The Catskill Watershed Corp. has awarded Shandaken a $114,000 grant to buy land for a new Town Hall.
The better news is the town already owns the land and can use
part of the money to repay a debt to the New York City Department of
Environmental Protection.
The town applied for the grant over the summer. The watershed
corporation’s board of directors voted in favor it earlier this month.
The town now can move ahead with securing the property, where the
voter-rejected Phoenicia sewer system was to be created, and can use
$70,000 of the grant to pay back the New York City department. Before the sewer project was shot down by voters, the town used $70,000 from the department to buy the property. When the project was rejected, the department wanted its money back.
The town hoped to sell the property and use the proceeds to repay the
environmental department, but a buyer could not be found.
Of the $114,000 awarded by the Catskill Watershed Corp., $105,000
is for the land and $9,000 is for legal and closing costs. The money
was authorized under the corporation’s Flood Hazard Mitigation
Implementation Program, which helps move to safer ground such “critical
facilities” as firehouses, schools, town hall and water and wastewater
systems.
The new Shandaken municipal complex is to house the town’s government offices and highway and ambulance departments
Part of the town’s current municipal complex, on state Route 28
in the hamlet of Allaben, was inundated by Esopus Creek floodwaters
during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The town then was forced to use an
alternate location for day-to-day government operations and to operate a
command center for post-flood responses.
The 3.2-acre Allaben site has been designated a Special Flood
Hazard Area, with the Highway Department garage actually located in the
floodway.
A recently completed Local Flood Analysis for the Shandaken
hamlets of Mount Tremper and Phoenicia recommended relocating the Town
Hall and highway garage to the 4-acre parcel that was to house the
Phoenicia sewer system.
As part of the state-funded NY Rising Community Reconstruction
Program, the town engaged Latham-based engineering firm C.T. Male
Associates to conduct a feasibility analysis about the planned
relocation. The analysis is to be completed in 2017, and the Town Hall
move, also financially aided by NY Rising, is anticipated by the end of
2018.
A man has been ticketed for illegally shooting a bear in this town of
Shandaken hamlet, according to the state Department of Environmental
Conservation.
The man, a Phoenicia resident whose name was not provided, was
cited after the environmental department and Shandaken police were
notified about 11 p.m. Oct. 11 about a firearm being discharged in a
residential area.
The incident happened at 10 Main St., according to Shandaken Police Chef Chad Storey.
Officers from the town and state agencies found a black bear in a
backyard that had been fatally shot. The man who shot the bear told
officers he did so out of fear, but an investigation found no evidence
to support that claim, the state agency said.
Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said there
were no signs the bear had broken into the man’s home or tried to do so.
The state officer did find trash strewn about the man’s backyard,
Rosenbach said.
The man was ticketed under the state’s Environmental Conservation
Law for illegally shooting a bear and discharging a firearm within 500
feet of nearby houses, Rosenbach said.
The agency spokeswoman said it’s legal to kill a bear without a
permit if the animal has attacked or tried to injure a person or pet;
has broken into a house; or is destroying livestock or an apiary, but
that authorities must be notified immediately after. Also, she said, the
state can issued a permit for a landowner to kill a bear if there is
proof the animal is causing property damage.
Asked why she would not provide the name of the Phoenicia man who
was ticketed, Rosenbach said: “We don’t typically release that
information.”
A person answering the phone at the Department of Environmental
Conservation’s main office in Albany also would not provide the man’s
name.
A man has been ticketed for illegally shooting a bear in this town of
Shandaken hamlet, according to the state Department of Environmental
Conservation.
The man, a Phoenicia resident whose name was not provided, was
cited after the environmental department and Shandaken police were
notified about 11 p.m. Oct. 11 about a firearm being discharged in a
residential area.
The incident happened at 10 Main St., according to Shandaken Police Chef Chad Storey.
Officers from the town and state agencies found a black bear in a
backyard that had been fatally shot. The man who shot the bear told
officers he did so out of fear, but an investigation found no evidence
to support that claim, the state agency said.
Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said there
were no signs the bear had broken into the man’s home or tried to do so.
The state officer did find trash strewn about the man’s backyard,
Rosenbach said.
The man was ticketed under the state’s Environmental Conservation
Law for illegally shooting a bear and discharging a firearm within 500
feet of nearby houses, Rosenbach said.
The agency spokeswoman said it’s legal to kill a bear without a
permit if the animal has attacked or tried to injure a person or pet;
has broken into a house; or is destroying livestock or an apiary, but
that authorities must be notified immediately after. Also, she said, the
state can issued a permit for a landowner to kill a bear if there is
proof the animal is causing property damage.
Asked why she would not provide the name of the Phoenicia man who
was ticketed, Rosenbach said: “We don’t typically release that
information.”
A person answering the phone at the Department of Environmental
Conservation’s main office in Albany also would not provide the man’s
name.
The Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program completed a project
to stabilize 1.5 acres of slumping hillslope bordering the Stony Clove
Creek along state Route 214 and Wright Road.
[Wright Road is in Lanesville]
The project cost $1,237,162 to complete. The New York City
Department of Environmental Protection provided the town of Hunter with a
25 percent local cost-share to match federal dollars from the Natural
Resource Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program.
The federal funding covered the remaining 75 percent of the cost.
Project Manager Adam Doan of the Ulster County Soil & Water
Conservation District said there was a “surprising amount of groundwater
moving through the hillslope. The stabilization was started after
project managers saw the soggy slope moving over time toward the stream
channel. Geotechnical engineers called to the site determined the
problem would only get worse if not corrected.
Approximately 13 landowners benefitted from two years of work at
the site to stabilize the channel and hillslope. The projects were
designed to reduce the amount of fine sediment and coarse material
eroding downstream where they might deposit and destabilize channels, or
pollute New York City’s drinking water supply.
An unexpected problem amid the replacement of a Route 28 bridge over
the Esopus Creek in the town of Shandaken have moved the anticipated
reopening of the span from Oct. 7 to sometime in mid-November, according
to the town supervisor.
Rob Stanley said he was told of the new target date for completion by the state Department of Transportation.
The project began in April. So far, two of three new concrete
abutments have been positioned, and steel has been laid over the top of
them. But construction of the third abutment, on the west side of the
creek, has been held up, Stanley said.
When excavators dug down, it was discovered a shelf of bedrock on
which the abutment was to sit on wasn’t exactly where expected.
It was only a few feet away, but that meant that the abutment, under
the original plan, would be sitting on soft ground instead of solid rock
unless changes were made. So design engineers were called in to rethink
the plan and devise a new one that takes into account the real location
of the rock shelf.
The result was a delay of several weeks.
When completed, the new bridge on Route 28, near the intersection
with Route 42, will be longer, wider and higher than the old one and
will eliminate a rail crossing where development of a recreational trail
is planned.
The old bridge was 233 feet long and 33 feet wide. The new span
will be 293 feet long and 40 feet wide, and the road will be 8 feet
higher above the creek than the old bridge.
The anticipated traffic volume is 2,600 vehicles per day.
The posted detour for Route 28 drivers includes Route 42, Creekside Drive and Firehouse Road.
Daily Freeman story dated September 14, 2016: Plans for a new town office complex are taking shape, and a fringe
benefit of the project is the town could be off the hook for $70,000 it
owes to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
The complex, which is to be on land set aside for a Phoenicia
sewer project that voters rejected, would house the town’s government
offices and highway and ambulance departments. Before voters rejected the sewer project, the town used more than
$70,000 of Department of Environmental Protection money to buy the
property. The department asked for its money back after the project
failed at the polls.
Shandaken Supervisor Rob Stanley said the town has tried to sell
the land but has been unsuccessful, and now the city department is
demanding payment, sale or no sale. But thanks to the Catskill Watershed Corp., which provides funding to
relocate municipal buildings out of floodways, the town could be able
to both keep the land — which is on Route 28 in the hamlet of Phoenicia,
just east of the Phoenicia Plaza — and pay back the New York City
department.
