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Bad water pipes stalling development of 10 duplexes in Potsdam

Posted 11/6/16

By CRAIG FREILICH POTSDAM -- A local housing developer is hoping the village will help him get a reliable water supply to the 10 duplexes he wants to build on outer Elm Street. “I’m willing to …

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Bad water pipes stalling development of 10 duplexes in Potsdam

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- A local housing developer is hoping the village will help him get a reliable water supply to the 10 duplexes he wants to build on outer Elm Street.

“I’m willing to pay for the materials. All I need for the village to do is tap into the line and supply labor for the connection,” said Ron Page, who has wanted for two years to start building duplexes east of Morningside Drive, across from the Valero gas station.

The new housing development, which Page is calling Elm Grove Landing, would be built in phases, first with four duplex buildings for eight housing units, and later six more duplex buildings with 12 more units, for a total of 20 housing units, plus a community building. There is room, Page said, for 100 units.

He said the village Planning Board long ago approved his site plan, but since then, the project has bogged down as the six-inch water line he would tap into on the south side of outer Elm Street is being considered for abandonment because of its poor condition.

Nothing seemed to be happening until about a week ago when Page began speaking with a village trustee about his predicament.

“I’m limited in the information I can give you because the board is having some discussions on that,” said Village Administrator Everett Basford.

“The concern is over the village water line that he wants to tap into is one we’d like to abandon,” Basford said. He said no decision on that line has been made, but that the superintendent of public works has pointed out that the line is old and “has had quite a few breaks in the last four or five years. The superintendent said it should be replaced.”

“So there are questions about the viability of the six-inch line he wants to hook up to,” Basford said. “We would be reluctant to put a new user on an old line, especially if there will be 20 new units. That should be on a more reliable line. But who should pay for that is the point of contention.”

“But there’s no plan to shut it down, nothing in the DPW budget about it,” Page said.

Meanwhile, another line on the north side of Elm, a newer eight-inch line that has also been considered for Page’s development, has been having problems too, Basford said.

“A couple of options were discussed last year,” said Basford. “He could go under Rt. 11B (Elm Street) and tie into the eight-inch line on the north side, or tie into the 12-inch line on Morningside Drive where Collegiate Village ties in.”

“Both would obviously be more costly to the developer,” he said.

But Basford said that after hearing nothing from Page for a year, “it popped up again last week. He has approached the board to talk about other options.”

When he announced his plan two years ago, Page said there would be two or three bedrooms in each unit with 1,480 square feet with a 380 square foot garage.

The village board has already approved a zoning change, from business and light industrial use to a residential designation, on the 39 acres Page plans to build on.

Page says it would be unreasonable to expect him to do the whole job of running pipe under a state road or down from another village road, especially if the village is going to abandon the corroding six-inch line that is now supplying water to about half a dozen houses between his site and Morningside Drive. The village would presumably take one of the options suggested to him to keep those customers connected.

But in any case, the village government might not feel it is in a financial position at the moment to take on building a new water line.

As for running a connection from the eight-inch line under Rt. 11B, Basford said trying to calculate the cost will not be a simple matter. The cost “at this point is unknown ... because it’s a state highway, the cost would be substantial,” he said.

“Before we do that we would have to go to the DOT (state Department of Transportation) and ask what their needs would be, because we don’t know,” Basford said. They might require an engineering analysis, and engineering drawings, or for it to be installed a certain way, all of which would drive up the price.

“It’s pretty much standard practice. When a developer wants to build and needs to go to another location” for water, Basford said, “the developer needs to pay for that.”

As for Page’s wishes, Basford said “Any decision to do anything like that is up to the village board to direct staff to do.”

Page is appealing for support in his endeavor.

“I’m calling on all taxpayers trying to do good for the community,” he said. “We need people to hold accountable those people holding things back in this village. This should be welcomed”

Page built Colonial Village Fun Park about 15 years ago a little farther out on 11B, but in 2007 began converting buildings there to apartments.

Page also has begun building a 288 storage unit park across from his proposed new housing development.

He said he planned to use all-local materials when constructing the duplexes.