The ongoing settlement discussions between the City of Rye and the Save the Sound (STS) environmental group will receive some adult supervision on Friday. The two parties, still unable to agree on a plan for ongoing sewer infrastructure management, will appear in front of Judge Cathy Seibel at US District Court in White Plains on Friday, December 19, 2025. The disagreement is a continuation of what surfaced in our July reporting, Rye and Save the Sound Clash over Compliance in Ongoing Sewage Settlement.
In his “farewell” address at Rye City Council on Wednesday evening, Rye Mayor Josh Cohn alluded to the tensions. “Rye sewage leakage into the Sound is now diminished. Unfortunately, we find ourselves subject to a Save the Sound bureaucracy that appears overbearing and manipulative in its efforts to exact continuing concessions from a city doing its best.”
We don’t get many kudos for it, but we made a huge environmental investment, about $14 million dollars in settling the Save the Sound and the DEC suits against the city by agreeing to renovate and better maintain our sanitary system. We initiated this as a matter of principle, not knowing exactly what would be involved until we completed the required sewer system study. The settlement process ultimately dictated years of work accomplished with state funding.”
Friday’s Discussion
The settlement discussions seems to fall down as they relate to “Rye’s failure to produce adequate plans for sewer infrastructure management, under terms the Court has ordered and to which Rye has agreed” according to a November 21 letter from the Save the Sound attorneys. The details surround setting up (or not setting up as the case may be) electronic recordkeeping systems and defined schedules for maintenance. Failure to deliver all these details triggers something called Environmental Benefit Payments (EBP) – a type of fine or set aside that the City must use for an environmentally beneficial project (more draconian fines would be payments directly to the State treasury).
STS said in its letter the City is continuing to accrue EBPs at a rate of $8,000/day with a running tab of $90,000. The City of Rye has already made over $1.2 million in EBPs used to fund car park #1, parking renovations at Sterling Field and the rain garden and native plantings in and around the new amphitheater at Rye recreation.
As one would imagine, the City argues it has substantially met all its obligations. In a December 12 letter it details a highlight reel of the $14 million spent on cleaning things up including the myriad of repairs, a new computer record system and a September contract award for $263K to outside firm National Water Main Cleaning Company for cleaning and reinspection of the City’s sewers. The City is asking the court for a bit more time to get things organized – and its asking the judge for a delay to March 31, 2026 before any further motions or actions.
Remember, a royal flush is always better than a full house.
Save the Sound letter – November 21, 2026
City of Rye letter – December 12, 2026
