New Lebanon Town Board Action – Presentations On Preservation

by Thaddeus Flint
The New Lebanon monthly Town Board meeting Monday seemed more like a historic conservation conference than a board meeting and the theme for that night was preservation.
Fran Martino of the Greater Stockport Creek Watershed Alliance started the night off explaining how New Lebanon’s water resources were connected to the Stockport Creek Watershed, a watershed that extends all the way from Massachusetts to the Hudson River. According to the Alliance “The Stockport Creek is formed by the confluence of the Kinderhook and Claverack in the Town of Stockport, Columbia County; Kinderhook Creek drains the northern 63% of the Stockport Creek Watershed, and Claverack Creek drains the remaining 37% in the southern part of the watershed. The Stockport Creek Watershed is the second largest tributary watershed to the tidal Hudson River. Water in 26 municipalities are captured by the Stockport Creek Watershed. Fifty-six percent of Columbia County, 20% of Rensselaer County, and 2% of Berkshire County drain to tide water at the mouth of Stockport Creek.” The Alliance is concerned with the preservation of this area and asked that the Town Board grant them permission to post a sign near the Kinderhook creek with information on how people can find out more on how the alliance is working towards protecting the waters of the area. The Board voted unanimously to allow this and also agreed to add information and signage at the Town Hall.
Open Space Inventory
Trina Porte of the Town’s Conservation Advisory Council then asked the Board for permission to create an Open Space Inventory (OSI). An OSI of the Town would allow the Council to further their work on preserving some of the area’s still intact land tracts. By doing so she hoped to ensure future scenic tourism to the region. Her request was passed unanimously as well.
Seniors
Valerie Richmond of the Healthcare Consortium then spoke to the Board on preservation of some of the Town’s most important assets: their senior citizens. As Kathy Murnane of the Town’s Senior Advisory Committee would later explain, 25% of the residents of New Lebanon are senior citizens. In fact Columbia County is the #1 county in the State with residents of the population over the age of 85. “It’s in the water,” said Town Supervisor Margaret Robertson, as to why so many residents here live to such advanced ages. Richmond explained how new rules allowed greater reimbursements of the Part B premiums for Medicare to seniors with a monthly income of around $1240. The Consortium is available to help seniors apply for Medicare, makes sure they get the services they are entitled to, and can even provide free transportation for non-emergency health care visits anywhere in the area, even to Albany. She also explained how under the Affordable Health Care Act many seniors now qualify for free preventative tests and screenings such as flu shots, diabetes, cholesterol levels, and breast, cervical, and prostate cancer. Seniors or their families are urged to contact the Consortium at 518-822-8020 or through their website at http://www.columbiahealthnet.org/.
Historical Society
Next up was Doug Banker of the Lebanon Valley Historical Society. Banker asked for the Board’s support for a project the Society was working on with the Columbia County Local History Collaborative to produce a map of the area’s historical attractions. The first phase would be a paper map showing historical places in the county. The second phase envisions a smart phone application that would work in conjunction with GPS which would alert visitors when they were in the vicinity of a historical area and explain its nature. Board member Doug Clark was especially pleased with such a project that could further the Town’s economy. “I think it’s important for business,” he said, “good history is good business.” A motion was made to support the project and see if the Town could in the future somehow donate funds towards its completion. A vote found all members of the Board in favor of the project.
Land Conservancy
Tony Colyer-Pendas of the Columbia Land Conservancy then made a presentation to the Board. The Conservancy “works with the community to conserve the farmland, forests, wildlife habitat, and rural character of Columbia County.” Colyer-Pendas asked the Board for a letter of support from the Town for its application for a grant to preserve the Mount Lebanon Forest which buffers the Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum, Darrow School, and the Shaker swamp. The State Department of Environmental Conservation has decided the Conservancy’s project is the only project it supports this year.  “This is the best news I’ve had all day,” said Robertson. The letter of support was granted by the Board with all in favor.
Clark then made a motion that the Board approve an application for a grant to the Hudson River Valley Greenway for a project to envision how the Route 20/22 corridor could look in the future. According to the Hudson River Valley Greenway, the “Greenway Communities Grant Program provides grant funding to help communities develop and implement a vision for their future that balances Greenway criteria of economic development considerations with resource protection and promotion objectives.” A grant would fund a competition to envision a redesign of that section of the Town without changing the properties currently there. There would be both an amateur and a professional category of the contest, with cash prizes for finalists. This motion was also passed with all in favour.
It might seem strange that after so many resolutions were passed by the Town Board of “Historic New Lebanon” (as the road signs on the entrances of the community now read) in favor of the preservation of the Town’s history, that someone would then have to get up and chastise the Town for allowing one of its historical sites to be destroyed. Yet when the privilege of the floor came up, Christine Dreyfus of the Lebanon Valley Historical Society did just that. “This is an unusually up-beat meeting,” she said, “so I guess I will be the down-beat.” Dreyfus upbraided the board for showing no real effort to express its will toward the New Lebanon School Board in preserving the Union Free School building, a building the school board voted to demolish on August 31, as the town’s next town hall. “Only Margaret (Robertson) made a real effort,” she stated, “this is prejudice rather than prudence.” The nationally registered landmark is expected now to become a parking lot just in time for the school’s softball season.
Kudos To Winestock
The meeting ended with thanks to the Town’s Highway Superintendent, Jeff Winestock for his team’s work during Hurricane Irene and the flood of the next week. “When we were still hunkered down in our homes at 3 am, you were all still out there keeping the water out,” said Robertson. Matt Larabee of the Town’s Emergency Management unit agreed, “Jeff, you did a hell of a job,” he said.