Three residents, including a former trustee, are named in the lawsuit against the village of Fredonia. P-J file photo

FREDONIA — “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 claim 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.”

In addition, SEQRA has a “whole action” rule that the Sept. 10 resolution violated, the lawsuit continues. “The project improperly segments the shared Pomfret water storage tank that was reviewed separately by the town of Pomfret,” allegedly violating the rule.

The village broke the General Municipal Law by failing to refer the project to the Chautauqua County Planning Board for a 30-day review period, the lawsuit goes on. Finally, Fredonia broke its own code by failing to obtain a special use permit for an essential facility, it’s claimed.

Lynden and the Sedotas want the state Supreme Court to throw out the Sept. 10 resolution. They are looking to make the court case score “Save Our Reservoir” 2, Fredonia 0.

“Save Our Reservoir” beat the village in state Supreme Court last year over a previous water resolution. The group successfully sued to stop a December 2023 resolution that would have ended the dam and reservoir and sought to purchase water from the city of Dunkirk.