STILLWATER — Mechanicville officials are speaking out against a proposed development in Stillwater because they say they fear sewage from its homes could contaminate the nearby Mechanicville Reservoir.

Developer Joseph Urbanski wants to build five single-family houses off of Elmore Robinson Road on a property that is 2,000 feet northeast of the reservoir.

The proposed development is too far away from the county sewer system, so each home will need to be connected to a septic tank to dispose of waste.

Mechanicville County Supervisor Tom Richardson said he was against the proposed development because he feared the sewage would eventually leak into the reservoir.

“I’m not opposed to development,” Richardson said. “What I’m opposed to is when development is going to put our water source in jeopardy.”

Richardson is also concerned about the construction of a road and the use of pesticides at the development, he said.

However, using pesticides at the site is prohibited because of its proximity to the reservoir by town zoning law. Town law does not regulate how close homes can be built to a water source, but state Department of Health regulations require any septic tank to be at least 200 feet away from any reservoir in Mechanicville.

The reservoir was built in Stillwater in 1892 near what is now the Luther Forest Technology Campus and is the main source of Mechanicville’s water.

Water is collected at the reservoir from streams, rainfall and runoff before being piped 2.5 miles south to the city’s water treatment plant. The reservoir’s capacity is 65 million gallons.

The Planning Board held a public hearing on the proposed development Tuesday which Urbanski attended.

“We understand everybody’s concerns,” Urbanski said. “Our septic systems will be state-of-the-art and follow all New York state law.”

A single-family home with a septic tank is already located slightly closer to the reservoir than the planned development, according to town records.

Richardson said he thinks that home is also too close to the reservoir but said he wasn’t an elected official when the house was built.

Urbanski needs to provide more information to town engineers so Stillwater can analyze the environmental impact of the project before the proposal will come before the Planning Board for preliminary approval.

Richardson asked the board to hold a second public hearing after that analysis by The Chazen Companies is complete.

“We’ve done soil tests, percolation tests. The soil is very conducive to individual septic systems,” said project engineer David Bogardus. “I think we’ll find that when Chazen does their review that there is no impact from our septic systems.”

Also in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting was Mechanicville Public Works Commissioner Jack Messore and Accounts Commissioner Mark Seber.

“There aren’t very many places in the northeast that have the water that we have,” Richardson said. “We have a pristine reservoir up in the town of Stillwater, and we’d like to keep it that way.”

Planning Board Chairwoman JoAnn Winchell said the board would take the city’s concerns into consideration before deciding whether or not to approve the project.

“From an engineering standpoint, just about anything nowadays is doable,” Winchell said. “Everything will have to be designed to not impact any reservoir users.”

Mechanicville sells water from the reservoir to some customers in Stillwater, Halfmoon and Schaghticoke.

Urbanski is also on Stillwater’s Zoning Board of Appeals. The name of his proposed development is Robinson Knoll.