I have written DOT and CSX, copying Senator Saland and Assemblyman McLaughlin, with direction from the Board of Trustees, to ask for a stay of construction, to slow down  the process, and to consider alternatives. Until the Village hears back from these departments, there is not much reason to meet.

As soon as there are any developments, I will publish the news in the papers.

Thank you, Tom Curran

Links to download letter to DOT and CSX, click here: DOT:CSX letter , p1, DOT:CSX letter p2

From the majority attending the meeting came a clear call for the least invasive approach that addresses the safety issue while maintaining traffic flow in the Village. The entry to Main Street, with the clocktower as a beacon, needs to be preserved. It is part of the charm, and draw, of the Village.

Currently, I am writing to DOT to express our concerns and extend our willingness to work with them.  I am also writing Senator Steve Saland and Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin to make sure they are aware of the issues and ask them to advocate for the Village if need be.

This crossing has had safety issues ever since it existed, and made worse in the recent makeover. Witness the fenced off turn lane from Railroad Avenue to Main Street. DOT has known about this intersection being a problem for a long time. DOT’s planned reworking of this crossing is mentioned in a  June 30, 2011 Times Union ‘Advocate’ article saying this project is on DOT’s website.

Yes, this intersection has issues, and a one million dollar signal system will address the safety, but create other problems. A simpler solution is being requested by the community. The people who live here and drive this intersection every day have some good ideas.

Results from the Jan 12 Public Hearing:

• The Village Board will advocate for the safest, least invasive solution, with minimum construction impact. The historic value of the Village must be taken into consideration.
• The business community is justifiably concerned about the effects of construction in a floundering economy.
• The majority would like to take the simplest solution possible that addresses the safety concerns of both DOT and CSX railroad.
• A preliminary approach may include traffic control signage and blinking red lights to improve right of way over the crossing. Try this for a period of time, and see if the safety issues are adequately addressed.
• A traffic and safety study from DOT must be undertaken to justify spending $1,000,000 taxpayer money.
• Improve line-of-sight for traffic entering the intersection from the Railroad Ave stop sign.
• Consider an alternate truck route, utilizing Railroad Ave to shunt truck traffic to Rte 66 north via Austerlitz St crossing. This would alleviate truck traffic on Main Street.

Click on link to view an amended view: Option 4, amended

There has never been an accident at this crossing, many people have said. Leave it alone. Just the way it is.

This is not the way Department of Transportation (DOT) sees this. There are many vehicles stopped ON the tracks, waiting for traffic to clear so they can make their turn. When a tractor trailer tries to navigate this intersection, it is awkward and time consuming, and this truck can spend a fair amount of time on the tracks, waiting for an opportunity to make their turn. That is the problem: Vehicles sitting on the tracks. One of these days, somebody’s gonna get nailed by a train.

I write to tell you that, indeed, DOT will signalize that crossing. It will happen unless the Village comes up with an alternative plan. If the Village does not come up with a counter proposal, we will get traffic lights at the intersection of Hudson Ave, Railroad Ave and Main Street. Like it or not, it will happen. New York State and CSX railroad are adamant that the intersection is dangerous, and something must be done to make it safer.

To help you understand what our options are, there are some proposals outlined below, with images. Please understand that these are rough sketches, to be used only as aids in understanding our options. These are not scale drawings. To enlarge an image, please click on it.

Option 1, Signalize the intersection:

DOT has said this intersection of Main and Hudson WILL be signalized, unless the Village wants to extend Main St. There will be traffic lights at each of the four roads coming into this intersection: Hudson and Railroad Aves, Main Street and Park Row. One light will be green at a time, allowing traffic from one road to flow through the intersection freely. The other three roads have red lights. When a train approaches, ALL lights will go red 50 seconds in advance of the train. This will halt ALL traffic, and allow any traffic in the crossing to clear the area. While this is certainly safer than the existing crossing, I am concerned how deep traffic will build up in the Village. The railroad has said that they are planning on more rail traffic in the future.
This is the least attractive of the options to me for several reasons. One is that the lights will slow traffic flow in the Village. It is hard to envision how the lights will affect traffic flow. But I know that I go to lengths to avoid this intersection whenever I can, and if delays become worse, I suspect traffic may take Kinderhook Street to bypass the intersection. This will make Kinderhook St a high speed bypass for people wanting to simply get through the Village. This will endanger a once child-friendly neighborhood. Traffic may avoid Chatham altogether because of the traffic lights, which would be bad for business.

