Lovers Lane Parcel Sale Denied
By Thaddeus Flint
A vote by the New Lebanon Town Board at its June 12 meeting, recommending that Columbia County sell a parcel of land to the Corkscrew Rail Trail Association (CRTA) , failed, even after a majority of residents voiced –several times—their favor of the project.
The results were two supporting the sale—Town Supervisor Colleen Teal and Councilman Norman Rasmussen, and three against — Councilmen Mark Baumli, Kevin Smith, and Jesse Newton. The parcel, a run-down property at 16 Lovers Lane which has sat vacant for years, was offered to the Association by the County after the CRTA drafted a proposal to add the parcel to the current trail’s footprint. The parcel was going to auction in March, but the County removed it from the sale after it decided “that this was the best use for the property,” according to CRTA president Joe Ogilvie.
Anyone who goes to Town Board meetings in New Lebanon has been hearing about this ever since then. It keeps coming back up and people keep coming back — again and again — to voice their support for having a trail in their Town. In May a Public Hearing was held at the Firehouse because the people who keep coming back each time keep growing in numbers as well. There wouldn’t have been enough space at the Town Hall, which usually has plenty of empty seats at most meetings. At the Public Hearing, resident Judy Zimmer summed up what a few others had also said: It would call into “question if [the Town Board] are really respecting their constituents on this,” should a future vote be once again against the sale, she said.
It was, and some started calling out that question from pretty much the moment the voting ended. Actually, there were three votes, because it’s New Lebanon and that how things work there. The first vote struck down supporting the project, and the second—on a motion made by Councilman Baumli, that “the Town of New Lebanon recommend the County Board of Supervisors put the property back up to bid at the next auction available”—passed with Baumli, Smith, and Newton voting Yea, and Teal and Rasmussen Nay.
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” resident Cynthia Creech pointed out a little later in the meeting. How could “the Town of New Lebanon” recommend the property be put back up to auction, if the majority of the “Townspeople” that had taken the time to voice their opinion on the project would never have recommended anything of the sort? “The motion itself says the ‘the Town of New Lebanon,” not the Town Board, added resident Christine Dreyfus, “and that is incorrect.”
“Right. But that was the motion,” replied Town Clerk Tistrya Houghtling.
And that’s the motion that will go to the County. The third vote, which passed with all in favor, was to also send along all of the minutes and correspondence in regard to the sale, which shows overwhelming support by those who make up the Town of New Lebanon.
“Despite insisting on a public hearing to find out what the public thought about the sale, and hearing more than 50 out of 57 people speak in favor of the sale, the New Lebanon Town Board decided to ignore the will of their constituents and voted against supporting an initiative that will be a great benefit to the town,” said CRTA member Bruce Shenker in an email after the meeting.
Will the County (which presumably has more important things to worry about than a property it listed with a starting bid of $500) listen to the Board, or to the people who make up the Town? Two County committees have already voted unanimously recommending selling the property to the CRTA. The Columbia County Board of Supervisors is expected to make its final decision at its meeting on July 11.
The reasoning behind the votes against supporting the sale to the CRTA isn’t because these politicians are against a trail that might one day be a safe, quiet thoroughfare linking businesses, the High School and even the Town Hall, so residents could avoid the Routes 20 & 22 corridor many people would avoid if they had any chance to. The reasoning is partly taxes. Councilman Baumli is of the opinion that every acre owned by tax-exempt organizations is one more acre that doesn’t pay taxes. This has been disputed often, as it was at the Public Hearing by Christine Vanderlan, a Projects Manager with the Columbia Country Land Conservancy, who said: “Our Board of Directors has a long standing policy that they approve donating voluntary payments to communities…at the tax value of the property when we acquire it.” According to Baumli that’s true, but not exactly true. The Town, he says, gets this payment, but not the schools, or the County. So residents must still make up the missing payments. “Thaddeus didn’t pick up on it in his article [in the Eastwick Press on the Rail Trail public hearing],” said Baumli. The councilman is correct. Since Thaddeus is me, I can attest that Thaddeus truly didn’t pick up on it. Probably because “it” is confusing. Also, nobody said anything about that. There are lands added to State Parks and Forests, to conservation trusts, or with easements attached to them. These might or might not be taxed and various governments might or might not get voluntary payments made on them even if they aren’t taxed. Even the Board seemed confused as to who gets what from whom. Supervisor Teal, however, said she would try to work with the Assessor, Kim Cammer, to put together a report on the subject by the July meeting.
The other reason for the no votes, is that conserved land is land that usually can’t be built on, ever. Councilman Newton said that this is diminishing the number of smaller lots that people who would like to build on in the Town have to choose from. It also could drive up prices of land and already built homes. Currently on the real estate website Zillow, 41 properties come up for a search in New Lebanon, with the cheapest being a 1.8 acre lot on Mill Road for $17,900. At the other end of that spectrum is a 4 bedroom house with 413 acres off of West Hill road for $1,295,000. Choices, choices.
Many of the residents who are in favor of the Rail Trail said they found Routes 20 and 22 to be unsafe to ride and walk on. They aren’t even that much fun to drive on. Route 22 is particularly getting a lot of attention lately ever since signs went up alongside its crumbling shoulders providing the phone number of NYSDOT Region 8 Acting Regional Director Lance MacMillan in case motorists wanted to discuss how they were going to get paid for damages done to their vehicles. Either Lance has little say in the matter, or his phone is on mute, because Supervisor Teal said she recently received a letter from NYSDOT that didn’t say a lot and was “not very well received.” The New Lebanon section apparently is not important enough to fix this year. Or next year. Maybe 2020, but who knows? The Supervisor said that isn’t “sufficient,” and New Lebanon and the Town of Canaan plan to work together toward getting repairs done sooner.
Spectrum internet also isn’t sufficient—Teal actually called it a “complete disaster”–especially the company’s customer service, if that service even exists. She also used the words “ridiculous” and “horrendous,” to which Councilman Baumli added “horrible” and “havoc.” Spectrum might actually be proud, though, since the apparent goal of the company seems to be to surpass Comcast as the most hated internet company in the Country. A motion was passed with all in favor allowing the Supervisor to publish a media release full of similar words. The Town of Ghent recently did the same and used words like “confusion” and “misinformation” and “less than adequate performance,” which came to the surprise of probably no one.
Announcements:
June 11 to 29, free document shredding at the Town Hall.
June 23, NL200 reenactment of NL seceding from The Crown, place and time to be announced.
July 10, regular monthly Town Board meeting.
July 15, Music in the Park, Shatford Park 1 to 4 pm.