New Lebanon Town Board Action – Plushness Is All

by Thaddeus Flint
New Lebanon has just become a bit more comfortable. The new Town Hall was completed a few months back, but residents at Tuesday’s monthly Town Board meeting noticed that two and a half hours of listening to their elected officials officiate had suddenly become a bit less arduous. The old hard folding chairs were gone, and new soft ones were neatly lined up replacing them.
“Was everyone comfortable tonight?” asked Councilman Bruce Baldwin.
Indeed, many of the few residents who attended the meeting were rather impressed with the new cushy comfort of New Lebanon.
[private]The finishing touches for the Hall will be some old photographs the Historical Society has collected of the Town back when it was more historical. Jeannine Tonetti said she had priced getting six of the images blown up and framed and that would run about $1,000. Councilman Matt Larabee noted that the Town Seal painted at the front of the room had also been suggested at a previous meeting. It was thought that the photographs could be placed on either side of that and on the other walls of the room. Larabee suggested that $1,250 be made available for the framing project, and a vote was taken with all in favor with the exception of Baldwin, who abstained citing “close relations,” Tonetti being his wife.
“Believe me,” said Tonetti, “I don’t take his opinion.” Tonetti then left as Baldwin still had another hour of various opinions to give.
The opinions of the Town’s Highway Superintendent, Jeff Weinstock, are harder to ignore. Not everyone will agree with what Weinstock says, but almost everyone seems to perk up when he does say something. He’s an elected official who says what he wants to say whether anyone wants to hear it or not.
Councilman Doug Clark noted that it would be a good idea for a five year asset management plan made of the Town’s assets. As the Highway Department has the most assets this would fall largely on Weinstock.
“Bruce [Baldwin] and I years ago worked out a 12 year plan,” said Weinstock. “And each year there are different people up there [on the Board]. So basically that plan went out the window.” The Highway Superintendent noted the difficulty in fixing a life span on equipment that can break down at any time.
“Government is under fire,” said Clark. “People want to be sure their tax dollars are going to be spent correctly.”
Much of those tax dollars in New Lebanon are spent maintaining the roads, and Weinstock, for one, feels that there are enough roads already. Some taxpayers disagree. These would be those residents who live in the Covenant Circle development, who, a few months back, once again brought up their desire for the Town to take over their road. The developer who developed that area seems to have made the promise that New Lebanon would be happy to have another road to plow, repair and rebuild.
A Road Of Gold
“You could build a road of gold,” said Weinstock, “and it doesn’t mean the Town is going to take it over.”
Which turns out to be true. The Town’s Attorney, Andy Howard, was tasked by Town Supervisor Mike Benson with looking into the case which goes back to the late 80s. “The Town Supervisor asked me, ‘Were their certain promises made?’” said Howard. “They didn’t exist.” According to Howard there is no record that New Lebanon had ever said it would take the road, and one of the reasons seems to be that an “offering never occurred.”
Howard said, “It’s like they were marching toward the goal line, and at the 10 yard line they stopped.”
The developing at Covenant Circle however did not stop but continued onward and upward.
“When they went up the hill,” said Weinstock, “that’s when we were out of the picture.” The roads built there appear not to meet Town guidelines. “I explained to them meeting after meeting after meeting what needs to be done,” said Weinstock. “They don’t have the money.”
“Some of this stuff in writing would help,” pointed out Clark. Weinstock’s meetings seem to be missing from the file. Clark would like to see an independent engineer go up and assess the road situation.
Howard noted that no matter what happens now “there would be no legal obligation on the part of the Town” to take over the road in the future.
Benson said he would issue a letter to the Covenant Circle taxpayers next week. “We are not anywhere near resolving the issue,” he said.
The Town’s closed landfill however might be closer to a resolution. “We do have an approved closure plan,” said Benson. It has been presented to the DEC and Columbia County. A decision might be made as soon as May; “But more likely June or July,” said Benson. The plan is for the Town to avoid paying any of the closure and maintenance costs. The closed landfill would have to maintained for thirty years. “In my opinion,” said Clark, the Town is off the hook since it was their [the County’s] land fill.”
Route 20 Detour
What definitely will be closing, as of April 22, is Route 20 at the bridge over the Wyomanock Creek next to the State Police barracks. For approximately 60 days traffic will be diverted over Old US 20 toward the High School while the NYSDOT does some repairs.
“Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” asked Weinstock. Trucks coming off of Lebanon Mountain often arrive in town with their brakes smoking. “The only place they are going to go is onto that ball field” at the High School. Benson said he would contact NYSDOT to see about possibly re-routing trucks.
Some more road problems along Route 20 were brought up. The library would like to make Tilden Road more parking friendly for library patrons. Clark suggested adding some crushed gravel to the sides of the road, noting that the Town had access to 3 rods on either side.
Weinstock wondered why this hadn’t been referred to him. Councilman K.B. Chittenden seconded that wonderment. “Its Jeff’s decision. It should be up to the Highway Superintendent,” he said.
Clark pointed out that referring items to Weinstock, whose office is about 25 feet from the Town Hall, is problematic as Weinstock doesn’t use email. “In this day and age, having a Highway Superintendent without an email address is ridiculous,” said Clark.
Weinstock was of the opinion that the Library should contact the Tilden Plaza people since for years there had been No Parking signs put up on that road “restricting the people who owned that land from using their land,” and now all of a sudden the library would like actual parking there.
West Lebanon Water
Going further west on Route 20, one comes to Schoolhouse Road, parts of which at times could be called Schoolhouse Causeway. The residents live there on a little archipelago of higher grounds surrounded by swamps and ponds and streams and often a mixture of all three. They would prefer to live on dry land like most of the rest of New Lebanon. The problem is determining what to do with the water and just who is going to do it.
NYSDOT say it’s not their problem, as does the County. Weinstock has worked on drainage, but there isn’t much that can be done when you have no place to drain it to. Nobody wants to talk to DEC. “DEC just makes it hard to do anything,” said Clark. Weinstock said DEC would “spank” him if he does anything without a permit. If the Town gets a permit he will attempt something, but part of the solution might be excavation on private land which wouldn’t be possible unless those landowners agreed. Some in that area apparently don’t want anyone on their land. So the problem gets worse.
Mike Smith, of the Town’s Planning Board, thought that part of the problem is construction above the area. “Destruction of woodlands is causing that water,” said Smith. “More water comes off that hill every year.”
“That’s a good observation,” said Clark, “we should contact the Planning Board.” And that is pretty much the type of circular response residents there can expect for some time to come.
That part of New Lebanon is West Lebanon. It’s pretty much forgotten unless the race track does or doesn’t do something. Lately the track did something, which is submit their usual campground permit, so West Lebanon was back on the map for a few minutes. This year the Speedway expects to finally complete the mandates of previous permits and get their crosswalks and lighting sorted out. “They feel very comfortable this work will be done,” said attorney Howard. The campground permit was granted but with the contingencies that they pay whatever fees will need to be paid and complete the safety work by July 1.
West Lebanon will now be left in the mud until either July 1 or a race fan gets run over while crossing the road, whichever comes first. In the mean time a revitalization strategy is under way for the Miracle Mile that could use a miracle. “The idea is to do a plan so we aren’t just stumbling along,” said Clark. Also, the Town could use some more money. The taxpayers don’t really want to give any more of their money, so “We need to grow our commercial tax base,” said Clark, “not to mention, it would be nice to have a grocery store.”
One way of attracting new businesses would be to pre-develop and pre-permit parcels of land to make them shovel ready.
Revitalization Plan
“We are on more of a downward spiral than an upward spiral, and I would like to change that,” Clark said. His proposal is to hire Behan Planning Associates to put together a plan toward revitalizing the Routes 22 and 20 corridor, and at the same time have them look into grants that could fund future projects. Clark wanted $10,000 for Behan although he sees the full project coming closer to $20,000. The missing $10,000 would be paid for with grants and private donations.
“I know it’s a little bit of a leap of faith,” said Clark, “but I feel this guy [Behan] is the best fit.”
Benson, Clark and Baldwin took that leap and voted yes to hire Behan for not more than $10,000 of Town money. Chittenden abstained from leaping. Larabee stayed put with a “nay.” New Lebanon will leap.
Residents who missed the public Sidewalk Hearing in March, or those who went and had such a wonderful time that they’d like to go again, are in luck. A follow-up meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 14 at 7 pm. The calendar on the Town’s website at TownofNewLebanon.com or the Town Clerk’s Office should be consulted closer to the meeting date to determine if the date is finalized.[/private]