Officials from East Lyme and Old Lyme on Wednesday reached consensus on amending the intermunicipal agreement that will dictate the terms under which four beach communities in Old Lyme will be allowed to pump sewage out of town.

Parties on both sides cited a "misunderstanding" for slowing down negotiations broached about a year ago.

The newfound consensus means the town of Old Lyme — representing the Sound View beach community — will be added to the intermunicipal agreement already in place between East Lyme and the private beach associations governing Old Lyme Shores, Old Colony and Miami beaches.

East Lyme officials said the agreement can be amended in the future to include other beaches, such as the longtime holdout Hawk's Nest Beach — but extending it to other areas of town or adding new developments would require a whole new contract.

The current agreement allots 120,000 gallons per day of wastewater flow to each of the three beaches with the option to reserve an additional 180,000 gallons in total "for future needs." The parties agreed Wednesday to allot 50,000 gallons per day to the town for Sound View Beach.

That leaves 130,000 gallons of daily flow for those future options, according to Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold. He said he's happy Old Lyme and East Lyme are now "on the same page."

According to officials, the confusion revolved around a belief held by the previous East Lyme administration of First Selectman Mark Nickerson, who did not run for reelection, that the town of Old Lyme should have its own agreement with East Lyme, apart from the private beaches.

Nickerson, who was replaced by First Selectman Kevin Seery on Dec. 6, confirmed for The Day on Wednesday that he still thinks it should be "a separate agreement, period."

"I think that's where we left it," Nickerson said.

Griswold has questioned why two agreements would be necessary, including at meetings of the Board of Selectmen. Earlier this month, he told his fellow selectmen the decision was made to hold off on negotiations until after the election so they could deal with the new administration instead.

East Lyme Public Works Director Joe Bragaw on Wednesday called the breakdown in talks "a hiccup" related to a separate agreement East Lyme was negotiating at the time with Waterford and New London. That agreement was signed on Oct. 15 for 20 more years of wastewater collection, conveyance and treatment among the three towns.

Old Lyme at the time recently had signed its own agreement with New London to provide for treatment of wastewater when its system is completed.

Bragaw said the issue revolved around being sensitive to the needs of Waterford, which is not a party to East Lyme's agreement with the beaches but would be affected by it.

That means making it clear that East Lyme isn't opening up negotiations so Old Lyme can use the remaining 130,000 gallons to do things that may have been discussed at various points, like putting sewers in at Rogers Lake or allowing a proposed 220- to 240-unit affordable housing complex on Hatchett Hill Road to tie in to the system.

None of that would be part of East Lyme's agreement with the three private beaches and the town of Old Lyme, according to Bragaw. He said such projects would have to be negotiated separately.

"This was only the beaches," he said. "This is not anywhere else in Old Lyme because that's not part of the deal. That would be something we would then have to get Waterford on board with. And Waterford is on board with just the beaches."

Waterford First Selectman Rob Brule could not be reached for comment by press time.

Those at Wednesday's meeting in East Lyme Town Hall were Seery, Bragaw and town attorney Ed O'Connell, as well as the Old Lyme contingent of Griswold, Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker, Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Rich Prendergast and town attorney Jack Collins.

Seery said afterward that the meeting went "very, very well."

"Their attorney is going to draw up a document and then our attorney will look at it and we should be good to go with that very soon," he said.

Griswold was one of the officials who described the issue of two separate agreements as a misunderstanding.

"Having four entities under one capacity makes great sense and makes it simpler," he said. "Once it was all explained, everyone agreed that would be the way to go."

Prendergast agreed. "There was confusion, and once we had a discussion just explaining, the confusion got washed away."

e.regan@theday.com