bethany water district #5

After nearly a decade of grant applications, designs and redesigns, surveys, an estimated 20 meetings, Covid delays, price increases, and finally having Water District 5 within reach, there has been one more glitch in the process, Bethany Town officials say.

Eight households in the district haven’t signed an easement and right-of-way to allow the project on their properties. Town Attorney Dave DiMatteo and Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. informed a room full of interested residents on Wednesday that the water project has been stalled without the necessary signatures, despite repeated attempts to contact the homeowners.

“He's going to their houses, I'm going to their houses. I leave my business card with a nice message: ‘Please call me.’ I text them, I call them, I send them nice letters, crickets,” Hyde said during an informational meeting at Bethany Community Center.

DiMatteo added that he’s thought about scrolling their names on the town’s digital bulletin board outside.

“That way, at least they know we’re looking for them, right?” he said.

At one point early on during the meeting, a blush-faced DiMatteo said the delay was “because of you and not us,” as he stared at the crowd, prompting residents to shout back rebuttals and complaints about another delay.

Ferris Hazlett yelled that he’d had enough, and stormed out of the room of at least 100 people. As someone who has lived in Bethany for 35 years, he has “listened to so many lies,” he said, and he can’t sell his house without a water hook-up.

“Before Carl Hyde got elected, he stood in my driveway and told me we’d have public water. Then there was an excuse, and then Covid. And that's all you hear, and they’re blaming it on us. What about right of domain?” Hazlett said. “I’ve been told by Carl Hyde that shovels will be in the ground by April. We’re here to find out when we’re getting water. Don’t lie and continue to lie. How much digging are you going to do in the winter?”

The Batavian asked DiMatteo about whether the town has the right-of-way for easements onto properties, such as how National Fuel does when installing gas meters outdoors.

“We have the right to do it, but these easements are outside of our right-of-way, on their private property,” he said. “And our respect for their private property, we need their permission.”

The new time period for breaking ground on the district is in the fall, Hyde said. Unless those people who haven’t signed “have a change of heart or mind,” he said, then it could be earlier. He has texted, called, and sent letters to no avail, and likewise for DiMatteo.

Except that’s not the case for all of them. Zack Anderson of Clark Patterson Lee, the lead engineer on the job, said that there are some residents who haven’t signed due to having issues with their easements.

“I don't know all the particulars. Carl and Dave DiMatteo have been discussing those things with the property owners,” Anderson said. “I’ve only been in touch with, I think, a handful of property owners that have had questions for me, that I've met out on site … but I guess there are some that are still outstanding.”

The Batavian asked Hyde about this, and he said he could go down the list about the various problems, such as one property owner not wanting anyone on his property at all and is against the water district; another who was listed under the wrong address; a pest business with an address in Philadelphia; and another accusing the town of trying to force him into an easement. So it does seem like there has been contact. Many of these people are refusing to sign or just say no, Hyde said to The Batavian after the meeting.

“They won’t do anything. For two months, we’ve had 94 easements. I’ve got seven we’re finding this week, they don’t want to do it,” Hyde said. “We’re having a conversation with the engineering firm.”

A mother had asked DiMatteo after the meeting if he would go to her son’s house to notarize his signature, and the attorney said his response was “let’s go right now.”

The water district plan will have to be altered to avoid those properties without a signed easement. That, plus attorney and staff time, mailings, and “chasing people that wanted the water district,” has been a waste of money coming out of the $21.6 million from low-interest government loans, Hyde said.

“We’ve done everything we can; the ball is in their court,” he said. “We’re recalculating a way around their property. Every time we have to add legal fees, that comes out of the $21 million.”

The plan was reduced from two water towers to one because it was located on the highest property in town, at an elevation of 1,305 feet, said water operator Paul Barrett of the Town of Batavia. There won’t be any leftovers from savings, Hyde said, as he’s “not giving back one penny” of the lump sum.

The debt service to property owners is expected to be around $850 to $880 per year, and it is anticipated that this total will decrease in subsequent years as more people join the district.

Residents were instructed to complete a form related to their property — residential, commercial or agricultural — and submit it for Barrett to work on details for the district. They were encouraged not to buy or do anything for their property until the next meeting, which has not been scheduled yet.

“You’ll find out what you need for your particular property,” Barrett said.

Go HERE for prior coverage.    

Bethany Water District 5 residents are encouraged to attend a meeting this week to discuss water hook-ups with water department personnel, Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. says.

"This is not a meeting you want to miss," he says.

Bring any questions or concerns you have at this time.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Bethany Community Center, 10510 Bethany Center Road, East Bethany.

After dealing with several months of drought for the past two years in the town of Bethany, officials and residents have something to look forward to this coming spring, Town Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. says.

Hyde issued a statement Wednesday that all of the preparation — surveys, applications, legal footwork —  the town will begin its next water district this spring. 

“After nine years of hard work, the Town of Bethany has received the green light for the construction of public Water District #5 for the residents, farms and businesses in the district,” Hyde said. “The construction is slated to start in early 2025, which will supply 474 units.”

The town had endured a drought severe enough to warrant a State of Emergency in December 2023. That dry condition meant hauling water for miles to and from homes and businesses and resulted in some generous donations of bottled water from local businesses, a water tanker that was loaned from the state for folks to fill up at Town Hall, and at least one farm shutting down due to the water shortage and hardship. 

Add to that the Covid pandemic mucking up the process in between, causing delays and price increases and pushing a potential water district more out of reach. 

Hyde was able to put Water District #5 on the map after the town received a Water Infrastructure Improvement Award in mid-December 2023 for $5 million. Since the town’s first application had been denied, town officials submitted a second one and anxiously awaited word of whether they would be approved — receiving that good news before end of the year to serve residents north to Route 20.

All but a few of about 200 residents were on board with creating Water District #5 in the Town of Bethany, and after the Town Board approved a resolution for a revised water district Wednesday evening, those property owners have 30 days to challenge the move or let it ride into the next phase of development, Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. says.

The new Water District 5 is without Sweetland Road and a portion of Fargo Road that connects Clapsaddle Road to Stafford's existing water on Fargo Road because "Monroe County Water Authority will not allow us to hook up and run the water into their water system coming in from the west side of Bethany from the town of Batavia, which is a blend of Monroe County and water from the water treatment plant in Batavia," Hyde said. 

“The town of Stafford is having a meeting on Monday,” he said, regarding the dozen homes removed from Bethany’s Water District 5. “They’re considered out-of-district users. They do not count for our water district.”

Wednesday’s meeting was to review all of those legal aspects and the important financial details of the plan — a $21,680,000 project funded with a $16 million 38-year low-interest loan (with annual debt service of $554,107), yearly payments from Genesee County and a $5 million state infrastructure improvement grant. 

All of those numbers boil down to an estimated unit cost (unit = property) of $1,220. That cost doesn’t follow the property owner, as it remains at that property address. 

What does this mean? Public water for 350 users, Hyde said. If none of them opposes or challenges this water district, then it goes on to the state Comptroller for review. After that, it would go to bid, “and then, hopefully, we should start digging in September,” Hyde said.

If someone opposes the plan, it will be brought to a vote, and 51 percent of the property owners must say yes in order for it to proceed. That opposition will also delay the process by 90 days.

“Now it’s just a waiting game; it’s all up to the residents. The board has done everything it can do,” he said. “I’m glad. The residents asked me to get the funding, and I got the funding. 

“I do have some residents who have gotten a little bit of water back in their well. They were all excited because they could use their toilet twice a day. But I do still have a lot of people whose wells have not come back yet,” he said, sharing the worst news to come out of the drought so far. “One farm is no longer in the cattle business. Because the cost to haul water is not worth the price you pay for milk. He’ll be doing some crop farming but is retired from the cattle world. Dairy is Western New York’s largest commodity; when we start losing cattle farms, what else is there? The wells still aren’t recovered. After about 14 inches of snow, and it's gone, we've had no rain, and if we don't get snow, I am really afraid of what's going to happen this July and August.”

Hyde is especially worried about what to expect down the road once spring and then summer roll around again if winter continues to be this lackluster and rain still circumvents his town. The drought has been downgraded to moderate, which he thinks is “hooey.” And the long-range forecast in the Farmer's Almanac is "not good," he said, prompting him to make his own future plans.

“I’ve got residents still picking up water because they’ve got no water,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get the tanker back in the spring. Who’d have thought in the year 2024 in New York State that it’s a third-world country? Our homes may look a little better than theirs, but it’s a third-world country with no water.”

He’s counting on having made prior contacts with the state governor, Comptroller, and Office of Emergency Management, that there will be people to help out again later this year with a water tanker when possible. Emergency Management loaned a 6,700-gallon tanker to the town this past fall so that residents could fill their water totes for a month at Bethany Town Hall. 

Meanwhile, at least 350 property owners can cling to another water district’s formation by this fall, once and if all gets approved, for a completion by 2026.  That district would run down Townline Road north to Route 20 and be in the center of town. It has been a long time coming, with conception in 2017 and a USDA low-interest loan of $16.5 million. It was looking hopeful, and then COVID came along, and prices shot up for an escalated total project cost of $21.5 million.  The town was turned down on its first attempt at a state $5 million grant to make up the difference, but fortunately received better news this past December, and now has the funding.

Property owners would be responsible for the pipe service to their homes, at about $15 to $25 per linear foot, which engineer Eric Weiss of Clark Patterson Lee estimated to be about $500 total, depending on the size of the property and circumstances.  The cost of water would be about $6.48 per 1,000 gallons, for an estimated $388.80 per household. All of the debt service costs roll into the approximate yearly bill of $1,220 per property owner. 

During the meeting, a resident asked what would happen to all of the trees along her property. The answer covered trees, flowers, driveways and other similar items on properties, and that was “we’re going to avoid as much destruction as possible,” Weiss said. 

Contractors are given directions for how to navigate obstructions such as long tree roots. “They will excavate on either side and will push the pipe through it,” he said. As for other outdoor landscaping, “they will restore it to the way it was.”

A few folks didn’t like government-funded programs of any type, but by and large, the majority of attendees seemed in favor of proceeding with this water district. 

"The residents are happy that it's moving forward," Hyde said.