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County-backed grant to connect Henshaw Village to municipal water and sewer moves ahead
Summary
The legislature advanced a county submittal to a New York State county infrastructure grant that would fund water and sewer connections for Henshaw Village mobile home park; the owner and health officials described plans to decommission septic tanks and complete hookups within 24 months of grant receipt.
At its Feb. 17 meeting, Tompkins County’s planning staff and the owner of Henshaw Village detailed a selected project for submission to New York State’s county infrastructure grant program.
Megan from the county planning department said the selected Henshaw Village Infrastructure Updates Project would connect the manufactured‑home park to municipal water and sewer, addressing longstanding drinking‑water and sewage conveyance problems. Megan said the grant program requires that a full $1 million award produce at least 10 housing units; the park owner committed to fill at least 10 of 22 currently vacant pads.
Skip Parr, Tompkins County director of environmental health (on Zoom), explained the park’s current sewage lagoon and consent order and said connection to municipal infrastructure is the most reliable long‑term fix; he cautioned that internal conveyance issues within the park (blockages, pump chambers) will still require remediation even after municipal hookups are complete. Bill Heumann, COO of Cook Properties (park owner), said the first step is hooking up to public sewer, followed by decommissioning about 47 on‑site septic tanks and hooking homes to the public sewer; he said the project must be completed within 24 months of receiving the CDPG grant award.
Legislators asked about past sewage violations, timing and tenant impacts. Randy Brown raised concerns about how capital costs could affect lot rents; Heumann cited state law (RPL 233‑b) that caps typical annual rent increases for manufactured‑home lots and said one‑time increases tied to capital projects are limited by statute.
