The following letter was sent to all OLS Residents on February 1, 2023. Also included is a letter that was sent to our Sewer Alliance Partners (Old Colony, Miami Beach, Town of Old Lyme/Soundview) from the Old Lyme Shores Board of Governors. The Letter to the Alliance can be viewed by clicking on the link provided below.
Link to BOG Letter —> Letter to Alliance
To Old Lyme Shores Residents, February 1, 2023:
The Board of Governors and the OLSBA WPCA have been working for many years on what we routinely refer to as the “Sewer Project”. Over the past years there have been many developments that included OLS joining the Cost Sharing Agreement “CSA” that includes the neighboring beaches of Old Colony Beach Club Association, Miami Beach Association and the Town of Old Lyme as they represent the public beach and neighborhood of Sound View. We have worked with Fuss and O’Neill to design the internal OLS sewer infrastructure as well as the “shared infrastructure” that encompasses a pump house and other ancillary facilities, equipment and miles of force main pipe to move wastewater from our beach area through East Lyme and ultimately to New London for treatment in the City of New London Sewage Treatment Facility. We have worked in good faith to attempt to move from the design phase of the project into the construction phase that would eventually result in each of our properties being connected to the sewer mains once completed. We have issued Requests for Proposals (RFP’s) on 2 occasions which solicited bids to construct the sewer system as designed. Both attempts saw multiple proposals from different qualified firms, however, all bid proposals significantly exceeded the funding thresholds voted on and approved by the association vote in 2012. Therefore, we have been unable to proceed.
In addition to the sewer component of our efforts, and authorized by the 2012 referendum, we have been working on and developing plans to address our storm drainage system and pave our roads within Old Lyme Shores, both of which require extensive repair, rework and/or replacement. Lastly, the initial project included installing year-round drinking water which, as you know, has been completed at no cost to us. Which brings me to the attached letter. I believe you will see that the letter is self-explanatory. Bottom line is, based on advice from our legal counsel, we have notified our alliance partners that we all recognize the project is not economically feasible. We bring up several other very important issues that need immediate attention, specifically related to the alliance’s Cost Sharing Agreement, pursuit of state or federal grant funding (all of which have been unsuccessful to date), estimating the true anticipated cost to complete the project and the identification of alternative methods of dealing with wastewater. Our next steps will include significant effort and conversations with the members of the alliance in an effort to gain agreement with our position and to approach DEEP collectively, or separately if unable to reach agreement, to seek a modification or rescission of the Consent Order. We will also work to complete our plans to begin work on our storm drainage infrastructure and ultimately the repaving of our roads. We will keep you informed on significant developments through email, BOG & WPCA meetings and our website. We will also communicate, well in advance, the issues we plan on addressing at our Spring Meeting. Your input is critical. I am hopeful, and am planning on presenting a complete status to the association at the Spring Meeting which would include an opportunity for you to vote, once again, and determine our next steps once fully informed of the issues, challenges and requirements imposed on us by state agencies and departments and other agreements.
Thanks very much,
Your Old Lyme Shores Board of Governors and Old Lyme Shores WPCA