everything would have to go out to bid again, which basically says the cost is going to be escalated even more,” he said. 

He said he is working with officials from the other beach associations and the CT DEEP on potential ideas to save money, such as eliminating parts of the project for now. 

The state, going back to the early 1980s, has pushed for an end to pollution emanating from local beach communities, leading to a 2018 consent order with the three private beach associations that resulted in the current shared sewer plan. Sound View Beach, which is under Town control, was added in 2019 after taxpayers across the town agreed to spend $9.5 million on the public portion of the project with the understanding that affected neighborhoods would fund it.

The town so far has been participating voluntarily in the sewer plan under the threat of a consent order from the state. 

Now, inflationary costs have triggered the need for another referendum on the Sound View project after the bottom line increased by $7.6 million. But state and federal funding announced last year promised to reduce the price tag by about half, leaving Sound View residents responsible for less than the amount approved in 2019. 

“Eventually, I think what’s going to end up happening, if I had a crystal ball, would be the project might go forth without [the town], which is what was planned like a decade ago,” Boulanger said. 

Then the town, he said, “will just end up paying a lot more whenever they do get put into the system, which they will probably get forced to do one way or the other.”

Old Lyme WPCA Chairman Steve Cinami in a Tuesday phone call predicted that delaying the Sound View referendum will cost the town its 25% forgivable loan from the state. WPCA documents show the loan amounts to about $2.6 million. 

He worried that taking the time to hire an accountant could needlessly jeopardize the funding.

“I’m surprised there’s an accountant out there that knows how to assume costs to run a pump station, but that’s what they seem to be doing,” he said. 

He attributed the delay to resistance from what he described as a small group of people. 

“There’s almost 200 residences in Soundview and only about, from what I can tell, 30 to 40 residences at most were represented at that informational meeting,” he said. “It leads me to believe that 160 people don’t care or don’t care enough to show up.” 

He emphasized the demands from the state won’t go away if the project moves forward without the town. 

The Case for Waiting

Mary Daley, a longstanding opponent of the Sound View project, who was appointed to the Old Lyme WPCA last year, applauded the delay during the public comment portion of Monday’s selectmen’s meeting.  

“I totally support the idea of retaining an independent auditor to do a forensic audit of what has been spent, what is owed, and what will be owed if this project goes forward,” she said as one of the meeting’s remote participants. 

She warned that the combined impact of annual sewer payments and increased taxes could push some older adults out of their long-term homes.

Selectman Jim Lampos, a Sound View resident, acknowledged a lack of verified numbers has been a sticking point among property owners from the beach community, who will be responsible for construction costs as well as annual fees. 

“I think the suggestion of hiring a third party to take a look at it and to vet all the different estimates that are out there, and to render an opinion, could only help breed confidence,” Lampos said. “Having different estimates floating around doesn’t help.” 

Selectwoman Jude Read called on her fellow selectmen to give a clear directive and timeframe to the consulting accountant. 

“Because this can go on for a long time,” she said. 

Lampos, who is currently working with the four beach communities to formalize a cost-sharing agreement, with another meeting set for Sept. 22, agreed. 

“It has to be done quickly,” he said.

TOP STORY: Old Lyme Selectmen Vote to Postpone Setting Referendum on Sound View Sewers Until Key Questions Answered

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OLD LYME–The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, citing a lack of answers to questions they have been asking for months, again decided to hold off on setting a referendum affecting Sound View Beach that could get a stalled sewer project moving again. 

Selectmen at a roughly one hour special meeting voted unanimously to move discussion on the referendum to a future meeting, after their questions have been answered and a cost-sharing agreement has been finalized among the four participating beach communities. 

Selectmen also voted to hire an independent firm to look at annual operating and maintenance costs that would give Sound View residents a better idea how much they can be expected to pay going forward. Numbers provided by the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) have been criticized by some residents as artificially low. 

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker during the meeting said selectmen have heard cost concerns from Sound View residents “loud and clear.”

She said she will not vote to move forward until she can give residents a clearer idea what those costs will be. 

Meanwhile, the CT DEEP is pressuring the town to act fast on a project years in the making.

