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The following article ran in the September 20, 2000, issue of the Democrat and Chronicle and is reprinted here with permission.

Victor settles Drumlins suit

Dropping fight over village sewer system sends apartment issue to town.

BY STAFF WRITER
LIZ FORAN

VICTOR - Deciding the risk of losing a lawsuit was too great, village officials agreed this week to provide sewer service for a proposed Drumlins apartment complex.

And now the responsibility for deciding the fate of the 154-unit complex is pushed to the town and its boards.

Village trustees voted 4 to 0 Monday to settle a sewer service lawsuit filed by John G. Turner, a Drumlins neighborhood landowner, and Pioneer Development Corp., which has proposed the complex on 37 acres just outside the village limits.

The village already provides sewer service to all other parts of the Drumlins neighborhood, which straddles the village-town line.

The settlement will allow Pioneer to re-submit to the Town Planning Board a proposal for the complex. The town ruled the application incomplete in May after the village said its sewer system was incapable of handling the wastewater from a large complex.

Pioneer and Turner then sued the village, citing a 14-year-old agreement between Turner and the village that guaranteed sewer service to the 60-acre Drumlins area. Turner made some repairs at that time to the sewer system as part of the agreement.

Village Mayor Thomas Walker said yesterday that the village is obligated to provide sewer service to all of the Drumlins, but he was afraid the additional units would push the sewer system out of compliance. The system is already operating under a state Department of Environmental Conservation consent order that allows it to occasionally exceed discharge limits.

However, the DEC said recently that the apartment complex would not worsen conditions at the village plant.

Under the newly approved agreement, Pioneer will pay $1,500 per building to connect to the sewer line and an additional $10,000 to settle disagreements over the work Turner did at the plant in 1986. Village officials have said the work had little impact, but the DEC said the work did improve plant function.

Village Attorney William Kocher said the village settled for two reasons:

	If the village had won a summary judgment this month in Ontario County Supreme Court, Turner and Pioneer would have appealed and included a request for monetary damages. Taxpayers would ultimately pay any damages, Kocher said.
	Other Drumlins residents outside the village have sewer service.

Walker was absent for the settlement approval, but later said the agreement was fair.

"We had been obligated to provide sewer to that district," he said. The complex now "is a zoning issue for the town."

The review of the complex has been passed back and forth between the Town Board and Planning Board.

Chris Calabro, president of Pioneer Development Corp., said he would resubmit a proposal for the complex soon. The corporation is still working out the details of a new proposal, he said. "We're very happy with the settlement and we're looking forward to moving forward," he said.

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