School, town locked in drainage dispute

By TOM KANE & DAVID HULSE

NARROWSBURG — The Sullivan West School District and the Town of Tusten have differing opinions as to how to solve the water run-off problem at the school site.

For years, rain water would run off the school property and has flooded the cellars of downhill properties.

“We’ve wanted to do something about this for some time now and we think that now’s the time with the construction of the school building,” said Superintendent of Schools Michael Johndrow.

Johndrow said the school’s engineers have offered two different solutions and the town has rejected both proposals. The school’s engineering report to the town was seven pages long, he said.

On the other side of the issue, Tusten Supervisor Richard Crandall said the town informed the school, by letter more than a year ago, that its storm drains needed upgrading and the district ignored the problem. “Now they look at it as an add-on to the renovation that they don’t want to pay for.”

Crandall said that Tusten priced the work needed in upgrading the 12-inch drain, running from School and Erie Streets into Little Lake Erie at $70,000. He said the town offered to equally share the cost, if the school would hire the excavator and buy the 24-inch or 36-inch replacement pipe.

“The town wanted us to share the cost of any new piping but we are forbidden by the state to spend money on something that does not belong to us,” Johndrow said.

One solution would be to hold the water in storage and release it gradually, Johndrow said.

Because the renovation plan calls for the addition of more parking spaces that would exacerbate the run-off, the problem may worsen, he said.

The school district could solve the problem easily by not paving the additional parking and playground areas as planned, or could pay an entrance fee equal to the new costs, Crandall said. “If they don’t alter their position, it’s the position of me and the board that if they’re going to add more [pavement], they’re not going to enter [the system],” he said.

Crandall said engineers for both sides are continuing to seek a resolution acceptable to both sides. “We’re not looking for a confrontation with the school district, but we’re just not going to roll over and have our people pay for something others should be paying for,” Crandall said.

Johndrow said the school board is anxious to work something out with the town and that the district was waiting for an answer from the town to its latest proposal.