“I’m not trying to kick this project down the road, because it’s been kicked down the road for some time,” Shoemaker said. “But I can pretty much assure you that our governor, [or] any other town executive, would not go forward with a project if they didn’t have all the numbers. Solid numbers.” 

Estimates of the long-term cost for a typical resident during a question-and-answer session last week ranged from $40,000 to more than $60,000 over 20 years, depending on who was doing the calculations. 

Construction costs amount to $70 million for the project, which would require residents of Sound View to foot the bill along with homeowners in three private beach associations: Miami Beach, Old Lyme Shores and Old Colony. 

Members of each private beach associations authorized their share of the project in separate referendums. In the case of Sound View, which is a public beach community, it is up to all Old Lyme voters to decide whether residents there should pay for sewers. 

The cost for Sound View comes to approximately $17.1 million. State and federal funding brings the cost down to $8.5 million. 

The CT DEEP last month warned Shoemaker that state and federal funding amounting to roughly half of the project cost is in jeopardy if the town doesn’t act fast to hold a public vote and award construction contracts. 

Failing to complete “one or more of those milestones” by mid-October “will significantly impact” the town’s ability to pursue a Clean Water Fund grant for 25% of the total project cost and a forgivable loan for another 25%, according to CT DEEP Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Quality Emma Cimino. 

Shoemaker in a phone interview after Tuesday’s meeting said selectmen are focused on making sure voters have access to accurate and thorough information when they vote on the sewer question at referendum. 

She was hopeful that a meeting among project officials from the four beach communities on Sunday will yield the  final cost-sharing agreement selectmen have been seeking. She also expressed optimism she could find a third party accountant to evaluate the annual operation and maintenance costs for a more definitive estimate next week. 

She acknowledged the state funding could be in question if the town doesn’t act. 

“If they take away the money, it’s totally unaffordable,” she said. “So we will work with them and explain to them we have been asking for these things to happen over the last year and a half, and we certainly are not dragging our feet.” 

Lampos: ‘Project Stinks’

Selectman Jim Lampos, a resident of the Sound View Beach area, said he vowed when he became a selectman that he would demand fair treatment for the beach residents who would bear the cost of the town project. That means fully understanding how much Sound View residents will owe for operating and maintenance costs every year, while also ensuring all costs are allocated equitably. 

He laid out a timeline going back more than a year to show selectmen have actively been seeking answers and compromises rather than trying to obstruct the process. 

“I think the project stinks, and I always have, for 15 years,” he said. “But I also am a realist.”

He acknowledged about $4 million was spent on project planning across the four beach communities; a referendum was held in 2019; and an agreement was signed with the municipalities through which the sewer lines would run and be treated – all before the current selectmen’s administration. 

“I know the state is banging us over the head to get this done,” he said. “It’s very difficult to stop this moving train. It’s at full speed.” 

But he said cost estimates from the Old Lyme WPCA remain too low to be believed and language that would codify the fair distribution of costs has not been finalized. 

He railed against the state for pressuring the town to install sewers without giving consideration to modern septic alternatives that he said towns west of the Connecticut River have successfully implemented. 

He also pointed to the CT DEEP’s “rule of thumb,” as articulated last year at a public meeting by agency project engineer Carlos Esguerra, that says the cost is affordable to residents if it does not exceed 2% of the town’s median household income (MHI). Esguerra at the time identified Old Ltme’s MHI as $122,000, which equated to $2,440 a year.

The cost to construct the system is slated at $1,939 annually over 20 years for a typical user, not including fees that would likely exceed $500 per year based on state estimates. 

“So, I’m here to say tonight that as we see these numbers, this project is unaffordable,” Lampos said. “And [if] DEEP wants it, instead of threatening us and saying, ‘Oh, we’re going to take your money away’ – as if they’re doing us a favor, as if it’s charity and we should be grateful – DEEP needs to pony up and make up that difference.” 

CT DEEP Spokesman James Fowler last month said that if a project’s costs were estimated to exceed 2% MHI, it would be up to the town or sewer authority to explore additional options, like splitting a project into phases, deferring work not associated with pollution, pursuing additional funding, and requesting a longer project schedule. 