The current town office complex is on Route 28 in the hamlet of Allaben, on land within the Esopus Creek floodway.
The Town Board on Monday agreed to file a funding application
with the Catskill Watershed Corp. If the application is approved, the
town will use the money to pay back the Department of Environmental
Protection.
Asked what would happen if the funding is approved but the town
office move fails to materialize, Stanley said it would be better to owe
money to the Catskill Watershed Corp. than the Department of
Environmental Protection.
OLIVEBRIDGE >> The Ashokan Reservoir’s dividing weir has been
restored to full functionality with the replacement of four large
cast-iron gates that control the flow of water between the reservoir’s
two basins, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection
said Friday.
The intersection of Creekside Drive and Firehouse Road in this town of
Shandaken hamlet, once a sleepy fork in the road, turned into a
dangerous place about a month ago when it became part of a detour for
traffic to get around a bridge project on Route 28, according to town
Police Chief Chad Storey.
Thanks to a new contribution from the State, pedestrians may yet be able to traverse the Hudson from Greene to Columbia Counties.
Photos courtesy of NYS Bridge Authority
A brand new pedestrian walkway connecting Greene County and Columbia County is in the works, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday. A
feasibility study for the Hudson River SkyWalk, which would connect two
of the Hudson River's popular tourist destinations—the Olana State
Historic Site in Greenport and Thomas Cole National Historic Site in
Catskill—has been initiated thanks to a $124,000 grant awarded by the
Department of State through the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.
Today on Go Design Go’s travel guide series, Stefania Skrabak of Art Home Garden
takes readers to the Catskills of New York. A small, artsy upstate
town, Phoenicia is Stefania’s favorite place to visit for its relaxing,
outdoorsy vibe. Read on for her go-to spots to sleep, eat and shop, as
well as some “hidden treasures.”
Despite some grammatical and spelling faux pas, it makes for interesting reading.
Phoenicia is more about a feeling then it is a subject or a “to do.”
That is what’s inspiring. It’s about being outside and taking
inspiration from nature, the river, campfires, cocktails and friends.
Phoenicia Library, Phoenicia, N.Y.
FILE PHOTO BY TONY ADAMIS Officials at the Phoenicia Library on Main Street have been expanding
its role into something much more than simply a depository for lending
books.
The building was destroyed by fire in 2011, and, when it reopened
in January 2015, the caretakers of the institution sought guidance on
its operation.
“The library believes the community should determine its future
direction,” said librarian Liz Potter. “We did a town-wide survey and
held three focus groups of library users and non-users. People strongly
indicated they love the programming and want more of it. In particular,
people felt very proud of all the local talent in these mountains and
wanted to see more programs celebrating our community, so we’ve added
programs that feature our local musicians, our writers, our anglers, our
local police, our seed experts and our crafts people.”
Across the country, libraries roles are changing and expanding,
increasingly offering a diverse programs for all ages and moving into a
more central role as community gathering place.
Railroad cars and equipment are shown at the Catskill Mountain Railroad site in Phoenicia.
Photo by Jay Braman Jr.
The head of the Catskill Mountain Railroad says most of the railroad’s belongings that have been ordered removed from the Kingston rail yard will not be relocated to Phoenicia.
“In Phoenicia, there’s no change in operation,” Ernie Hunt said this week. “It’s going to be no different than last year.”
But Anique Taylor, who lives on Lower High Street in Phoenicia, just a stone’s throw from the railroad’s property in the town of Shandaken hamlet, has doubts.
Taylor says she has seen equipment being trucked into the Phoenicia yard over the past couple weeks. She’s also concerned about the railroad’s effort to get town approval to build more infrastructure on the site. That matter is to be discussed by Shandaken Zoning Board of Appeals during a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 in the Town Hall on Route 28 in Allaben.
