New Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers sees 2023 as a year to continue to chip away at housing challenges, which are tied to just about every village government issue. It could also be an important year in an effort to anchor the present to the history of this community.
Rogers is thrilled to end the year on a hopeful note regarding the development of the Ann Oliver house into a cultural center to be named for Margaret Wade Lewis. Assembly member Kevin Cahill let the mayor know about efforts to secure $200,000 in funding for the project, which is above and beyond the $61,000 that Senator Michelle Hinchey is seeking. Restoring the old building’s integrity and remodeling it carries an estimated cost of $650,000, and given rising prices and slow supply chains, that number is much more likely to go up than down before the work is complete.
Village officials are taking this plan very seriously. Before the historical significance of this house on Broadhead Avenue was understood — it’s one of the few remaining houses built by Jacob Wynkoop to support the postbellum African American community in New Paltz — it was expected to be demolished, due to its condition. As the focal point of a racial history largely forgotten, trustees want to see this house both preserved and celebrated. The plan put forth by Esi Lewis to create in it a cultural center would accomplish this, if the money to realize it can be secured. As it happens, some state funds are easier to obtain because the house is still public, village property. The shift to nonprofit ownership is likely to open up different funding streams, but one state award that would benefit the project either way, if it comes through, is from the downtown revitalization initiative. Refurbishing that building is a significant portion of a proposal to improve the villages of New Paltz and Ellenville, connected as they are by network historic carriage roads which would be completed if the $10 million is given to this plan.
One quality that makes a downtown appealing is the ability to safely and easily walk around in it. Another call from a state official makes it clear that New Paltz could become more appealing to pedestrians. Transportation officials plan their projects out for the long haul, and Rogers has learned that the final touches are being put onto a list of sidewalk ramps to be installed along state routes 32, 208 and 299. While the mayor has long advocated for sidewalk repair, crosswalk installation and other changes, it’s not clear if these plans are tied more closely to that effort or to strategic planning that stretches out over decades. No matter the cause, Rogers is grateful it’s coming to pass. While policies can become frustrating roadblocks to change, the mayor is quick to point out that individual state workers all share both a high level of competency and a high desire to help solve local problems. It’s employees in the departments of transportation and environmental conservation that most impact life in the village, and Rogers is continually impressed with and grateful for their help.
Municipal water
Rogers seems to work on governmental problems like they are puzzles: looking at them in different ways, manipulating the pieces, trying different combinations to see what fits together. Municipal water is one such puzzle. A century ago village leaders decided that tapping into the massive new aqueduct for water was a better idea than developing local sources that weren’t being extracted for use downstate, but today Rogers sees many advantages to having a water supply that’s less dependent on the Ashokan Reservoir. New York City officials agree, and city money is promised to pay for new wells that have been drilled.
A good source potential water source was found under Moriello Park, but parkland and water supply land are not the same. A portion of the park had to be alienated — wellheads need to be safe from contamination — and that’s only possible by adding a similar amount of parkland somewhere else. An elegant solution was to use this as a chance to solve another problem, that of a dangerous intersection by Hasbrouck Park, where drivers tend to zip around the corner at a careless rate of speed. State officials gladly approved a plan to push out the park corner, calming traffic and adding a rain garden next to pickleball courts the mayor still wants to see updated. Local landscape architect Justin Dates donated plans to improve that lower part of the park in 2016, and with $98,000 in that fund Rogers wants to revisit making improvements there.
Water independence — and New York City money — are supporting the development of a fifth town water district, along Plains Road. It’s going to be connected into the village system specifically to provide water to the greater community on an emergency basis, such as when the Catskill Aqueduct is unavailable. With those hookups like to happen next year, Mayor Rogers still hopes that there will be more testing to find out what will happen when a lot of pressure is introduced to these pipes from a new direction. “No one knows how water flows with those pipes,” the mayor said; a pressure spike up on Mountain Rest Road can result in a water main break under North Chestnut Street. Redirecting water could shake loose material from iron water mains and turn water brown for a time, or possibly cause damage that wouldn’t be caught with computer modeling alone. Rogers wants there be to thorough testing before it’s needed to be turned on for users. “We’re waiting for that plan.”
Overall, the challenges of integrating two water systems in this way — even when all the municipal workers are competent and dedicated — highlights for Rogers that having a single water system for all of New Paltz, with a single operator, would be significantly more efficient.
