by Thaddeus Flint
If you want to fill a Town Hall, probably the easiest way to do it is to whisper the words “eminent domain” in a small town in America. There is nothing like the threat of the government coming for private property to get people off their sofas like the house itself is on fire. New Lebanon was no exception to this peculiarity Tuesday night, and the Town Hall was standing-room-in-the-hallways only at a public hearing for the New Lebanon Sidewalks Project.
[private]The sidewalks project is a result of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, which was drafted in 2004. The plan of the Plan is to regain some of the small town charm that New Lebanon once had while at the same time improving pedestrian facilities, slowing traffic and creating surroundings that businesses would want to be a part of. After three years of various discussions and studies, the Sidewalk Plan was officially adopted by the Town Board in 2007 when it was under the leadership of Town Supervisor David Katzenstein.
According to Don Adams, the project manager from the engineering firm Creighton Manning, the sidewalks would run from Lover’s Lane, right about where NY Routes 22 and 20 split from each other, and run about 1.5 miles to the New Lebanon Junior/Senior High School, where students have been putting their own sidewalk in over the years as a way of remembering graduating classes. The memory sidewalk, with all the hand prints and signatures gouged into it, however is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act so the new sidewalk would run along that one and then just stop once it reached the school’s parking lot. Strangely, it does not reach the Town Hall, which is another half mile up the road. The reason for this might be that the Town Hall was falling apart back in 2007, and with money not as tight as it is now, a new Town Hall was going to be found. Years and many dollars later, the new Town Hall was found in the old Town Hall, but nobody seems to have added it to the sidewalk plan.
Walkers would also be forced to walk on the north side of the street. Originally a sidewalk was planned for both sides of the street, but that is too expensive now. How people will get from one side of the street to the other was not mentioned.
Currently there are four plans. The first plan is to do nothing, and this will cost nothing and quite a few people seemed happy with that.
Alternative 1 is to reduce the width of the road, get rid of the left turn lane that runs along the middle of the road, reduce the westbound shoulder to 5 feet and construct a new concrete curb, maintenance strip and a 5 foot sidewalk. This would cost about $1.53 million. It would also require .07 acres of private land.
Alternative 2 is similar to Alternative 1, but the turning lanes would remain. This would cost $1.54 million and also require .07 acres of private land.
Alternative 3 maintains the road as it is now, with the turning lanes and with existing curbs and shoulders, and builds a five foot sidewalk mostly on private land. The cost would fall to $670,000, but the impact to private property would climb to .18 acres.
The cost to residents would not be the full amounts listed here. The Federal government would chip in 80% of the project’s costs and the remaining 20% would be shared between Colombia County (15%) and the Town (5%).
Adams showed a few slides of what the project might look like. He also showed one picture of the Town probably over a hundred years ago. With big leafy trees and a nice sidewalk set back from the road, New Lebanon once looked a bit like Old Kinderhook does today, although the road was dirt then. So what happened? The highway ate the Town like a big asphalt cookie monster is what happened. As Routes 20 and 22 grew, their boundaries also grew and gobbled up the trees and the sidewalks and that “small town look” that the comprehensive plan is looking to regain. Instead of a town with a road running through it, you now have a highway with a town along the sides of it.
To get those sidewalks back the Town is going to have to gobble up some private land and not everyone is happy about that. Admittedly the amounts are rather small. Even with the largest land grab of .18 acres, nobody is going to lose their home. That however is little consolation to residents who might have their front yards, driveways and parking lots taken from them. Taken of course is not the word the Town would use. “Property impact” and “acquisitions” were the words Adams chose. Adams said property would be assessed and fair market value offered. What that will be is anyone’s guess. Adams also used the word “negotiation,” but it didn’t seem his understanding of that word was the same as most other people’s. That would imply some give and take, discussion, an attempt by both sides to reach an understanding. In Creighton Manning speak, “negotiation” sounds more like Michael Corleone speak: “I will make him an offer he can’t refuse.” We use “a one offer system,” said Adams, meaning the negotiations are non-negotiable.
“Not in my front yard!” said resident Joan Darcy. Darcy grew tired of cars zooming off Route 22 and crash landing on her porch so she planted a nice hedge for the cars to smash into instead. The sidewalk would probably take out the hedge. “Sidewalks no!” said Darcy, who didn’t want curbs either. “The cars would go up in the air and land on my house!”
There was some grumbling from the audience that nobody walks anymore anyway. “Well duh!” responded resident Monty Wasch, “that’s because there are no sidewalks!” Not only would people walk but they would spend, too. “Sidewalks would help the economic life of the miracle mile,” added Wasch.
Malcolm Larabee of Larabee Fuel worries that shortening his driveway will make it difficult for tractor trailers to pull in and dock. Keith Meissner of Meissner’ Auctions worried that some trees planted in front of his business would have to come down.
