LEGISLATURE STUFF - Money for Moving and Removing

ASHLAND - Lord willing and the creek don’t rise in the meantime, Greene County Legislature members will seek money to move a county highway department garage located in the town of Ashland.

Lawmakers, earlier this month, authorized the submission of an application to the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) “Flood Hazard Implementation Program” for the funding.

The CWC dollars, if received, would support a feasibility study to, “continue the process of identifying parcels whereby one might serve as a relocation site,” the legislative resolution states.

Finding a new home is desired because, “highway garage #3 in Ashland is subject to flooding and provides a critical function during floods,” the legislative resolution states.

“The town of Ashland prepared and adopted a local flood analysis (LFA) that evaluated a range of flood mitigation options.”

That study was done in the aftermath of destructive flooding from Hurricane Irene, in the summer of 2011, prompting many communities to search for ways to avoid repetitive repairs in case of future events.

“The Ashland LFA recommended relocating Garage #3 out of the floodplain as the top priority, given that the highway garage has flooded three times since 1996,” the resolution states.

No timeframe has been set for possibly making the project happen. “We are trying to work with DEC and DEP to determine the best location,” county highway superintendent Scott Templeton says.

Those conversations, with the Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Environmental Protection, “have been going on for at least two years,” Templeton says.

“It is so difficult, these days, to find a piece of property that has the kind of acreage we need that isn’t way out of what we want to spend,” Templeton says, noting the existing site sits on five acres.

The CWC was born out of the landmark January 17, 1997, New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), their website states.

That pact is established between City, State, Federal and environmental entities, the Coalition of Watershed Towns, and every Watershed municipality.

The CWC is a not for profit Local Development Corporation which executes numerous New York City-funded environmental protection, economic development and education programs throughout the New York City Watershed West of the Hudson River.

CWC’s programs are intended to protect the quality of the water which sustains 9 million residents of New York City and its suburbs, while at the same time preserving and strengthening the rural communities within the five counties of the Catskill and Delaware Watershed.

In another matter related to the mountaintop, lawmakers approved a resolution to, “adopt a determination and findings following the public hearing conducted in regard to the county route 40 (Maplecrest Road) bridge replacement project in the town of Windham.”

The public hearing was held, this past summer, “in order to progress to the project final design phase and right-of-way acquisition phase.”

A handful of properties are being impacted by the job including the former Morrow General Store and post office in the hamlet of Maplecrest.

While the building has some local historic significance, it lays directly in the path of the necessary project path as determined by the New York State Department of Transportation, working in close coordination with the Federal Highway Administration.

The building must, therefore, be removed. Construction is not expected to begin until 2026, according to county highway chief Scott Templeton.

Between then and now, the potentially complicated acquisition of impacted lands must proceed within strict eminent domain guidelines.

That legal process was detailed as part of the public hearing and includes a visit to each property owner by a Right-of-Way specialist, using tax assessments and current market value to arrive at a price.

Replacement of the county route 40 overpass, where it meets county route 56, crossing over the Bataviakill, is necessary because, “a 2020 biennial inspection resulted in a rating indicating the structure is moderately deteriorated,” the legislative resolution states.

“The existing bridge was constructed in 1936 and consists of a single-span superstructure with prestressed concrete voided slab unit founded on cast-in-place concrete abutments.

“The streambed of the Bataviakill below the bridge is degrading due to the poor alignment of the existing bridge abutments and stream channel.

“The alignment of the county route 40/56 intersection, immediately east of the bridge, has multiple geometric deficiencies,” that will be remedied by the project, the resolution states.