Water deal in Malta to add Stewart’s, homes to line

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

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The Saratoga County Water Authority has agreed to provide water to the Maltaville section of Malta.

It is one of the final pieces needed in a complex arrangement that will also bring a Stewart’s Shop to the neighborhood.

Under the agreement, the authority will sell water to Saratoga Water Services, which will in turn resell it to a Stewart’s Shop being planned at the Route 67 entrance to the Luther Forest Technology Campus.

For its part, at the request of Malta town officials, the convenience store chain will provide $200,000 toward extending the water to nearby homes.

Authority Chairman John E. Lawler said outside bond counsel recently advised the authority it would be OK to sell its water directly to Saratoga Water Services, even though it is a private water company.

“We’re good to go on it,” Lawler said at an authority meeting Monday in Ballston Spa.

A contract could be signed sometime in July, he said.

The agreement is the linchpin to getting the Stewart’s built and bringing water to a small neighborhood with poor groundwater quality. It’s possible because the authority’s water main serving GlobalFoundries runs right past the Stewart’s site.

Under the deal, Saratoga Water Services, which provides water to much of the town of Malta, would tap the main. Stewart’s would buy the water for its own use, and would provide $200,000 as a “community benefit.” That’s expected to be enough money to bring service to about a dozen homes on Dugan Hill and Old State roads, but not the entire neighborhood. The homeowners would pay their own water bills.

The Malta Town Board approved the arrangement in April, but the water authority wasn’t sure until recently that it could legally sell directly to the private water company.

The authority sells water to municipal customers in Wilton, Clifton Park, Ballston, Moreau, and the village of Stillwater. It also sells directly to GlobalFoundries.

The towns of Stillwater and Greenfield are pursuing water deals with the authority.

Stillwater Supervisor Ed Kinowski said the town wants to buy county water, but is trying to learn more about development proposals so it can judge how much water will be needed.

Greenfield, meanwhile, has formed a water district for the southeast corner of town, the authority was told by Greenfield Town Attorney Mark Schachner.

The town has been working on forming the district for the last year.

The primary customer will be the Stewart’s Shops manufacturing plant on Route 9N, but nearby residential developments might buy the water, as well.

The authority, which began operating in 2010, currently sells about 4 million gallons of water a day.

It draws its water from the upper Hudson River in Moreau.