OBSERVER file photo Pictured is the Fredonia water filtration facility.

The Fredonia Board of Trustees is set to again consider getting rid of the village water treatment plant.

A resolution on tonight’s meeting agenda, sponsored by Trustees Jon Espersen and Paul Wandel, calls for “decommissioning and demolition of the village’s existing water treatment plant and modifications to the village’s existing dam and reservoir to comply with NYS Dam Safety regulations.”

The resolution would also set Fredonia on a path toward acquiring water from the North County Water District.

It names Fredonia as lead agency for a State Environmental Quality Review on improvements related to “Alternative 2” in LaBella”s latest study. The improvements are “including but not necessarily limited to” installation of piping along Water Street to support proposed infrastructure. Another proposal includes addition of three, unspecified interconnection structures along the Pomfret-Fredonia border.

A third proposal would construct a water storage tank to be used by both Pomfret and Fredonia. That’s been a favored plan of Pomfret Town Supervisor and North County Water District Chair Dan Pacos.

The treatment plant, dam and reservoir items are then listed.

Monday’s resolution goes on to commission LaBella to prepare the environmental assessment form required by the SEQR. “The village board will notify the involved agencies of its intention to act as lead agency for this project and will provide them with a copy of the completed Part 1 of the Long Environmental Assessment Form for review during the 30-day comment period.”

The Board of Trustees previously voted in December 2023, by a 3-2 vote, to shut down the water plant and buy water from Dunkirk. The village was successfully sued by several residents to overturn that resolution.

One of the main reasons State Supreme Court Judge Grace Hanlon ruled against the 2023 resolution was that it had no reference to a State Environmental Quality Review.