Fowler emphasized that exceeding the 2% threshold “does not mean that communities don’t have to address identified pollution.”

Working Together

Selectwoman Jude Read, the lone Republican on the Democrat-led board, agreed with putting off a vote. She emphasized the sewer project originated with a past town administration and the state, not with current board and commission volunteers. 

She said frustration should be directed at the state rather than local people, who have tried to help. 

“This project’s been going on for well over 10 years. Technology has changed. Population has changed. Science has changed. Climate has changed. What (the state) asked for 10, 12 years ago is not necessarily applicable now,” she said. “But we have to work together to come up with a solution to move forward because I think eventually we are going to have to deal with sewers. We are going to have to deal with groundwater levels rising.”

She said the solution requires channeling local frustrations into a productive conversation with state officials.

“We are willing to work,” she said. “And I think we have a track record of showing that we have been dealing in good faith for 10, 11, 12 years. And we will continue to do so.” 

The CT DEEP going back to the early 1980s has pushed for an end to pollution emanating from local beach communities, leading to a 2018 consent order with the three private beach associations. Sound View was added to the project in 2019 after voters in the first townwide referendum agreed to spend $9.5 million. 

The town, which is participating voluntarily in the sewer plan at this point, is doing so under the threat of a consent order from the state like the one forcing the private beach associations to act. 

The referendum now under consideration would authorize an additional $7.6 million for Sound View’s portion of the project after rampant inflation drove up the cost, though the promise of reimbursement from the state and federal government means Sound View ratepayers will actually be paying less than the amount authorized in the first townwide vote. 

Selectmen also postponed a vote on a draft sewer ordinance that will go to voters along with the spending authorization. The document had been revised with Lampos’ encouragement to ensure residents of the beach communities are not responsible for the cost of installing sewers in any other areas of town going forward. 

The document specifies any future sewer projects must be covered by users in that area. 

Read cautioned selectmen to make sure the provision doesn’t end up exempting residents within the current project boundaries from paying for public improvements like road paving that could end up being covered by the town.

Old Lyme Board of Finance (BOF) Chairman BJ Bernblum confirmed to LymeLine Wednesday morning that the BOF meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening has now been canceled. This meeting would have discussed details of the referendum if the board of selectmen had voted to move the proposal in that direction.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with information about Wednesday evening’s Old Lyme Board if Finance meeting.

TOP STORY: Sound View Residents Urgently Call for Alternatives to Sewer Project as Potential Referendum Looms

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Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Steve Cinami addresses a tough crowd of Sound View Beach residents at a presentation on the $70 million project to bring sewers to three private beach communities and the town-owned Sound View area.

OLD LYME–As a decades-long effort to clean up Long Island Sound by getting rid of septic systems continues its slow slog in Old Lyme, residents of Sound View Beach are calling for town officials to fight back against state pressure to install sewers or to spread out the cost throughout the town.

Upwards of 60 people gathered in the Lyme-Old Lyme High School auditorium Tuesday evening for a contentious back-and-forth between Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Steve Cinami and residents of the Sound View Beach area. The subject was Sound View’s portion of a $70 million plan that would require residents of the town owned beach area to foot the bill along with residents of three private beach associations.

Meanwhile, a call from town leaders and Sound View residents for up-to-date pollution statistics and detailed financial information is meeting with pushback from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 

Sound View residents on Tuesday decried the lack of solid figures when it comes to how much each homeowner will have to pay. Numbers provided by the WPCA, which drew skepticism from some in the audience as artificially low, added up to about $50,000 for the typical homeowner over the proposed 20-year life of the project loan. The calculation includes construction and annual fees. 

Included in construction costs are Sound View’s share of a pump station and force main for the four beach communities, as well as the internal infrastructure necessary to serve the town’s beach View area. Homeowners additionally are responsible for tying into the system and abandoning their septic systems. 

Sally Woitowitz, a 28-year resident of Sound View, said the annual cost effectively doubles her taxes. She said she will have to move if the project goes through. 

“I have nowhere else to run to,” she said. “A lot of people here, these are cottages for some people. For some of us, it’s our home. It’s all we have.”

