There have been many changes to Hasbrouck Park in New Paltz since it was first given over to the village in perpetuity in 1923. Among the suggestions of what to put there since have been a swimming pool, a howitzer and a high school, although only one of those was ever established there. A proposal to expand this village park while also reducing the sense of danger to pedestrians in the area has now moved to the top of the list because it’s going to help wean the community off of water claimed by the people of the City of New York. The biggest hurdle — passing a state law to allow what’s called “alienation” of parkland near Moriello Pool — looked to have been cleared as the legislative session in Albany drew to a close. There is still some state aid that’s due to pay for this project, but with a state law requiring that the work be completed, the hope is that the state funding won’t be further delayed.
Why a state law was required is because once land is declared to be a park, it cannot be used for any other purpose without state lawmakers giving their approval. What’s more, the process of rescinding parkland — called alienation — requires that land of the same or greater value be pressed into service as park in exchange. Parkland is afforded a great deal of protection in New York, but so are sources of water. Mayor Tim Rogers has been focused on developing local water resources, because purchasing local water that has been shunted into the Catskill aqueduct is costly. Test wells in a distant corner of Moriello Park determined that some strong wells could be sited there, but the requirements for water sources meant that some of that land had to be alienated to comply with different requirements.
This is land that’s next to the Community Center, and a good deal farther back than the pool and other recreational facilities. Even though no one was using it for recreation, it still must be replaced with something of equal or greater value. Casting about for alternatives, village officials set upon the intersection of Elting and Mohonk avenues, where the old pickleball and basketball courts are across from St. Joseph’s Church. This is another intersection where, like the one at South Chestnut Street and Mohonk Avenue, the corner appears to have been designed for the convenience of motorists and the detriment of pedestrians. In this case, someone on foot must cross an asphalt expanse to reach the safety of a sidewalk because the road comes right up to the rock escarpment. The proposal is to add about a thousand square feet of parkland by squaring off that corner, which would also slow down drivers and reduce the distance from one sidewalk to the other.
As determined by the town assessor, the Moriello land lost to the park is worth $600 an acre, while the portion to be added at Hasbrouck runs $37,200 an acre, meeting with the approval of state bureaucrats as a fair trade. The pavement will be ripped up and replaced with grass, making for a sitting area that will also slow storm water runoff. If the proposed skate garden is built at the former playground site just above this new area, it will be easier to access from this expanded portion of park than it otherwise would be from that direction.
Those ball courts are not in the best of condition, as some residents have recently observed. There have been some years of deferred maintenance, and by the time Rogers took office in 2015 it became more about overhauling them than repairing them. That’s why this has been part of several applications for state aid for capital recreation projects. While that funding has thus far proven evasive, the usual practice with competitive state grants is to apply year after year until the money comes through. Rogers is hopeful to find a way forward to complete improvements in this expanded lower park level in that manner.
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