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Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus joined the public comment session at Wednesday's Chester Town Board meeting to tell residents the county's sewer plant might not have the capacity to handle the 431-home Greens at Chester development.

Neuhaus' comments came at a meeting at which some residents were pushing the Town Board to approve a resolution to put a referendum on the November ballot to elect town council members by ward, as a way to head off Greens at Chester's potential bloc-vote political power. Greens at Chester, which will eventually house about 3,000 residents, is to be marketed to Hasidic Jewish families.

Plans call for Greens at Chester to send its sewage to the county's sewer plant. Neuhaus suggested a plant capacity issue might be one way to reconfigure the subdivision into more commercial development. That would mean less sewage effluent and more taxable properties, Neuhaus said.

"This is about sustainability," said Neuhaus, a former Chester supervisor, who is a town resident. "You're out of sewer capacity." Neuhaus urged the town to join with the county and other municipalities in a study focusing on the sewer plant's future capacity.

Chester Supervisor Alex Jamieson said since a 2010 lawsuit mandated the development to proceed, the town could be liable for millions in damages if the development is somehow stopped. Greens at Chester is located just west of the Whispering Hills development, north of West Avenue.

As for commercial development, Jamieson said he's met with the Greens developers, and they've said building houses is the best way to make a profit. He said the developers want to build 100 houses a year. He expects the first houses to be completed by spring 2019.

As the public comment session opened, speakers from Preserve Chester, a group pushing for wards, urged the board to approve a resolution to get the wards proposal on the November ballot. "Time is of the essence," said Kristi Greco, one of Preserve Chester's co-founders. Mary Luciana, another Preserve Chester member, pushed the board to set a hearing on the November ballot initiative right on the spot.

Councilman Robert Valentine accused Luciana of trying to "hijack" the board. Valentine said although he supports referendums, he said the board must do further study. "I'm not going to put it on the ballot unless it's an informed decision," Valentine said.

Jamieson is pushing the town to adopt a plan to buy up development rights as a means to preserve open space. The board set a hearing on that plan for June 13.