She challenged the state’s “rule of thumb,” as articulated last year at a public meeting by DEEP project engineer Carlos Esguerra, that says a project is affordable to residents if it does not exceed 2% of the town’s median household income (MHI) which he identified at the time as $122,000. That equated to $2,440 a year.

The cost to construct the system is slated to amount to $1,939 annually over 20 years for a typical user. 

Cinami has said annual operations and maintenance fees are not factored in when calculating affordability. Those fees will add an additional $565 to Sound View users’ annual payments, based on estimates compiled by the state. 

DEEP Spokesman James Fowler this month would not provide the updated median income for Old Lyme or specify which source the agency uses to determine the figure. But a review of the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey puts the median at $126,904, which would bring the affordability threshold to $2,538. 

Woitowitz pointed to a unique demographic profile that differentiates Sound View from other parts of town known for affluent and refined beauty. 

“They don’t have $120,000 a year income,” she said of the Sound View residents, many of whom she described as senior citizens.

Woitowitz and other impassioned members of the audience reacted most strongly to what they said is a lack of current scientific evidence that a pollution problem exists. They also called out the perceived unfairness resulting from the exclusion of Hawk’s Nest Beach and White Sand Beach from the project. 

Cinami said White Sand Beach was excluded from the project because the cost was “unaffordable” to the small community. 

Esguerra, the CT DEEP project engineer, has said the state in 2016 authorized additional testing at Hawk’s Nest Beach, with the WPCA at the time agreeing to monitor the area but not to include it in the sewer plan.

Cinami on Tuesday said the WPCA did further testing.  

“And the test results are with the state,” he added. 

Fowler on Wednesday declined to coordinate a phone interview with any DEEP project officials but accepted questions in writing.

“The Department understands that some residents have questions about how the proposed project may impact other areas of Old Lyme, such as Hawk’s Nest and White Sands,” he wrote in an email response to a question from LymeLine. “Those areas are outside of the scope of this project and have different considerations, such as site use and subsurface conditions. It is important to note that the town decided to prioritize and include Sound View/Misc. Area B in the project since there was an opportunity to both address pollution to groundwater and surface water and realize financial benefits through cost-sharing with private associations.”

He did not comment on the status of the data from Hawk’s Nest.

Least Expensive in the Long Term

Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Steve Cinami makes a last minute push for for the latest iteration of a plan to bring sewers to four beach communities in Old Lyme as the Board of Selectmen contemplates a fall referendum.

Cinami, the WPCA chairman, told attendees the Old Lyme WPCA spent funds from its general fund budget to look at alternatives to sewers, including single-septic systems as well as a community leaching field design that would have been located at the abandoned Cherrystones restaurant on Route 156. 

Detailed plans from the Middletown-based Woodward & Curran engineering firm were published in 2017 and 2018 under the leadership of then-First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder.

In a Frequently Asked Questions document produced for the WPCA, Cinami said the state did not accept any alternative proposals, and indicated that they believed sewers were the only “long-term, least expensive” solution.

“Perhaps the Old Lyme WPCA should have fought back, but at the time, sewers were in favor with Town leadership, and we were requested to investigate installation of sewers,” he said. 

Fowler, the CT DEEP spokesman, reiterated the agency’s longtime stance in his email to LymeLine when he said alternative technologies like code-compliant septic systems and mini-wastewater treatment plant-type systems aren’t feasible due to the need for consistent upkeep, chemical additions, routine maintenance, year-round electricity and regulatory reporting in perpetuity.

“While certain property owners may have or be able to install a code-compliant septic system on their property, it’s not a community level solution and would result in all costs being paid by the homeowner,” he said.

The spokesman described sewers as a “comprehensive, permanent solution for the community” eligible for public infrastructure funds.  

“The sewer project would also remove the uncertainty that a patchwork approach brings, as the patchwork approach could be deemed to be insufficient in the future,” he said.

The data underlying the state’s pollution concerns goes back to a period spanning 1998 to 2013. In the meantime, residents argue many septic systems have been updated or demolished, while a 1997 ordinance requiring systems to be pumped out periodically has reduced the potential for pollution. 

