Two story threads were spun more tightly together with a groundbreaking ceremony for a much-needed county emergency communications center (ECC) on land in New Paltz that has been the focus of numerous — and often controversial — development proposals for decades. Replacing an antiquated and overcrowded 911 call center in Kingston, this new county facility will be built with as much redundancy as is found in fictional Klingon biology: several forms of renewable energy, connections to two electrical substations and also more than one fiber optic hookup. As if an occult hand wanted to drive home the importance of backup systems, a transformer blew last Wednesday while legislator Gina Hansut was making remarks during the groundbreaking ceremony, causing power outages throughout much of New Paltz.
The 16,350-square-foot building, located on Paradies Lane in New Paltz, the former Plesser apple orchard, was considered for a Walmart in the ’90s and an upscale mixed-use development dubbed “Crossroads” in the aughts, both of which faced stiff community resistance. Steve Turk faced different tailwinds after purchasing the land in 2015: a water park was scuttled after it was discovered that the aquifer 600 feet down had mysteriously become salty, and it seems that the pandemic proved too much for furthering plans to build a conference center and butterfly conservatory. Having purchased the land for a reported $2 million, Turk sold it to county taxpayers for $2.8 million in 2022.
While the main design was created through Urbahn Architects, local professional Rick Alfandre was consulted in developing this climate-sensitive design, which will include rooftop solar, geothermal heating and cooling and highly insulated walls to reduce energy consumption. Battery backups will supplement the two hookups to separate electrical substations.
In addition to housing 911 dispatchers, this facility will have an operations center that will be used when disasters strike for the coordination of various paid and volunteer personnel. Emergency responders can be stationed there, as needed. As the land is adjacent to the New York State Thruway, the possibility of creating direct access to that interstate highway has been proposed; officials did not say if approval for that has been secured.
Hansut, who is chair of the legislative committee overseeing public safety and law enforcement, praised county 911 dispatchers as the “first of the first responders” who have been working in “close quarters, to say the least,” without room even to step into a hallway to take a mental break from the stressful work of fielding about 130,000 emergency calls each year. Hansut also noted that having a command center would be “clutch for disasters.”
During the legislator’s remarks, a “boom” was heard and smoke could be seen rising in the distance. This prompted Mike Ham, chair of the county’s industrial development agency and also there as a union representative, to point out that there were a number of licensed electricians on hand who could lend a hand. The scope of the ensuing outage, which stretched nearly to the Wallkill River, reinforced the importance of having this command center connected to two substations to ensure uninterrupted power.
The construction of the ECC will start this June and is projected to exceed $30 million in total costs. Legislators have set aside $18 million from the county fund balance, and a $2 million state grant was secured for the green energy features. State legislator Sarahana Shrethsa routed an additional $40,000 to this project. The costs will include brownfield remediation for this former orchard.
The new emergency communications center is an essential investment in resilient emergency management infrastructure that will greatly enhance our ability to coordinate emergency response and disaster relief,” said Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger. “The ECC will replace older facilities that are outdated, undersized and vulnerable to severe weather and power outages, and will greatly strengthen our capacity to respond under any conditions,”
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