Your Award-Winning News Source for the Upper Delaware River Valley Region Since 1975
Vol. 40 No. 47
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NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2014
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www.riverreporter.com
$1.50
Cochecton adopts 2015 budget, imposes grease fines
Neighbors object to DOT plan Retaining walls, guardrails to be installed By FRITZ MAYER
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OUNGSVILLE, NY — Panther Rock Creek and the Callicoon Creek, which converge in Youngsville, have flooded numerous times over the past decade, and now the state is moving to address the issue at Panther Rock. At a public hearing on November 12, a representative from the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) said the creek floods so often because the space below the bridge over the creek is too small. Root balls and trees get stuck in the opening and the water backs up and floods the surrounding buildings. The DOT’s plan to mitigate this is to raise the roadway and bridge three feet, which, because of the construction materials to be used, will actually result in the space under the bridge being four feet higher than the existing space, and reduce the amount of flooding. Jim Esposito, a DOT engineer, said the bridge is on a “flood warning bridge watch list,” and must be monitored by DOT crews whenever there is a flood warning. He said this has happened 10 times in the past 10 years, and it is expensive. He added that the bridge is still safe. Four commercial properties in the hamlet will be impacted by this plan, because three-foot-high retaining walls will need to be constructed to support the raised road in front of the buildings, and guard rails will be placed on top of the walls. For one property, the Youngsville Garage, which is owned by Callicoon town council member Scott Gaebel, there is the retaining wall and guard rail option, but there is also an option for the creation of an embankment, which would require the demolition of the garage, and require the state to purchase his building. A DOT spokesman, Dave Hamburg, said that option was created for the garage because several garage bay doors that can now be accessed from the road will no longer be usable, and the plan had to address that. He said the other property owners don’t have that situation. But the other property owners said their properties will be negatively impacted, and access to their properties will also be affected. Linda Babicz, the former town supervisor, noted that only one building owner, Gaebel, was invited to a meeting to
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By LINDA DROLLINGER
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TRR photo by Fritz Mayer
The New York Department of Transportation plans to raise the roadway over a bridge on State Route 52 in Youngsville, which will require placing retaining walls and guard rails in front of business properties.
AKE HUNTINGTON, NY — The opening talk at the November 12 Cochecton town board meeting was all about the November 5 public hearing held to review the town’s proposed 2015 budget. Board members agreed that the presentation they gave was interesting, detailed and accurate in every respect. Town residents will have to take their word for it. No one but the board attended the advertised hearing. Because there were no objections to the proposed budget, the board voted unanimously (minus absent Anna Story) to adopt it as drafted. Supervisor Gary Maas outlined the 2015 budgetary challenges that resulted in a 1.5% increase, the first in three years. A 10 to 12% increase in town employee health insurance costs, a 27% increase in New York State retirement fund costs, a long overdue sewer plant upgrade, and soaring road salt prices topped the list and led to passage of two resolutions. The first resolution was to pay the New York State and Local Retirement System invoice prior to December 15, affording the town a $996 early payment discount. It passed 4 to 0. The second resolution was to increase spending in the contractual sewer operations line, from $35,000 to $36,500. The $1,500 increase followed a $15,000 increase earlier in the year, when the need for upgrading the sewer plant with new pump, housing and purification system first became apparent. If cost is not prohibitive, the upgrade may also include transitioning from chlorine-based purification to eco-friendly ultraviolet light purification. It passed, 4 to 0. In sewer officer Michael Walter’s absence, Maas detailed sewer upgrade plans and reported that Continued on page 3
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Holiday artisan markets begin
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patrol at home in old mansion
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