Owner Objects to Taking of Sewer Easement
A Public Hearing was held prior to the regular meeting of the Hoosick Falls Village Board of Trustees to hear comments on an eminent domain proceeding. The village wants an easement across a parcel owned by Jack Cataneo between Classic Street and the river, near Church Street.
Village Attorney Andrew Gilchrist introduced the subject by saying the Village is trying to work with the property owner to acquire an easement across this property, but has so far not been successful. He said the Village will continue to work with the property owner on this, as it would be preferable to come to an agreement with the property owner. But he said the public works project cannot go forward until an easement has been secured, and the Village will go forward with eminent domain proceeding to acquire the easement if necessary.
The first to speak was Shelly Stiles, who is one of the leaders of the greenway committee. She said the utility easement that the Village is seeking is shortsighted because it does not seek access to the Greenway from Church Street. She would like the Village to seek full ownership of the parcel. but even if it seeks only an easement, she would like to see a more comprehensive easement that would allow public access and permit resurfacing, passage for maintenance vehicles, and perhaps allow gates to be put up on it if necessary.
At this point Mr. Cataneo identified himself and came forward to speak to the Board. He said he was a decorated member of the NY State Highway Patrol, now retired. He said he does not want to sell any of his four properties in Hoosick Falls nor easements. He said they will be sold as a package. He said, “I don’t want you to lay hands on my property.”
He then recommended a book, a post-apocalyptic novel called “On the Beach” which came out in 1957, and the movie of the same name that was made of it two years later in 1959. He said the movie starred Ava Gardner, who was very beautiful, and the point of bringing all this up was that he considered the falls below the Shop Bridge to be very beautiful, and he said the falls there are “my Ava Gardner.” He handed to each of the Board members a picture of the falls to illustrate his point.
He said he had planned to put in a restaurant with a view of the falls and even produced a business card with the name and description of his (unbuilt) restaurant. He was apparently unable to get financing for the restaurant. He also handed out to each Board member a list of tax payments made in the 1970s which was compiled by Ann Bornt in 1999 at his request, but when Bob Ryan asked him why an 18 year old document describing payments made 40 years ago was relevant to the present situation, he didn’t seem to have an answer.
His message to the Board, though, was very clear: “Keep your hands off my property.” He said he was not using the language that he wanted to use because he wanted to keep it civil and polite.
Later in the meeting, the Board voted unanimously to find it to be in the public interest to acquire the easement being sought, and agreed to make a formal written offer for the full appraised price of the utility easement, which is $1500. Attorney Gilchrist said the formal offer has to remain open for 90 days. If the Village has not come to any agreement with Cataneo by the end of the 90 days, the Village will move forward with acquiring the easement by eminent domain, and a court procedure will establish the fair market value of the easement, which will be paid to Mr. Cataneo. Gilchrist said the Village will argue that the fair market value is $1500, because that is what it was appraised for, but it could be subject to revision based on any evidence presented by Cataneo or his counsel.
New Highway Garage
The Village received three responses to the RFQ it recently put out for a design and engineering firm to design the new highway garage. MRB, LaBerge, and Barton & Loguidice each sent their qualifications. Members of the Village Board had already reviewed these submissions prior to the Board meeting, and they seemed to have a consensus that they preferred MRB. A motion was made to hire MRB to design the new highway garage and supervise construction, and it passed unanimously. The Village has a grant of approximately $1 million to build the new garage.
Technical Assistance
The Board heard a presentation from Kirby Webster of SKEO Solutions, who is the contractor for the EPA charged with completing a Technical Assistance Needs Assessment. This will involve talking to as many interested members of the community as possible and assessing what can be done to facilitate communication between the community and the government authorities who are managing the PFOA cleanup, in order to ensure that the community understands what is being done and is able to participate in the decision-making process. Webster will produce a report detailing her findings with recommendations for EPA technical assistance. She said the report is expected to be completed in a “Januaryish timeframe.”
In other news:
• Mayor Allen said he has had multiple conversations about the progress of the DEC project to find the Village a new water source. The agency is close to having a draft report ready but they are reviewing it within the government and Allen said he expects the report to be released after the new year, perhaps in January.
• The Village passed a motion to put out an RFP for engineering services for the Snow St. Water project, which will be grant-funded.
• The Village set the date and time for the Village election for March 20 from noon to 9 pm at the Municipal Building. Trustees Bob Downing and Ben Patton are up for re-election.
• A committee consisting of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, and the building inspector was authorized to advertise the Village-owned house at 62 Mechanic Street for sale with whatever conditions and requirements of the buyer that they would like to include, to be reviewed by Village Attorney Andrew Gilchrist.
• Mayor Allen announced that Civicure has decided to apply for RestoreNY funds to renovate the Wood Block next year because they don’t feel they are ready yet to put together a strong package for this year’s application deadline.
• The Board agreed to extend its service agreement with ERCSWMA for another year. The annual fee to ERCSWMA is $17,962.
• The Board gave permission to Lynne Mango and Maria Rousseau to decorate the Village for the Holidays.