Matt Higgins of LaBella speaks to the Fredonia Board of Trustees Monday.

The village of Fredonia’s water connection project with the North County Water District should be completed in the summer of 2029, according to the engineers designing the project.

Matt Higgins of LaBella described the proposed plans during an approximately 45-minute presentation at a Fredonia Board of Trustees workshop Monday. He said the project could cost $17.5 million — but that number does not include two apparent subtractions from the project.

Most notably, it came out that Fredonia does not necessarily need to tear down its water treatment plant.

Trustee Jon Espersen spoke of the Chautauqua County Department of Health “letting us know that it’s not necessary to (destroy) the water treatment plant, that we could do it at our leisure, as long as it’s not capable of being our water source anymore.”

Higgins said that simply fencing off the plant would cost up to $1 million less than tearing it down. He echoed Espersen in saying the Department of Health “would be OK with the village leaving that plant standing. It would be up to the village’s discretion. The Department of Health was suggesting an approach as simple as constructing a fence around it and padlocking the door…from our standpoint, that approach would be a viable path for the board to take for this project.”

Higgins went on to talk about a proposed “contribution” of more than $1 million to construction of a water tank that is supposed to be owned by the town of Pomfret but shared with the village. However, “my understanding after recent conversations with village bond counsel and village attorney is that the village… is not able to contribute capital funds to construct a piece of infrastructure that will be outside the village and not owned by the village.”

Instead, LaBella now envisions Fredonia paying Pomfret a user fee for the tank.

Deducting the plant teardown and tank payment puts the project cost “south of $16 million,” Higgins said.

The LaBella engineer described an anticipated schedule for the project. It is currently in a “data collection phase” that will last until September. It includes topographical and boundary surveys and utility locating efforts, “all the sorts of field investigations that need to be advanced to help us understand existing conditions.”

Higgins said permitting and final design “must go hand in hand” and noted “about a dozen” anticipated permits and approvals needed from various outside entities. That phase should last until the middle of 2027.

Higgins said that “Construction, as shown here, is anticipated to begin in spring 2028.” The construction will last until August 2029.

The anticipated $17.5 million cost of the project is currently covered by a $5 million grant and an interest-free loan. However, Higgins said seven more grant opportunities have been identified. He said there is a focus on getting more grants in order to reduce the amount of the loan.

Trustee Leeann Lazarony inquired if there would be monthly meetings about the project. She was told that that is part of LaBella’s proposal.

“We want to feel involved, we want a stake in the game here,” she said. “I guess I want it known that I want it to be transparent and anyone can listen to what’s going on.”

Higgins said that “there will certainly be the need to interface with the public.” He noted that water service in some places will be temporarily cut in places as pipes get switched.

Espersen plans a resolution to accept LaBella’s proposal at Monday’s trustees meeting. He said of the treatment plant, “As long as we can no longer use it as a source of water, a fence and a padlock is fine.”

Trustee Paul Wandel commented about the project: “It’s about details. When you encounter an engineering project, there’s a multitude of details.”

One “detail” went unmentioned Monday. Three village residents have sued in order to halt the project, in a case still pending in the state Supreme Court.