Random bits for June

Hillside Lake – As I have said in the past, the biggest problem with the Hillside Lake Project is the sheer size of the project, dredging a twenty-six acre lake and finding a home for a hundred thousand yards of material, as well as repairing the dam and spillway as required by DEC is a pretty tall order.  After several meetings with engineers, we had a meeting with the contractor who is proposing to do hydraulic dredging at the lake in December of last year.  He made some good points and we have put together a plan.  I then met with the Hillside Lake Board in March to discuss our plan; but, it was not well received due to the cost.  The project will be paid for by the property owners in the district over a twenty year period (the costs of the lake rehabilitation will be paid only by those in the district).  This is a project that could easily run between two to three million dollars, requiring what may turn out to be a significant increase in district tax bills.  I think that rehabilitation of the Lake will increase property values for everyone in Hillside Lake; but, with the potential increase in taxes, this is really a decision by the people in the Hillside Lake Park District.  We are looking for a place to hold a meeting this summer to provide options and take input.  We have not had much luck getting permission to use Van Wyck Junior High School; but, I will let everyone know where and when the meeting will be held once we have a venue.

Hazard Mitigation –  It has been two years now since, at the urging of the State Emergency Management Organization (SEMO), I organized a consortium of six towns and villages to apply for a grant to put together a Pre-Hazard Mitigation Plan to use FEMA funding to implement projects to address hazards, such as flooding, before they occur.  After much work, and with a lot of help from Congressman John Hall’s office, we were finally approved for a grant on January 6, 2010.  I then went to work putting together a Steering Committee and organizing the resources needed from each municipality, as well as doing the paperwork necessary for this project.  After sending out letters, reviewing companies and holding interviews, the Steering Committee selected a company named Tetra Tech to help with our plan.  Unfortunately, even though we will be reimbursed from FEMA for the contractor, the two villages have decided not to participate due to the funds we will have to expend initially.  Well, this is government; so, back to SEMO regarding the change in participants; SEMO gets back to FEMA, and we have received approval to proceed under the original terms.

Even without help from FEMA / SEMO we are working to address flooding (if we do get FEMA funding we obviously can do more projects).  Last year we built a retention pond in the Legends to help alleviate stormwater run off and now we are designing a retention pond in one of our drainage easements to do the same.  Each of these projects is designed to control the amount of storm water that is discharged which eventually goes to the Fishkill Creek.

In addition, I have asked our Conservation Advisory Council (which has some very good members with excellent background in such things) to work with me on creating standards and laws to keep stormwater on site in new developments to recharge our aquifer and reduce damage to our creeks and subsequent flooding.

Open Space Preservation – Our Town of East Fishkill Open Space Preservation Committee has been working hard.  We have held two public input sessions and we have a draft document which we will provide to the Town Board to consider for adoption as a part of our Master Plan. 

Originally, we had seen an Open Space Bond as the answer to maintaining open space in our Town; but, we have come to realize that a bond is only one “tool” in our “open space toolbox.”  We are also looking at changing our zoning laws to encourage maintaining open space, considering the use of term easements, and examining the concept of “Land Banks.”  The Chairwoman of our Planning Board, Lori Gee, has been sitting in on some of our meetings and her input has been phenomenal.  Lori shares our interest in maintaining the character of our Town, as well as protecting our natural resources. 

Community Supported Agriculture – Many thanks to Dave Koehler and Norbert Kohlmaier and the Healthy Harvest CSA Board for all of their work – the Johnson Farm / Healthy Harvest CSA really looks nice.  Last week was the first week that people enrolled in the program could stop by the farm and pick up locally grown produce (and it was also the first time that my dog was introduced to a sheep – that was interesting!).  The lettuce and radishes were good and I look forward to more crops coming to harvest.  As I told the CSA: over the last two decades I have seen numerous farms disappear; but, this is the only program in our Town that has actually resulted in a farm coming back.  Many thanks to the CSA group and thanks, also, to Carolyn Plage who introduced this concept at an Open Space presentation two years ago and a special thanks to Rodney Johnson and the Johnson Family for allowing us to establish our CSA on their farm.  I would also like to thank local plumbers, John Ossenkop and Son, for helping us out with a used water pump and fittings which allowed us to irrigate our crops in the dry spring / summer growing season.           

 Ryan Drive Superfund Site – we are finally resolving the issues regarding the identification of a water source to serve Ryan Drive.  In the meantime, the EPA has been doing design work on the distribution system and will soon be doing test bores to check soil conditions for the installation of the waterlines.