fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Village of New Paltz to purchase 64.5-acre parcel to complete core of Mill Brook Preserve

by Frances Marion Platt
April 14, 2016
in Politics & Government
0
New Paltz resident Rachel Lagodka and her dog Paco on a hike at the Mill Brook Preserve. (photo by Lauren Thomas)
New Paltz resident Rachel Lagodka and her dog Paco on a hike at the Mill Brook Preserve. (photo by Lauren Thomas)

Culminating more than a decade of study, planning and negotiation following the “Beavergate” trapping controversy of the early 20-aughts, preservation of a continuous wildlife corridor running all the way from Woodland Pond’s forever-wild acreage to the Duzine School’s back yard is finally about to become a reality. On July 22, the New Paltz Village Board unanimously passed three resolutions enabling the village to become the owner of a 64.5-acre parcel owned by Peter Bienstock under the name of Shawangunk Reserve, Inc. Formerly known as Stoneleigh Woods, the property constitutes the missing link in the long-envisioned tract of protected lands to be known as the Mill Brook Preserve.

The first resolution authorizes mayor Tim Rogers to enter into a contract of sale for the property, names the village lead agency for State Environmental Quality Review and issues a Negative Declaration of adverse environmental impacts for the land project. The second resolution allows the village to issue bids for financing of up to $650,000, the property’s listed purchase price. And the third adopts an Intermunicipal Management Agreement (IMA) between the village and the town regarding their respective financial responsibilities for capital improvements to the Preserve, such as trails, bridges and a parking lot. At its meeting the following evening, the Town Board also voted to authorize town supervisor Susan Zimet to finalize and execute the IMA.

Mayor Rogers explained that the village will be solely responsible for the costs of acquisition and maintenance of the parcel, but the costs of improvements will be shared proportionally based on the amount of acreage that each municipality owns within the Mill Brook Preserve lands. “No improvements will be made unless we both agree,” said village trustee Tom Rocco. “The town and the village have to be on the same page.”

Supervisor Zimet said that, although a budget has not been finalized for the entire project, “we have to fast-track” the IMA in order for village planner Dave Gilmour to submit a grant proposal by the July 31 deadline. The village is seeking a grant of up to $500,000 in Environmental Protection Fund monies from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which will require local matching funds of 25 percent.

According to town councilman Marty Irwin, the terms of the agreement require that if the newly added Preserve lands are not officially designated parkland by June 30, 2016, a conservation easement must be executed to protect them permanently. The project represents the fulfillment of a longtime dream for Irwin, who chaired the town’s Clean Water and Open Space Protection Commission (CWOSPC, formerly called the Open Space Commission or OSC) until his recent appointment to the Town Board, and has been an active member of the Friends of the Mill Brook Preserve citizens’ group, founded by Julie and Mike Lillis. One of the most enthusiastic Friends, he reported, is the Lillises’ daughter Bridget, who at age seven sold lemonade to raise funds for the Preserve and gathered 66 signatures on a “pitichon” to save it.

Irwin also credited CWOSPC’s Seth McKee and Michael Zierler for laying much of the groundwork on establishing the ecosystems value of the Mill Brook Preserve lands. “This is their vision,” he said. According to studies done in 2003 by Erik Kiviat of Hudsonia, cited in the Management Plan for the Mill Brook Preserve released in August 2014 (and accessible on the Town of New Paltz website), the area is home to a rare and vulnerable reptile species, the wood turtle. Several protected bird and plant species have also been identified in the Preserve. On a recent hike through the area, this correspondent startled a muskrat and two deer, heard the “Who cooks for youuuuu?” call of the barred owl and watched a beaver, apparently unafraid of human company, patrolling the pond where its lodge of piled sticks sits on a small island.

The varied terrain of the Mill Brook Preserve provides significant wildlife habitat and supports a diversity of plant and animal species. Much of it consists of wetlands forming the watershed of the stream known colloquially as the Mill Brook and more drily and formally labeled Tributary 13 of the Wallkill River by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Consequently, the existing trails — many of them no wider than deer paths — tend to be circuitous, wending their way around the swampy, wildlife-rich low-lying areas. There are also uplands featuring hardwoods and a five-acre hemlock stand. The map of proposed trails prepared by engineers Brinnier & Larios is of some help to exploration, but novice visitors would be wise to turn on a GPS as well upon entering the trail system. Long pants and socks are also highly advisable, since poison ivy is abundant and difficult to avoid in the narrower passages.

Town and village officials expect the terms of the purchase agreement to be finalized in the very near future, with trail-widening, bridge-building and parking-lot-designating to begin soon thereafter. The critters of the Mill Brook watershed will thenceforward be forever protected from suburban development, but they’ll likely have to get used to an upsurge in the number of human passers-by.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Byrdcliffe hosts ARTBARN’s site-specific theater piece The Circle

Next Post

Busy summer for Saugerties lifeguards

Frances Marion Platt

Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.

Related Posts

New Paltz Town Board member Esi Lewis hired as County’s Chief Diversity Officer
Politics & Government

New Paltz Town Board member Esi Lewis hired as County’s Chief Diversity Officer

February 5, 2023
Congressman Pat Ryan calls for Central Hudson president to resign
Politics & Government

Congressman Pat Ryan calls for Central Hudson president to resign

February 2, 2023
Uproar in New Paltz over plan to abandon green electricity
Politics & Government

Village of Saugerties mulls joining CCA this spring

February 2, 2023
At Saugerties sewer plant, water disposal isn’t as simple as you might think
Politics & Government

Saugerties sewer plant in need of mechanical upgrade

February 2, 2023
Saugerties contractor works towards correcting previous building violations
Politics & Government

New Paltz discusses proposed zoning code update

February 1, 2023
Woodstock Library feels it can move ahead without exemption to zoning law
Politics & Government

Councilman Bennet Ratcliff challenges McKenna for Woodstock supervisor

January 31, 2023
Next Post

Busy summer for Saugerties lifeguards

Trending News

  • One-man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.7k views
  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 2k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 1.8k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 1.7k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.2k views
  • Neighbors protest Ulster County Veterans’ Cemetery flagpole spotlights 754 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
43°
Cloudy
7:02 am5:17 pm EST
Feels like: 36°F
Wind: 13mph N
Humidity: 60%
Pressure: 30.06"Hg
UV index: 0
TueWedThu
41/32°F
48/27°F
39/36°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing