Blooming Grove sewer plant would make wells
possible -
Lack of water keeps mountain homes seasonal
Mary Earley and her
husband, Pat, don’t have a
year-round water supply at their
Mountain Lodge Park home in Blooming
Grove. The Earleys want to dig a
well on their property, but are
facing opposition from town
officials.Times
Herald-Record/CHET GORDON
By
John Sullivan
September 03, 2008
Blooming
Grove — Mary Earley has a problem that's all too
common in the Glenwood Hills-Mountain Lodge Park
community on Schunemunk Mountain.
Earley, a
70-year-old retired lab worker, is looking to
convert two seasonal homes on Beverly Trail into
year-round residences. That would allow her to
save $1,400 a month in rent and utilities she
pays for her apartment in town, she said. Earley
wants to move her family into the two homes to
care for her ill 76-year-old husband, who has
cancer, as well as a sick daughter and her two
children. "I believe I will go broke if I have
to pay the taxes on the two properties, as well
as pay the rent on my apartment," she said.
But
turning summer homes into year-round dwellings
requires potable water, a rare and valued
commodity in a former bungalow community plagued
by poor infrastructure. Relief might be on the
way if the town can get funding for the
construction of a new sewer plant, but that
won't happen fast enough for Earley, who needs
the water before October, when her water company
turns off the seasonal water.
Close to
800 families live on the mountain on lots that
are often less than one acre, making it nearly
impossible to drill a well without violating a
required 100-foot buffer from a neighbor's
septic. Some residents have built illegal tanks
or stored water in pools in basements, even
though getting caught has resulted in thousands
of dollars in fines and court orders to vacate
their homes.
Earley
sold her previous home on the mountain, which
had access to year-round water, in the belief
that the Mountain Lodge Park Water Corp. would
hook up her two new houses to a year-round water
line a stone's throw from her properties. But
despite repeated promises and letters to the
state, the water company has done nothing for
her homes, she said.
Meanwhile,
the town refuses her request to drill a well,
citing the 100-foot buffer rule, even though she
has been given permission in the past to do so,
she claimed. Earley has noticed private wells on
smaller properties near hers, raising suspicions
of favoritism, she said.
"It's who
you know, and what you know, that's how I feel,"
she said. Bohan denied the allegation,
attributing Earley's plight to the lack of
planning in the mountain community. "They never
should have allowed them to build year-round
residences up there, but that happened in the
1950s, and there's nothing we can do about it
now," he said.
A
nearly-complete study by the Orange County Water
Authority and the town engineer could result in
more funding for a sewer plant on the mountain,
thus allowing for more well construction. The
study is part of a $289,000 federal grant
project that is hoped to alleviate
infrastructure issues in former bungalow
colonies, mostly in Greenwood Lake.
"That's
the relief we envision," Bohan said. "But in the
present case, in Mrs. Earley's case, there's
nothing I can do to help her."