Affordable housing
Resolving the problem of unaffordable housing is a puzzle that’s connected closely to water, as well as sewer. New Paltz housing prices have been facing upward pressure due to migration northward from New York City for many years. Due to the number of students living in the village, any rent price that’s less than the cost of a bed on campus is probably going to be accepted by a tenant. The village’s Affordable Housing Law does require that 10% of units in larger housing projects be rented at affordable rates, but that takes time to have an impact. Whether housing can be built at all is also tied to infrastructure: developers can build more densely where water and sewer systems are in place and working well. The northern leg of the North Chestnut corridor is served by a sewer pump station that’s long been in need of repair, and connecting the North Chestnut and Huguenot water mains would go a long way toward improving pressure in that part of the village. As it happens, an application for federal funding was among 15 finalists for a key award when Antonio Delgado left that congressional seat. Unfortunately, that meant starting over to secure money that Rogers thinks is “desperately” needed to support realizing this goal.
Housing density is valued by municipal planners. The more humans per acre, the lower the cost per body to maintain all the systems that are needed including those for public transportation, energy and information. The zoning along North Chestnut Street has made development potentially more profitable, and there are projects in development. One of these is at 85, across Mulberry Street from Zero Place, and will include a connector between the Empire State and Wallkill Valley Rail trails. An application regarding the former Agway property will soon be considered at planning board meetings.
Sewer capacity
Sewer capacity will ultimately determine how many people can live in this village. A conservative estimate is that the plant can handle 400,000 more gallons of waste a day. “We can’t expand the treatment plant, but we can make it more efficient,” Rogers said. Ongoing efforts to eliminate leaks and infiltration that allow rain water to flood the system is part of that effort, but eventually that maximum will be reached. “What do you do then?” the mayor asked. “Do you tell people to stop building?”
Budgeting
Budgeting is another massive puzzle. “We budget based on real numbers,” the mayor said. Costs continue to go up, costs that include not only energy and materials, but paying employees competitively to ensure that they stick around for as long as possible. At the same time, the antiquated taxation system depends almost entirely on land value, which can make increases to keep up with costs and impossible burden for some residents. Budgets while Rogers have been mayor have not included tax increases, although some fees have been bumped up. At the same time, a prioritized replacement program for village vehicles has been in place to keep work from grinding to a halt for want of a working truck. Both the public works and fire departments have benefited from the effort. DPW trucks are all serviced in-house, and village workers are able to keep them on the road long since when they might have been scrapped elsewhere. While vehicles are expensive — a new plow truck cost more than $300,000, and the last fire truck purchased was more than a million — neglecting the fleet can impact safety.
Rogers said that striking that balance requires careful prioritization, but depends more than anything on the dedication of village staffers. There’s a culture in village government of dedication, pride and respect that results in consistently high standards being met and exceeded. The current mayor doesn’t take credit for creating that culture; that’s the work of longtime leaders like Nancy Branco, the clerk-treasurer, Bleu Terwilliger, the superintendent of public works, and Corey Wirthmann, building inspector and fire chief. “No one just punches a clock,” Rogers said.
The fact that the main revenue stream to the village government is from property tax is a concern for Rogers, who continues to work on expanding ways to fund for local services. The distribution of sales tax is one of the systems to which the mayor’s attention returns again and again. State law doesn’t guarantee any sales tax money for a village government, and the agreement that has a small portion split among the towns and villages is the result of consistent lobbying on that issue. While not wanting to take money from where it’s needed, Rogers sees that village property tax payers pick up the tab for a lot of activities that generate sales tax, such as the local alcohol culture, and feels that it’s an unfair mismatch.
In addition to pushing for a more generous split when the county sales tax budget is exceeded — as it was in 2021 — the mayor would like to see any distribution be based not on assessed value, but population. That approach is also enshrined in state law, but Rogers thinks it might be fine if exempt property such as the college were included in the calculation, rather than excluded. The presence of SUNY New Paltz is also closely tied to the amount of sales tax generated, and as well as the amount of money that must be spent emptying garbage cans and cleaning up village streets after a busy bar night.
This is also the rationale for requesting SUNY impact aid, which is a somewhat arbitrary practice of providing state funds to offset some of the costs associated with having a state college in the community. Past state senator Jen Metzger came through with that money, but Rogers said that Metzger’s successor Mike Martucci made no attempt to secure any. When it’s been received, it’s been used for fire and police department costs, which means that anyone in the town benefits from the equipment and training obtained.
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