Option 2, Extend Main St:

Speaking of options, there is at least one on the table that DOT is willing to consider. Jim Rapoli, from DOT, has said that DOT is willing to consider extending Main St. farther South to improve the safety of automobile and pedestrian traffic at a new railroad crossing. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This speaks very highly of DOT that they are willing to consider this option. We need to consider the options and let them know what we want.

In Option 2, Main Street would be extended past Park Row, into Depot Square, turning left just past Herrington’s lumber yard. This proposed Main St. would cross the tracks just past the Kinderhook Bank and come out on Hudson Avenue next to MJ’s Sports Bar.

DOT is willing to add parking at the municipal lot South of Kinderhook Bank, adding up to fifteen spaces. There would be a sidewalk from this lot to Hudson Ave restaurants and stores, increasing the ‘walkability’ factor for the Village. Overnight parking is available here for the residents of the area. Six spaces would be lost in front of MJ’s, and three spaces added in front of Video Visions after the bumpout is removed. This is a loss of parking on Hudson Ave, particularly affecting MJ’s Sports Bar and Lippera’s Chtham House.

On the up side, this option opens up the interior of the block for development, the large triangular area between Main St, Hudson and Woodbridge Aves. It would increase traffic for the businesses in Depot Square. New parallel parking and green space could be created along Main St. between the clocktower and Depot Square. In the future, Main Street could be connected to Woodbridge Avenue, making a safe road for school busses and auto traffic to queue up on school mornings. Businesses like Kinderhook Bank and Herrington’s would have to reconsider their parking schemes, but would also have tremendous visibility and accessibility.

A downside is construction, yet again, in the Village. DOT has said that this can be minimized by doing the new crossing and roadwork while leaving the old crossing in use. In this option, the Veteran’s Memorial would have to be relocated.

Option 3: Extend Park Row

Imagine Park Row running straight across the tracks to Railroad Ave. Main Street is reconfigured to tee into Park Row. This does not develop Depot Square, as Option 2 does, but that is an option the Village and property owners can revisit down the road. The Veteran’s Memorial would have to be relocated. This option has recently been proposed by DOT, and still needs to approved by the this agency. This would be the least invasive, and possibly at half the cost of a signalized intersection. In speaking with DOT, they opined that signals may not be required. Loss of at least one space in front of Video Visions, and three northbound on  Railroad Ave would be the downside to this intersection, would be the downside to this plan. For those who want to ‘keep things the way they are’, this may be as close as you can get, while satisfying DOT and CSX. This option still needs to be approved by DOT.

Public Hearing:
As a retail-business community, we need traffic to survive, and we need to have parking within easy walking distance of our businesses. Parking is essential to our businesses, no parking, no business. Some folks have said they would prefer lights to construction, and others have said they would like to re-arrange the crossing . To have your concerns heard, there is a Public Hearing set for January 12, at 7:00 PM at the Tracy Memorial Hall, 77 Main Street. From this meeting, the Village Board will have a better sense how the community wants to deal with this issue, and can direct DOT in their plans.

To express your concerns by mail, please write the Village Clerk, 77 Main Street, Chatham NY. 12037

Or email me: mayor@villageofchatham.com

Thanks, Tom Curran

By segmenting, I mean that there is a parcel OUTSIDE of the project’s 7 acres that will be used for storm water abatement that brings the scope of the project close to ten acres, the threshold for a Type 1 SEQRA (environmental) review. Type 1 projects typically require preparation of an EIS. There are also at least two  environmental concerns that the Village Planning Board felt were not fully evaluated by the Ghent Planning Board: drainage issues and community character impacts. The community character impacts to the Village brought up by our residents and drainage issues raised by Sterling Environmental, an engineering firm hired by the Chatham Plaza’s current owners were seemingly not considered, hence the Village will sue to be heard.

A General Legal Defense Account has been established for anyone wishing to contribute money for the Village legal fees. As you know, the Village is working with a very tight budget, and any contributions would be greatly appreciated. If you decide to contribute, please make your checks out to: Carol Simmons, Village Clerk, subject line ‘General Legal Defense Fund’. You may deliver contributions in person to Carol or Barb at the Tracy Memorial window, or mail to:

Carol Simmons
Village Clerk
Tracy Memorial Hall
77 Main St.
Chatham, NY 12037

The assessment we will be discussing is used for the Village Tax only. This meeting does NOT apply to your school tax or county/town tax.

