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Council delays decision on shed in upper-pressure zone amid water-scarcity wording concerns
Summary
Jeremy Price requested permission to build a shop in the upper-pressure zone without hooking to city water or sewer; council members raised concerns about wording in the city's Water Scarcity proclamation and agreed to return the item to a near-term agenda to consider amending the proclamation.
Jeremy Price asked the Wellsville City Council on Feb. 19, 2025, for permission to build a shop in the city's upper-pressure water zone with an agreement not to connect the shop to city water or sewer until the city's Water Scarcity proclamation is lifted. The council did not approve the request and voted to continue the matter to a near-term meeting to allow further review and potential amendment of the proclamation's wording.
Price said he would build a shop with a sewer stub ("I will put build a shop with stub then so I don't have to...") but asked for clarity about whether a building permit alone would violate the city’s water-scarcity directive. Several council members and staff said the proclamation's language—specifically that "no development application may be approved if any part of the development...is located partly or entirely within the upper pressure zone and will immediately or in the future require a connection to the city's culinary water system"—could be read to bar building permits even where no immediate new water hookup would be required.
Scott (city staff) and other council members said the ambiguity creates legal risk and could prevent routine improvements to existing homes. Donald Price, who identified himself as Jeremy Price’s son and spoke on his behalf, offered to provide meeting minutes from the earlier action that the applicants say allowed the city manager to make determinations about building permits for existing homes with existing water connections. Donald Price said, "We have the minutes. Do you want us to read through the discussion that was summarized?" Council members asked staff to return the item to a future agenda with proposed changes to the proclamation or clarified guidance on when building permits are permissible while the proclamation remains in effect.
A motion to continue the discussion to the next meeting passed by voice vote (makers/seconders not specified). The council did not lift the Water Scarcity proclamation that night; council members said they would consider amending its language to allow "non-water-related construction" while preserving limits on new water hookups.
