Oct 13, 2025
Fredonia Village Hall
“Save our Reservoir” is suing Fredonia again.
James Lynden, Gladys Sedota and Marie Sedota filed a lawsuit against the village over its Sept. 10 Board of Trustees resolution to share water with Pomfret and decommission the dam and reservoir. The resolution also made a “negative declaration” under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
The trio claims the resolution does not comply with the state’s SEQRA and General Municipal Law, or Fredonia’s own zoning code.
The lawsuit, filed by Buffalo law firm Lippes and Lippes, alleges the Board of Trustees did not provide a 30-day comment period in regard to SEQRA. The board also allegedly “failed to perform the requisite ‘hard look’ and provide sufficient ‘reasoned elaboration’ as required by SEQRA,” according to the suit.
The village’s environmental assessment form for its proposed water project “identifies multiple potential impacts but dismisses them with conclusory statements, lacking the required analytical depth, data or mitigation strategies,” the lawsuit alleges. “This failure renders the negative declaration arbitrary and capricious.”
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