The Village of East Williston will discuss resolutions to start the environmental review process for the installation of a well in Devlin Park at its next Board of Trustees meeting, East Williston Mayor David Tanner said Tuesday.
“We’re very serious going forward with the well if we don’t get reasonable terms on a possible settlement,” Tanner said in reference to negotiations with the Village of Williston Park.
East Williston and Williston Park have has engaged in an ongoing dispute over the rates Williston Park charges East Williston for water over the past four years that has included both negotiations and lawsuits.
In November, East Williston trustees presented a plan to build a $7 million water system in Devlin Park, which they said was last resort.
The presentation was followed by three negotiating sessions between East Williston and Williston Park trustees that failed to resolve the villages’ ongoing dispute.
Tanner said East Williston would prefer to negotiate a compromise with Williston Park, but the village has hedged its bets by continuing the process of building a well while negotiating.
“We need something concrete,” Tanner said. “We’re not dependent on Williston Park for clear options.”
Tanner said the window for a compromise to be reached is beginning to close and that the village can hold an environmental review hearing on the well in the early fall when residents return from their summer vacation.
In a letter posted on the village website on July 1, Tanner and the East Williston trustees announced that they will be holding a public meeting in September to “review our water options with residents.”
The announcement coincided with a decision by the Village of Williston Park to file suit in Nassau County Supreme Court against East Williston over unpaid penalties stemming from an ongoing dispute over the price Williston Park is charging East Williston for water.
In an column published in the Williston Times on July 2, Ehrbar said negotiations between the villages “appear to have come to a standstill as East Williston has failed to respond to correspondence sent to them more than a month ago.” Ehrbar said Williston Park Village Attorney James Bradley has yet to hear from his counterpart, Jeffrey Blinkoff, about a potential meeting.
Tanner said he was still hopeful of reaching a compromise with Williston Park on the price Williston Park charges his village for water, but is frustrated with what he said was Ehrbar’s unwillingness to come down from the $4.33 per 1000 gallon charge currently in place.
Tanner said that If it is determined that the well proposed for Devlin Park would not have a significantly negative environmental impact, the village will be able to move forward with its plans without having to draft an environmental impact statement that would delay the process.
Tanner said resolutions to obtain a well permit are up in the air at the moment.
He said the company’s consultant, H2M Water Engineering, would help the village secure the required permits from Nassau County for a well.
Tanner said the proposed resolutions are meant to provide residents with a clear understanding of their options going forward.
