Story in Daily Freeman on 1/11/17. Shandaken Supervisor Rob Stanley says the Phoenicia Water District will finally get some much needed improvement in 2017.
Speaking at the annual Town Board reorganization meeting earlier
this month, Stanley said the state has accepted the town’s environmental
review of a plan to install a new way to deliver water to the High
Street area of the hamlet of Phoenicia.
Article in the Daily Freeman. The Catskill Mountain Railroad did more than $1 million in business
in 2016 operating tourist trains on tracks in Shandaken, N.Y., and
Kingston, N.Y., a company official says.
In fact, according to railroad President Ernie Hunt, the company
has been doing over $1 million in annual business every year since 2014,
a big jump from what he said had been annual revenue of about $150,000 a
year through 2013.
Hunt said the railroad spent $700,000 over three years in
litigation with Ulster County, the owner of the tracks on which the
railroad operates, when the county tried to evict the company.
In a letter to volunteers and supporters, Hunt called 2016 the
toughest year ever for the railroad, which offers scenic and themed
train rides, but said he looks forward to 2017, which he expects will be
better
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.
Column written by Stan Fischler, renowned sports columnist.
Author-columnist-commentator Stan “The Maven” Fischler resides in Boiceville and New York City. His column appears each week in the Sunday Freeman.
The former Tiso’s Restaurant in Mount Tremper. Tania Barricklo — Daily Freeman
This one isn’t about sports — as in games — but it is about sports, as in good people, and a very special restaurant in Mount Tremper with a sporting background.
I am telling you all about this because that venerable trattoria called Tiso’s has closed its doors. That’s an awful shame for the people between here and the Isle of Capri who love this place.
Like myself, everyone wants Tisos to remain open forever.
Many of us Tiso-lovers remember the original Tiso of Tiso’s. That would be Joe’s father, Emilio, also referred to as Jack or Butch.
Engineers say replacing the Bridge Street Bridge and enhancing the
floodplain around Phoenicia is the best way to reduce flooding in the
hamlet.
The $10 million plan, however, would not eliminate flooding altogether and would not be painless.
Some buildings in Phoenicia, like the offices of Ruth Gale
Realty, some parts of the Black Bear Campground on Bridge Street and
some homes on Station Road, would have to go. In essence, the idea is to
lower the ground on both sides of the Esopus Creek to give floodwater a
place to go instead of up onto Main Street.
A fringe benefit would be there would also be new property
available for recreation use, perhaps even for the Phoenicia Riverwalk, a
plan discussed several years ago to energize the back side of the
hamlet’s Main Street structures alongside the creek.
When all is said and done, engineers calculate that flooding on
Main Street will drop by about a foot during major events like the one
seen when Hurricane Irene hit in 2011.
At an Aug. 10 session held at the Phoenicia Parish Hall, Engineer
Mark Carabetta walked those in attendance through his past 10 months of
work on evaluating options for Phoenicia.
Dredging the Esopus, according to Carabetta, would not reduce
flooding much at all. Nor would replacing the Woodland Valley Bridge
with a wider span or modifying the Stony Clove Bridge.
Widening the span of the Bridge Street Bridge, he added, would not help much unless the floodplain area was increased.
Carabetta’s work is part of a Town effort to identify a plausible
project that makes sense from a money standpoint. Federal level funding
is available for flood projects, but only if proven to have a strong
enough cost benefit.
This plan, Carabetta said, represents a $10.1 million benefit
over a 50 year period. Because the benefit outweighs the cost, he added,
this is a viable project.
“There’s a good chance it would be funded by a number of agencies,” he said.
Phoenicia resident Michelle Spark warned that, no matter what
plan is put in place, the Esopus Creek remains a wild card. All this
work could be done, she said, but then the creek could just shift to a
new location.
But, doing nothing is not an option, said Town Supervisor Rob Stanley.
“With flooding, there’s no magic bullet,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do to stop flooding.”
Ric Ricciardella told Carabetta time is of the essence and now that there is a plan, it is time to get it done.
“I don’t care if you get 10 engineers,” Ricciardella said. “We’re
waiting and waiting. This could have been done last fall and it would
have been over by now.
“How long are we going to wait for another flood?”
The Shandaken Town Hall on state Route 28 in Allaben
File photo by Tony Adamis
SHANDAKEN: Town Supervisor Rob Stanley says he has been talking with state Department of Transportation Officials about the projected traffic impact of a state Route 28 bridge project scheduled for 2016.
The bridge, just west of the intersection of Routes 28 and 42, is slated for complete replacement.
The original plan was to keep one lane open, with traffic signals controlling the flow of vehicles. Instead, the bridge will be shut down for six months next year, and traffic will be detoured to the 4-mile-long Creekside Drive, known locally as Old Route 28.
Stanley said the plan was changed to speed the project and not interfere with traffic to and from Belleayre Mountain during ski season.
“The concern was that the single-lane plan would make the project take three times as long,” the supervisor said.
County Executive Michael Hein with former Congressman Maurice Hinchey at the dedication. (photo by Alan Carey)
Several hundred people gathered for the dedication and opening of the
Maurice D. Hinchey Catskill Interpretive Center (CIC) in Mount Tremper
on July 1. Local officials spoke in celebration of the long-delayed
center, addressing an audience that included many Shandaken residents,
along with representatives of cultural and environmental organizations. Former Congressman Hinchey was present to receive the accolades of
his admirers, including Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, who praised
him as “someone who understood the issue of the environment when no one
else was talking about it, who understood what it meant to be stewards
of the environment and why it mattered.” Assemblyman Kevin Cahill said
he had worked for Hinchey in 1975, when the Congressman sponsored bills
such as one that banned new billboards from being erected in the
Catskills.
Martin
Millman OLIVEREA-Martin Millman, 78, of Oliverea, died Saturday, July
25, 2015 at HealthAlliance Hospital Broadway Campus. Born in Brooklyn,
he was a son of the late Louis and Eva Young Millman. With his wife,
Georganna, they owned the Phoenicia Pharmacy for 35 years. He served on
the town board for the Town of Shandaken for 10 years and on the Onteora
School Board for 10 years. He is survived by his wife Georganna Millman
of Oliverea, four children, Joshua Millman and his wife Sara of
Landsdale, Pa., Jacob Millman and his wife Michelle of Boiceville,
Deborah Millman of N.Y., N.Y., Lawrence Millman and his wife Jane of
Smithtown, N.Y., one sister, Harriet Parnes and her husband Emanuel of
Monsey, N.Y. One granddaughter, Isabella (Izzy) Millman and several
nieces and nephews also survive. A graveside service will be privately
held. Simpson-Gaus Funeral Home, 411 Albany Ave is honored to assist the
family with the arrangements. The family requests that memorial
donations be made to the Ulster County SPCA, 20 Wiedy Rd., Kingston,
N.Y. 12401
also:
