The Times Herald Record reports: Orange County and Kiryas Joel could settle a lawsuit over the village’s proposed pipeline to the Catskill Aqueduct as a result of private negotiations the two sides began more than three months ago.

Court papers filed with the state Appellate Division in Brooklyn reveal that officials for the county, Kiryas Joel and Village of Woodbury met Sept. 9 and reached a “working framework for a settlement” of a separate lawsuit over sewage treatment, which is the primary source of conflict in the water pipeline case.

In asking for more time to submit an appeal brief in the sewer case, County Attorney David Darwin told the court that a deal in that dispute “may also lead to a resolution of the sewer issues” in the pipeline litigation.

The parties were set to meet Oct. 15 and again around Nov. 15, if necessary, to “finalize an agreement,” according to the papers, which gave no indication what the resolution might entail.

Darwin confirmed Tuesday that two further meetings were held, but said that no deal had been reached and that the county would file its appeal by Monday – the deadline the court set after granting a third and final extension.

The county is appealing a court victory for Kiryas Joel that effectively blocked Woodbury and several other communities from sharing additional capacity at the county sewage treatment plant in Harriman after it was expanded.

The more controversial court case involves Kiryas Joel’s decade-old plan to tap New York City’s water tunnel in New Windsor as a new drinking water source for the booming community, replacing its network of wells.

A lawsuit Orange County filed in 2004 forced Kiryas Joel to amend its environmental review to explain more fully how the project might affect the surrounding area, most notably its ability to treat the increased wastewater.

The village filed an expanded review earlier this year, but Orange County sued again on July 30 on similar grounds. Barely six weeks later, the two sides met to discuss a settlement of Kiryas Joel’s sewage lawsuit.

Resolving that conflict could help the county sell its 258-acre Camp La Guardia property to a developer, whose plans depend on sewage treatment in Harriman.

(Source: Times Herald Record / YWN-112)