Esguerra, the CT DEEP project engineer, and DEEP water planning and management division Director Nisha Patel at last year’s public meeting at the Old Lyme Town Hall admitted to a room of roughly 100 Sound View residents that the data is old. But they maintained the conditions making septic systems ineffective at stopping sewage from reaching the groundwater – including densely packed homes sitting on unfavorable soil and rock – haven’t changed. 

Shoemaker on Tuesday harked back to that meeting with the DEEP officials. 

“I said that I thought that the data that they were using to determine that (the beaches) were polluted was outdated, and I asked Nisha and Carlos what’s the possibility of getting it re-tested,” she told the audience. “They both pooh-poohed it and said they did not feel that it was necessary to do that.”

Shoemaker last year also told the DEEP officials she thought it was inappropriate for the state to put people in the position of losing their homes. 

Fowler in the CT DEEP email again reiterated the dated data points “remain relevant.”

“The subsurface conditions and uses (soil type, condition of existing septic systems, depth to groundwater and distance to sensitive receptors such as water bodies and drinking water wells) within the project areas have not been addressed, and continue to exist,” he said. “It is also important to consider the modern public health code requirements for on-site septic systems and septic system setbacks from private wells across all properties, not just those with advantageous conditions. The solution must protect our public trust waters (groundwater and surface water) and should eliminate uncertainty for property owners that a wait-and-see or piecemeal approach may not address.”

No Action

The Sound View residents called on town officials to fight back against the state or come up with the money through taxation. 

Shoemaker on Wednesday provided the tax implications for property owners in response to a question about how much it would cost residents across town if the cost was absorbed by all taxpayers rather than the Sound View ratepayers alone. 

She said calculations from the town assessor indicate it would cost $96.63 in taxes per year for each real estate parcel in town. That’s based on the $521,795 expense for the Sound View portion of the project over 20 years.

Cinami during the presentation predicted that further delays will turn the town’s voluntary compliance into a consent order from the state. 

“I’m responsible when I take my oath as a WPCA member to uphold the state laws and town ordinances,” he said. “No one has told me to not continue along this process. And so I’m supposed to continue on this. If an administration told me ‘forget about sewers, we’re gonna fight it,’ that’s their call. It’s not my call, it’s a town call. I don’t have any any dog in the fight.”

Selectman Jim Lampos, a Sound View resident, took the microphone to blast the state for its rigid stance on outdated information. 

“They’re pushing us very hard,” he said. “And they’re not listening to what I think are reasonable arguments.”

Old Lyme resident Martin Merritt brought up situations in towns like Clinton and Old Saybrook, where residents have had some level of success fighting mandated sewer installation in parts of their towns. 

“How come we’re not fighting hard for what these other towns are doing successfully?” he said. 

The CT DEEP spokesman did not comment on the situation in Clinton, where the Water Pollution Control Commission on the town website said “areas of concern are being refined, and through communications with the DEEP, the WPCC and its consultants were able to take a fresh look at the study area, and further investigate which neighborhoods are truly in need of off-site wastewater treatment and which neighborhoods can support continued on-site septic systems with proper management.”

Merritt in his lengthy criticism of the project also pointed to financial figures that he said exceed the affordability threshold, resulting in a project he said will become “the most expensive sewer system that the residents have paid for, ever, in the state of Connecticut.”

“And we are just rolling over and taking it,” he said. “We’re not doing anything. We’re just sitting here and taking it, and saying, ‘charge us whatever you want and we’re not fighting.’”

Dennis Melluzzo, an outspoken Sound View resident appointed to the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority by the current selectmen, put it this way in his comments to the WPCA chairman: “You can charge us. You’re just going to meet us in court – plain and simple, cut and dry.”

Shoemaker said the next steps will be mapped by the Board of Selectmen at a special meeting. 

“You have given the Board of Selectmen a lot to think about,” she said. 

Shoemaker on Wednesday said selectmen will meet early next week to discuss sending the bonding authorization to referendum. The Board of Finance is also required to make a recommendation before the question can go to a public vote.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct the estimated project cost per user over 20 years.

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

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Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Steve Cinami addresses concerns about a plan to bring sewers to several Old Lyme beach communities at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting.

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.