POUND RIDGE, N.Y. - A lawsuit that could have sunk Pound Ridge’s $11.2 million water improvement project has been dismissed.

The legal challenge had been brought by local business owner Donna P. Simons against the state Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) -- the agency that had selected the town to receive a $7.6 million Water Infrastructure Improvement (WIIA) grant -- and the state Department of Health (DOH) in February.

The ruling from Acting Supreme Court Justice Kimberly A. O’Connor was handed down on Thursday, Sept. 25.

According to town Supervisor Kevin Hansan, the court found that Pound Ridge “was the rightful beneficiary of the grant” and, therefore, should have been included in the lawsuit “from the very beginning.”

In a post on the town’s website, he noted that “because the town was not properly named within the four-month legal deadline, the claims were filed too late.”

Adding the town as a party “months later was not allowed, and the case could not move forward,” Hansan added.

Simons’s suit had sought to “annul and revoke” the grant because, she argued, the state’s decision to award it was “arbitrary, capricious, and based on errors of law.”

Simons, through her lawyer, noted last week that “the decision is deeply flawed and had dismissed “the proceeding on a technicality without reaching the merits.”

Confirming that she “will certainly appeal” the ruling, Simons added that she's looking forward to having her case “decided on the merits.”

In December, 2024, state Assemblyman Chris Burdick and state Sen. Shelley B. Mayer joined Hansan and Alison Boak, chair of the town's Water and Wastewater Task Force, to announce that the town had been selected by the EFC for the WIIA award.

Burdick commended the town for "pressing forward tenaciously" for the grant which would, he said. "safeguard residents, prevent the closure of businesses in Scotts Corners, and provide for a path forward."

Reacting to the court ruling last week, he sent Halston Media the following statement:

"The judicial process enabled the parties to fully present their arguments. The court has spoken, and for the sake of the EFC and the community, I am pleased with the outcome, which is critical to clean water and the vitality of Scotts Corners."

The town had been issued two violations by the Westchester County Department of Health after groundwater in Scotts Corners was found to be contain PFOAS and PFAS, aka “forever chemicals,” at levels exceeding state and federal drinking water limits.

Scotts Corner is served by individual privately owned wells and small non-community public water systems that share the same groundwater resources as the impacted regulated wells.

It was feared that if left untreated, the contamination could spread into the Pound Ridge reservoir system and, ultimately, affect the drinking water for more than 100,000 people, the town had said.

The project involves installing a water main from the Aquarion Water Co.’s facility on High Ridge Road, then running it along Upper Shad and Westchester Avenue, and into Scotts Corners.

While the town had already established a water district, it could not move forward as long as the grant was in jeopardy.

The next step will be to ask the state to formally accept the water district.

However, when that can happen is uncertain due to the promised legal appeal from Simons.

The town intends to reach out to property owners in the district to “help address their questions and concerns” as it enters that next phase, Hansan said.

While the town is “thrilled” that the suit has been dismissed, it knows that there are still many regulatory and procedural hurdles to leap, he told Halston Media.

There’s no timeline yet and it’s just too soon to say when things can get rolling again after what essentially was a year’s delay, Hansan added.

In Hansan’s Sept. 26 newsletter, he announced the suit’s dismissal and included a live link to O’Connor’s ruling.

To read the ruling, visit:

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=wIYE/0Cuvfgh2CyF4LDWig==&system=prod

FUNDING SOURCES

Earlier this year, Hansan had said that the EFC had informed the town that it also qualifies for federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Officially known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, it targets transportation projects but also includes investments in water infrastructure, broadband, clean energy, and environmental remediation. 

For that to happen, it had to officially create the water district, and have that district accepted by the state.

But because the Trump administration could cut back on federal grants, the town was advised by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to have a back-up plan.

In response, it applied for $3.1 million in Congressional Directed Spending funding through Gillibrand’s office and another $3.1 million from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office.

If everything falls into place, the town could receive more than $17 million in outside funding, meaning that it wouldn’t have to borrow any money for the project.

SIMONS' SIDE

In a “letter of opposition” read to the Town Board in 2024, Simons identified herself as one of 39 property owners within the proposed water district.

She worried that if the town didn’t get outside funding beyond the WIIA grant, it would have to bond the rest of the $11.2 million project and that that debt would affect all properties in the Scotts Corners area whether their wells were impacted or not, or whether they wish to participate in the district or not.

Simons is the founder and owner of Pound Ridge Organics Farm, a food co-op, market, and teaching kitchen run out of a carriage house on Westchester Avenue. She lives next door.

She calculated that -- based on how the town would assess her property for taxing purposes as part of the district – she could face an annual bill of at least $4,300 – or $129,000 over the life of a 30-year bond.

That would, Simons had claimed, “very likely lead to the demise of her business and the loss of her home of 30 years.”

Her suit alleged that the town’s grant application “was riddled with misrepresentations, misstatements, errors, and other fundamental flaws.”

It referenced a letter to that effect that was signed by herself and 20 other town residents and sent to the EFC and DOH.

Her suit claims that the agencies “ignored them and then rubber-stamped” the town’s application without giving it the “requisite hard look.”