Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Sen. Harckham Secure $1 Million of State Funding for Critical Cortlandt Sewer Project

Cortlandt Manor, NY – New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Senator Pete Harckham announced today that $1,000,000 of state funding has been appropriated for the proposed Furnace Woods Sewer Project, a critical infrastructure investment in the Town of Cortlandt that will benefit numerous residents and a local yeshiva while also protecting the environment.

“The new sewer project in the Town of Cortlandt will replace failing septic systems that pose potential public health hazards by contaminating groundwater and nearby water bodies with nitrates and pathogens,” said Stewart-Cousins. “That's why I found it crucially important to support Senator Harckham's request to invest in this infrastructure project. Waiting any longer was not an option.”

“For municipalities faced with infrastructure projects of this size, it is imperative for the state to step in to help shoulder the costs,” said Harckham. “The Town of Cortlandt is encouraging smart development that is environmentally safe with this new sewer line, and I thank Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins for her strong support in seeing this project through.”

The proposed Furnace Woods Sewer project will begin at 141 Furnace Woods Road, private property owned by the Yeshiva Ohr Hamier, with the construction of a pump station. From this property, the project will consist of approximately 7,700 linear feet of a sanitary force sewer line that will continue along a row of Town owned roads—Furnace Woods, Maple Avenue and Lafayette Avenue. The sewer line will ultimately meet up with a Town sanitary manhole just north of the intersection of Ridge Road with Lafayette Avenue.

Yehiva Ohr Hamier, the primary user of this sewer project, will be directly connected to the project’s primary pump station and the force main. Once the force main line is completed, 106 properties will have the opportunity to connect by low pressure sanitary sewers to the line by petitioning to be instated into the Peekskill Sanitary Sewer District. Another 29 properties will have a similar option to be connected by a separate gravity sewer main that will be conveyed into the pump station on the yeshiva’s property.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $5.3 million, with Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins securing $750,000 in state aid and Senator Harckham securing another $250,000, both as awarded grant funding within the State and Municipal Facilities Program (SAM). These grants are among the funding programs administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) to support community and economic development. A New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation grant for $794,750 and a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation grant for $1,000,000 are completing the state’s contributions; additionally, the Town of Cortlandt is providing $2,000,000 for the project.

“The Town of Cortlandt is very grateful for the $1,000,000 of grant funding that Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Senator Harckham secured for the Furnace Woods Sewer District project,” said Cortlandt Town Supervisor Dr. Richard Becker. “This project will allow the Yeshiva Ohr Hamier campus to connect to a sewer that will help to rectify on-going septic issues that have plagued the yeshiva for several years.  The project will also provide the opportunity for 135 additional properties along the proposed route of the sewer main to connect.  The provision of sewers is critical to ensuring clean water and for the protection of wetlands and waterbodies from the possible impacts of septic runoff.  This grant is evidence of a strong commitment from our partners in the State Senate to the environment and Town of Cortlandt residents.

“The Furnace Woods Sewer project is vitally important to the yeshiva because we have been operating with an inadequate septic system for a long time,” said Rabbi Yaakov Rothberg, executive director of Yeshiva Ohr Hamier. “This is something we have been working on for 16 years, and we are pleased to see it coming to fruition, not just for the yeshiva, but also for the property owners who will also benefit from the new sewer line. We are excited to be entering a new era of sewer connectivity, and thank Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Senator Harckham and the state and town officials who made sure this would be a plan that worked for everybody.”