Resident points to re-routed water flowing away from reservoir and toward Route 17

Dr. Olivia Serdarevic, who calls herself “an almost lifelong resident of Goshen,” came well-prepared with maps and photos to the latest Goshen Village Board on Monday, Sept. 23.

The maps, from the U.S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey (1957), the Orange County Water Authority (1994), and Town of Goshen Potable Water Study (2003), each show the Otterkill flowing through the watershed towards the Greenhill Reservoir, a major water source for the village.

The latest map, supplied by Legoland engineers, shows the stream broken off and now flowing towards Route 17.

“That’s strange, isn’t it?" she asked. "A major stream that always went to the Greenhill Reservoir, doesn’t go there now."

According to Serdarevic, there are currently 80,000 cubic yards of soil stockpiled on the Legoland construction site. Trucks have begun moving the dirt to areas about 3,000 feet away on roads they created in the buffer area, outside the CR (commercial recreation) district.

The area where the soil is headed for stockpiling has steep slopes, near the Greenhill Watershed, where soil erosion and drainage can impact the reservoir.

Serdarevic noted that given the 27 citations from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation that the construction site has already been given for environmental pollution, trucking the soil now taking place should be investigated.

“Why not make better use of this soil?” Serdarevic said.

Responding to her own question, she said: “It’s an easy solution, a viable possibility: use the soil to act as berms to reduce noise at the parking lot area of the Legoland site.”

She claims Legoland has no intention of using any sound deadening devices, like fencing around the parking lot.

Said Serdarevic, “This solution is less costly than moving the soil further from where it is now, keeping it closer will act as a sound barrier for noise reduction, and most importantly, it’ll stay within the CR district, and not be stockpiled on the protected watershed area at the Greenhill Reservoir.”

Immediately at the close of the board meeting, Village Mayor Mike Nuzzolese contacted Jim Farr, water/sewer engineer for the village, to investigate the claim. Farr and Superintendent of Public Works Scott Birney went the next day, walked the property, and thoroughly investigated the area. They determined that runoff would not impact the village water source.

After his investigation, Farr sent the village a detailed engineering report, complete with a topographical map, which is available for public review.

“Although the project is in the town and not in our jurisdiction, our biggest concern is any impact on our water source,” said Mayor Nuzzolese. "The conclusion that our engineer found is that our reservoir is not impacted."