So please attend the town board meeting to hear and comment on the presentation Thursday evening, 7:00 p.m., at the Duanesburg Town Hall, back door.
Why? The DEC has long taken the position that Duane Lake needs a municipal sewer system, priced at least $9.2 million (2023 dollars; well over $10 million now). This is based on a 2023 report produced by an engineering firm that specializes in designing and building sewer systems. You can read the report here.
A sewer district would be mandatory for every parcel in the district, even if you recently installed a state-of-the-art septic system, even if you only use your property a few weekends a year.
The engineering report projects the annual cost (including debt service, annual operations, and maintenance) to each shoreline homeowner to be $5,866 ($6,400 in 2026 dollars) but was based on 86 shoreline parcels sharing the cost. A review of County tax maps reveals only 64 parcels. That means the true cost would be about 1/3 more than Delaware Engineering Company forecasts, or in the vicinity of $8,500 per year for no fewer than the 30 years (as per the engineering report) to pay off the Town’s construction loan. And annual operations and maintenance costs will inevitably go up. These projections do not even include the price of digging up your yard to connect to the sewer system (whether you need it or not).
Do Delaware Engineering and DEC even know what is causing what their report calls “declining water quality in Duane Lake”? Or how severe? What is their evidence?
Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised. Maybe DEC will no longer advocate a sewer system and will consider a septic replacement program instead. Maybe we’ll find out.
Carpools will be arranged as needed. Contact DuaneLakeAssoc@gmail.com if you need a ride and to let us know that you will be attending, so we have a nose count.
THURSDAY NIGHT, 7:00 P.M. DUANESBURG TOWN HALL, BACK DOOR.