Resident Tistrya Hamilton said she walked to the high school on the shoulders of the road while growing up. “I never had any issues.” For her, the problem is getting across the street, not down or up it. But to “only put in sidewalks on one side” would “bias those on that side” she said. Why was the Town only aiding Bucky’s Bagels, EZ Mart and Meissner’s but not Blueberry Hill, Stewart’s or China City? “It sounds like we are writing off the south side for the north,” added resident Cynthia Creech.
Many residents were worried about who was going to maintain these new sidewalks. Would residents whose property had been “impacted” now find themselves forced snow shovelers of what once was theirs? Adams might have had an answer, but he wasn’t giving it at that time. This was a hearing, so residents are heard, not responded to.
Resident Trina Porte was also against the project, but the reason is economic. “Its maybe a great idea,” she said, “but right now is not the best economic time to put them in.” Porte then went on to say how the current Town Board and Supervisor Mike Benson had basically lied about how much the new Town Hall would cost, built it anyway without a referendum and, in doing so, depleted the Town’s fund balances. This got a big round of applause. However, it doesn’t look to be true.
Benson disputed Porte’s figures at the Town Board meeting later in the night. “There is a lot of misinformation floating around,” he said. The next day Benson sent out an email to Porte which said that “statements made by you…included the allegation that the Town Board spent the Town’s Unreserved Fund Balance on the Town Hall project and lied to the public about it. In spite of a construction project of nearly $400,000, the Town’s assets actually increased.” According to Benson, Town assets have grown by $210,863 in the past year. “I assume that upon review and verification of the aforementioned, you will publically retract incorrect statements/allegations made pertaining to this subject,” concluded Benson.
Councilman Doug Clark noted that the project would at most cost the Town only $70,000. “Spread out over seven years,” he said, there would be “no significant impact” to the Town’s finances.
“It’s like someone coming to me and saying ‘here take this house, all you have to do is make the down payment,’” pointed out resident Dan Evans. “I’d be stupid not to take it.”
Darrow School teacher Craig Westcott noted that the Town could actually bring in more money if there were a safe way to walk around it. “Right now Darrow doesn’t feel safe bringing the kids down into the Town,” he said. So they, and their money, go to towns in Berkshire County instead.
Residents who missed the hearing are still invited to add their input by sending their thoughts to the Town Supervisor at mbenson@townofnewlebanon.com. Comments will be taken until March 22. A report by Creighton Manning will be prepared within three months, at which time it will be up to the Town Board to make a determination as to what, if any, plan they would like to present to the NYSDOT.
The Regular Meeting
In contrast to the Sidewalk Project hearing, the Town Board meeting that immediately followed was much more subdued. The biggest news of the night was probably the appointment of the Parks Maintenance Superintendant. There had been some contention before when only one applicant made the deadline in the correct office and the date was extended in hopes of getting a larger field to choose from. This seems to have worked. Now there were seven applicants. Just as an announcement was about to be made, resident and Fire Chief Bud Godfroy pointed out that Chapter 47 of the Town Code states that the recreation commission was tasked “with the authority to establish, equip, operate and maintain playground and community programs and facilities.” So shouldn’t the recreation commission be making the appointment?
Benson asked, “Do you want the job or something?”
Godfroy said, “Nope.”
And so Tracy Lathers is instead graced with the $10.75 an hour position. Councilman Matt Larabee abstained from the vote as his brother was an applicant, and Councilman Bruce Baldwin was the sole vote against the Lathers appointment.
The Historical Society has taken up the cause of the Town’s Historian. They have asked the Board if they could share some of their space in the upstairs of the Town Hall with Kevin Fuerst. They also thought it would be nice if Fuerst could have access to some of the technology a historian might make use of, such as maybe a desk and perhaps a filing cabinet and also possibly a phone line. The Board didn’t see a problem with this, but Benson asked that Fuerst provide him with the 1099 form he hasn’t submitted yet for the past two years. Maybe now that Fuerst has a desk he can get that filled out, though somebody might have to lend him a pen.
While the Town counts every penny when it comes to the historian, they are spending close to a thousand dollars a year just to have FEDEX bring them the payroll checks every two weeks from the company that does the payroll. Resident Dave Winsor noted that the Town was now using QuickBooks accounting software. So why not use QuickBooks Payroll to do the payroll in house and save? “One step at a time,” said Benson.
When QuickBooks came in, out went some hours of Town Clerk Colleen Teal’s deputy. According to Teal, this should have equalled out since “I was told the accounting was to be moved out of my office.”
According to Benson, “We had a Town Clerk’s office that cost twice as much as any other in the County.” So costs had to be cut, which they were. Yet Teal seems to be stuck with the same amount of work with less man hours. “I would like to see the plan move forward the way it was proposed,” she said.
Meetings
The next regular Town Board meeting will be April 9 at 7 pm. Before that, a special meeting will take place on March 26 at 7 pm to discuss a grant application Clark is considering for a Hamlet Revitalization Study. Behan Planning and Design, which has worked on a long list of projects for towns in the area, will be on hand to present their thoughts on moving forward with New Lebanon’s downtown. “To me,” said Clark, “the way to lower the tax burden on residents is to grow our business district.”
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