Reporting from Monday, June 2, 2008 :

Park and Ride Revisited

From the June 2 Regular Meeting of the Town Council (TC)

Matthew Griesemer, lawyer for the property owner, was a guest speaker along with David Markowitz, DOT’s representative.  It turns out that the 10-year state contract the town had rejected out of hand at its last meeting was actually “malleable.” New offers include: (1) town input into the design of the lot; (2) maintenance of the lot by the property owners; (3) owner-provided liability insurance for the town; (4) payment of an administrative fee covering hours town personnel spend on paperwork; (5) an option for the town to stop participating after 5 years without being obligated to reimburse the state for any part of the construction cost as long as the town is willing to have the lot remain in place.  If, at any point between 5 and 10 years, the town is unwilling to have the lot remain, it would be liable for a portion of the lot’s construction cost.  Other issues raised include linking town participation to DOT’s reducing the speed limit on Route 82 (already rejected once and not likely to be approved, according to Mr. Markowitz) and the ability of the town to increase the assessed value of the parcel to reflect the value of improvements (something the state prefers towns agree not to do).  Asked why the state couldn’t lease the site itself from its owner, leaving Taghkanic out of it, Mr. Markowitz said that legally it could but his region never had and they “strongly prefer” not to. Regarding the state’s buying the property and building the lot itself, without town input, he said “we do that all over the place” but “we won’t do that here because there’s not a compelling state interest to take that property and have a Park and Ride there.”

After assurances that the town would have input into the design and operation of the lot through its Planning Board approval process, with the deal not going through if the town’s requirements aren’t met, the TC agreed to review a revised contract to be provided by DOT.

Reporting from Monday, May 5, 2008 :

Park and Ride

From the May 5 Regular Meeting of the Town Council (TC)

The town attorney summarized a contract received from NYS DOT for the proposed commuter lot on Route 82 next to the diner.  He said the state could lease the property directly from the owner but preferred not to, instead offering a contract requiring the Town to lease the property and front all the costs with state/federal reimbursement following.  It does not include any provisions for maintenance of the lot or for input from the Town into its design.  In addition, if the lot is not operated for 10 years, the Town would have to reimburse the state for a prorated share of the construction costs.  For these and other reasons, including a significant recordkeeping burden, TC determined it was not interested in pursuing the lot on the terms outlined.