Saugerties NY Development Corp., which received approval from the town planning board in March 2016 for a Holiday Inn off Route 32, has asked the village water department for permission to tie into its lines. The firm says it wants to break ground soon.
At Monday’s village trustees meeting, the village board voted to give mayor William Murphy and water department supervisor Michael Hopf the ability to sign off on allowing the development corporation to tie into the water lines.
Saugerties NY Development Corp., which owns the Howard Johnson motel across the street from where the new Holiday Inn will be built, has approval for an 86-room hotel with restaurant. Hopf said the facility will use about 7000 gallons of water a day during most of the year. That estimate will be higher during the peak tourism season.
As of now, the line to new Holiday Inn will be strictly for that facility’s use, but in the future a water district could be created to allow other properties in the area to hook into the system.
Trustee Don Hackett expressed concern that the new hotel and the town’s recent agreement with the Thruway Authority to provide the Malden area rest stop with water from the Malden Water District would increase the supply of village water that had to be available for projects outside the village. The village’s Blue Mountain Reservoir supplies water to about 1300 village customers but also properties along the water line from the reservoir in the town down Route 212 into the village. The village also provides water to the town’s Malden and Glasco water districts, but not the Mount Marion district. Users not located in the village pay higher fees.
Hopf explained the village’s deal with the town government is to provide the town with 600,000 gallons of water a day for its various water districts and customers. “They use between 400,000 and 450,000 gallons a day, depending on the time of the year,” Hopf said, “so there is enough water for projects in the town at this time.”
Under the terms of its state Department of Environmental Conservation operation permit, the village water department is entitled to draft up to 1.8 million gallons of water a day.
Underground springs, snowmelt and rainfall recharge the reservoir, which is just a widened section of Plattekill Creek. Hopf said those sources are sufficient easily to recharge the reservoir.
Hackett also asked about continued development in the town and about village housing projects such as the proposed North Street apartments. Hopf didn’t see that there would be a problem serving them.
The village is now investigating a secondary water source at Winston Farm. A possible shortage of water is not the reason for that search. A secondary water source, Hopf has said, would be needed if a problem such as a major pollution event would occur at Blue Mountain.
The main concern in regard to pollution closing the Blue Mountain reservoir, officials have said, would come from the possibility of a spill into the Plattekill Creek from the roadway next to the reservoir. If that should happen, then the village water department would begin pumping water to its customers from its secondary source.
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