Middleburgh Inching Toward Resolving Road Issue with Cobleskill

MIDDLEBURGH - Middleburgh and Cobleskill officials continue to inch toward a resolution to a sticky road issue that has festered for several years.

Middleburgh highway Superintendent Steve Kowalski first brought up the issue involving Oak Meadows Road off of Route 145 last year. Since then, officials from both towns have met, property owners have been contacted, and town attorneys have become involved. Having the Town of Middleburgh annex the properties in question has been deemed to be the solution to the issue.

At the Middleburgh town board meeting earlier this month, Supervisor John Youmans told board members, "We are waiting on (town attorney) Mike West to create petitions for the effected land owners on Oak Meadows. We need those to proceed to the next step."

In April, Mr. Youmans said he would be meeting with Town of Cobleskill officials to go over more details on next steps for Oak Meadows.

At that time, he said, Middleburgh is proceeding with annexation and the next step is have the town attorney drawing up petitions for the five affected property owners on the road.

The annexation could solve issues that have been brewing for months.

Supervisor Youmans told board members in February that he and the town highway superintendent met with the Cobleskill supervisor and highway head to discuss the issues over 1,300 feet of road that is in the Town of Cobleskill but has been maintained by the Town of Middleburgh for 10 years.

The answer proposed was annexing that portion of Oak Meadows Road, and possibly some parcels, from the Town of Cobleskill. This would allow the Town of Middleburgh to receive CHIPs funding for road repairs. Currently, Middleburgh is maintaining the road but is not eligible to get CHIPS funding (since it is in the Town of Cobleskill) and the town is not receiving any funding form Cobleskill.

If the annexation goes forward, Middleburgh would be eligible to receive $1,000 to $1,500 per year in CHIPs funding, highway Superintendent Kowalski said. It is unlikely that the town will get any funding from Cobleskill on the road work done in the past.

Middleburgh town officials have complained for months about the lack of payments from Cobleskill for road maintenance on Oak Meadows, going back to 2013.

Mr. Kowalski told board members at their meeting in January that Middleburgh should be getting between $1,200 and $1,500 per year to "cover what we put in" to the road.

Middleburgh town officials sought back payments from the Town of Cobleskill for roadwork done in the Oak Meadows development since 2013.

The towns of Cobleskill and Middleburgh came to an agreement in 2013 to have Middleburgh maintain the road in the Oak Meadows development off of Route 145, in exchange with yearly payments.

That plan lasted for one year as Cobleskill paid Middleburgh $900 in 2014, according to Middleburgh town officials.

After some discussion, Middleburgh officials in December agreed to extend the agreement for another five years and ask for back payments.

When it was originally drafted, there were seven parcels, and only two had homes on the land. Only two parcels in 2013 were assessed at more than $200,000. The rest, unimproved properties, were all assessed at $26,500 or less. Now, with homes on each parcel, the assessments are much more than $200,000, Middleburgh officials said.