Rod Martin, a Main Street resident whose property is sinking, says the cause of the sinking is an old sewer pipe that has subsided and water running through it and leaking into the ground is the cause of subsidence that is endangering his and a neighbor’s property.
Village of Saugerties Trustee Terry Parisian said at the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, September 6 that the problem may be an abandoned cistern that is leaking and causing the subsidence.
Martin objected. “Talking about it being a cistern again? This is the third time we’re going around this circle. Mayor William Murphy said the village is willing to excavate and bring in fill and fill in the subsidence, but not to install drainage.
“Are we still not committing that it [the source of the subsidence] is the village sewer line?” Martin asked. The village engineer, Brinnier and Larios, will come in and evaluate the cause of the problem, trustee Donald Hackett said. However, Martin insisted that the manhole at the sewer line had a good deal of water in it, despite drought conditions, which contradicted the explanation that the problem was drainage.
Trustees recalled that the area had been a swamp before houses were built there. Basements of houses in the area frequently flooded, they said.
Murphy said it was not true that the village has ignored the problem. “We spent thousands of dollars to have Conrad come in and shoot it and check out all the dimensions there, and we had manpower pumping it out. We’re not ignoring it, but this board is not in a position to spend $20,000 on something that may not be its problem.”
The village’s engineer will look at the problem and advise the village, probably in the coming week, Murphy said. Martin said he would like to be there when the engineer does his work and Murphy agreed to keep him posted.
Join the family! 
