The Board Learns That New Tennis Courts Are Expensive
by Thaddeus Flint
New Lebanon’s “beaten to death” tennis courts will get beaten a little more to death before they are brought back to life, it was more or less decided at last Tuesday’s monthly Board meeting.
Obviously if this is the highlight of a Town meeting, things in Town aren’t all that bad. However for those hoping to perfect their fluffy yellow ball chasing on a brand new court before the year ends, it’s not going to happen.
[private]The reasons boil down, as most reasons do, to time and money.
“We have beaten this to death over the last year,” said Town Supervisor Mike Benson. And it might have beaten just a bit too long, as October is late in the bid and construction season to get much done.
Two companies did, however, submit bids to rebuild the courts before they are covered in snow. HMA Contracting of Mechanicville bid $85,620 and W.E. Williams Paving of Stockbridge bid $86,180.
“Eighty-five thousand for tennis courts seems like an awful lot of money to me,” said Councilman Chuck Geraldi. “We don’t have the money in the budget for this year.”
Benson pointed out that between twenty and twenty five thousand has already been earmarked for the repair of the courts, but “we are currently a long ways away from $85,000.”
The Supervisor proposed asking the bidders to hold their bids open until next April while the matter is beaten over a little bit more during the upcoming budget meetings.
Where the missing $60,000 would come from, nobody knew. “I don’t know what we haven’t explored, except the Town buying a lottery ticket,” Benson said.
With a vote of all in favor, except Councilman Matt Larabee who was absent, it was decided to ask that the bids be held open until Spring while the Board tries to figure out how to pay for something that would cost about 5% of the entire proposed budget for 2016.
Benson’s proposed budget for 2016 is $1,695,978 with an expected tax levy that is 17% less than this years. Obviously that could change, especially if additional funds are added for the fuzzy yellow ball asphalt.
Residents who like nothing more than to spend hours listening to the minute details of where all that money is coming from and where it all is expected to go are welcome to attend the two final scheduled budget meetings in the upcoming weeks. These will be Wednesday October 21, at 6 pm and Thursday October 29 at 7 pm, both at the Town Hall.
According to Bruce Shenker of the Columbia County Environmental Management Council, one way New Lebanon could save money in the future is by becoming a Climate Smart Community. Going Green, it turns out, can be good for the bottom line. Shenker asked that time be set aside at a future Board meeting for Robin Reynolds of Climate Change Associates who will talk about the state’s “Climate Smart Communities” program, a joint initiative of six state agencies.
“We would approve of this,” said Cynthia Creech of the Conservation Advisory Council. The Board agreed, and Reynolds is expected to be added to the November agenda.
Also under economic development, the Town’s supermarket, or the lack thereof actually, was momentarily brought back to life. Benson updated the Board on a meeting he had over the summer with Max Gitter of the Economic Development Committee and Michael Rosen, president of the Food Industry Alliance (FIA) which represents most of the supermarkets in the five state area.
Rosen sent out an email blast to all FIA members “essentially pleading for a supermarket for New Lebanon,” said Benson. “He got one response.”
Shoprite was that one, but they would be looking for around 25,000 to 30,000 square feet.
“I’m not optimistic,” Benson said. “That’s big for New Lebanon.” However Shoprite does have a store in the 15,000 square foot range which could be a better fit. “Regardless, we are going to try it,” said the Supervisor.
Under Zoning, Planning and Code Enforcement, Geraldi announced that Building/Planning/Zoning administrator Cissy Hernandez was successful in obtaining a State grant of $28,000 which will be used to digitize the Town’s planning and zoning maps and possibly one day get them online. According to Town Clerk Colleen Teal, this was a “very, very difficult” grant to get.
The night ended with resident Steve Clarson asking what the effect might be if the Wyomanock Creek does one day become designated as an “Inland Waterway,” which is the hope of the Conservation Advisory Council. Clarson, whose property borders the Creek, is worried that such a designation might open the waterway to boaters. Clarson said that he had read that the Creek would become “navigable.”
Creech, who has been spearheading the designation Inland Waterway on behalf of the CAC, said that there was nothing in the new designation that would make the Creek navigable, and that the intention was to allow the Town to apply for grants that would allow repair and development of the Wyomanock along the Corkscrew Rail Trail and possibly even the Shaker Swamp.
The idea that the Wyomanock could support boating had some residents laughing. For most of the year that Creek is not much more than a trickle as it meanders its way through Town to the Kinderhook. “I don’t know that the Wyomanock could support a boat,” said Creech.
The State of NY, however, might disagree and court cases have been fought over just the type of activity Clarson is worried about. However the Inland Waterway designation itself would not be responsible for allowing or creating the usage. In New York, if a waterway could be used for recreation, even for just a few days a year, it could be considered Navigable-In-Fact and open that body of water up to boaters. With the popularity of kayaks increasing, and their ability to operate in just inches of water, it is actually possible that these boaters could use the Wyomanock to legally paddle through Clarson’s property after a large rainfall. The Kinderhook Creek in Stephentown, for example, is not much larger than the Wyomanock in New Lebanon, however it is featured in several guides for whitewater kayakers. And the public’s rights aren’t just limited to the river itself. In the case of obstructions, paddlers are permitted to portage over private land.
Finally, Fire Chief Ben Wheeler asked that homeowners take the time to have their chimneys cleaned and inspected. “It’s that time of the year again,” he said. “If you don’t, we will. At 3 am.”[/private]