Attending will be representatives from Town of Ghent, Town of Chatham, and Columbia County Real Property Tax Service and several members of the community to discuss the possibilities. Jeff Novick, from Beach and Bartolo, will talk about what this change might mean to YOU, the taxpayer. He will present what this change would mean to the average household.

Chatham Village lies in two Towns, Ghent and Chatham. Should a Village resident wish to grieve their assessment, they will go to the TOWN assessors’ office. Only one assessor, only one grievance day.

Again, this meeting is only about your Village assessment, NOT about your School or County taxes.

You will find a slide show photos that illustrate the birth of Borden’s Stream, through the Pond itself, winding down through the Village and beyond.

The source of Borden’s Stream, is a small valley, or bowl, traversed by Harmon Heights and Austerlitz Street. A contributing factor to flooding is clearing the forest without provisions for suitable stormwater management. Planning and Zoning Boards take note. Mowed and clipped land sheds water much faster than forest floor, adding to the ‘peak flow’. Another factor to this flood, is that the ground was already wet from previous rains, and the soil of whole bowl could hold no more water.

The water races down ditches and streams, feeding Borden’s Pond, which is no longer a pond, since the dam gave way years ago. The outlet has eroded, and the runoff from the hills above rush toward the Village at an ever increasing rate and volume.

When this mad rush gets to the Village culverts and ditches that were designed for much smaller flows, you have a recipe for disaster. From Payn Avenue to the Village limits and beyond, there are many areas threatened by flooding.

This water issue looks like a complex problem, and one with many approaches to a solution. First of all, the water needs to be slowed down before it enters the Village. If the Borden’s Pond area could be constructed to slowly release water over time, that would alleviate the intense high water ‘peak’. This 8/28/11 storm, with 6″ of steady rain, created a rapid rise to peak flood, and then subsided almost as fast.  If there were some manmade wetlands and catch basins above the Village, the water could potentially be released slowly over hours, instead of minutes. The existing culverts and waterways could then handle the outflow from Borden’s Pond better.

On the Southern border of the Village, I notice the extreme high water level on Hudson Ave, in front of the Chatham Plaza and the two banks, as well as the new Price Chopper lot. When I look at the Fairpoint driveway photos, especially the South view, it looks like the water is not as high there as it is farther upstream. This points to a possible restriction in the stream between Fairpoint and the new Price Chopper lot, or in the Fairpoint culvert iytself. Brush, bracken, bushes, shrubberies blocking or slowing the flow of water? Has the stream silted up and needs to be dredged?

This is a problem, and not just a Village problem. This is a case where what one neighbor does upstream has an effect on the neighbor downstream. This encompasses private landowners, businesses, Village, New York State DOT, Columbia Land Conservancy and more agencies than I can shake a stick at.

This series of photos was taken by Tom Curran and Edgar Acevedo during the peak of Irene. This was a lot of fun, running from place to place, observing the flow (or no flow) of water from its source to its exit from the Village. During our rounds that Sunday, we crossed paths with Chatham Village DPW foreman Chris Sperl many times, who was racing from culvert to culvert, clearing sticks and raking junk off storm grates. In preparation for the storm, the DPW crew had cleared ditches and catch basins days before the storm, gassed up the trucks, readied the pumps, and sharpened the chainsaws. Many thanks to the DPW for this timely attention; the flood damage could have been a lot worse.

Below is high water on Payn Ave, with Elm St. on the right. This peak flood lasted about an hour. It could have been a lot worse.

Standing on Payn, Elm to the right

On a happy note, School Street drained just fine, thanks to the storm drain systems that DOT put in. Normally, with this kind of rainfall, there would have been at least two feet of water in the middle of the street, flooding homes on either side, overflowing onto Hudson Ave. Good job, DOT. For comparison, this photo was taken minutes apart from the Elm St photo above.

School Street, Viewed from Thomas, toward Hudson Ave.

Budget Workshop has been CANCELLED.

7:30 at the Tracy Memorial, 77 Main St, Chatham.

Notice is hereby given that the General Village Election for the Village of Chatham, County of Columbia, State of New York will be held March 15,2011 at the Tracy Memorial Village Hall between the hours of 12:00noon and 9:00p.m. and that, at such election, the following offices will be filled. MAYOR (1) two-year term TRUSTEES (2) Two-year term. Carol Simmons Clerk/Treasurer 11/11/10