Orange County to Reschedule Harriman Wastewater Hearing, Apply for Up to $10M WQIP Grant

Orange County legislators voted June 23 to set a new public hearing and to authorize a state grant application for improvements and a capacity expansion at the Harriman Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The Physical Services Committee voted unanimously to reschedule a public hearing — to add missing cost information to the earlier notice — and separately authorized the county executive to apply to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation(NYSDEC) Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) program for up to $10,000,000 in grant funding with a 25% local match required.

Staff member, Department of Public Works, told the committee that the action is mostly procedural: "This is just fixing an oversight on how the public hearing was advertised the last time around. It just needed to include the cost of the project," the staff member said, adding that previously collected public comments would remain on the record and any new comments would be added after the rescheduled hearing. The committee was presented a proposed hearing date of July 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Committee discussion noted that the project is part of a larger sewer district expansion and that multiple public hearings have been held previously. The staff member said the plant improvements have direct environmental and public-health implications: "It does have significant implications for the public health and environmental quality at the Ramapo River, which is a receiving stream, which is listed as an impaired water body."

One legislator raised concern that holding the hearing at 2:30 p.m. on a weekday could make it difficult for residents in affected districts to attend; the committee also noted that written comments remain an option.

Separately, the committee approved a resolution authorizing the county executive, in conjunction with the Orange County Department of Public Works, to submit and execute any required documents for a WQIP application. The staff presentation said Delaware Engineering assisted with preparing the competitive application and that the requested funds would be used for general wastewater treatment improvements at the Harriman facility. The request is recorded as legislative request number 169; the hearing-set action was recorded as legislative request number 208.

Both motions carried unanimously.

The next procedural steps are the July 23 public hearing (as advertised) and, concurrently, submission of the WQIP application and related paperwork to NYSDEC as authorized by the committee. If awarded, the grant would cover a portion of the project cost and the county would be responsible for a 25% local match, to come from a combination of cash and/or in-kind resources.