Highway garage locations under consideration: Freedom of Information request denial fuels speculation

NORTH EAST — Most Millerton and North East residents are well aware that the Town Board has been trying to find a suitable location for a new highway garage facility the past few years. The search has been frustrating, after a referendum to purchase Dutchess County Diesels failed at the polls in 2015, due largely to the scope and cost of the proposed $3.15 million project. Dutchess County Diesels has since been sold.

Since 2015, the board has pursued other sites — none has yielded results. Throughout, the board has held public information meetings to update the community on its progress. The last public meeting was held in August, 2016. A Highway Garage Committee was also formed, which has been meeting periodically to discuss options. 

The town is open to buying either a vacant piece of property on which to build or land with existing buildings. Anything, agree board members, would be preferable over the existing garage at 11 South Center St., Millerton, which is in dire need of repairs that have been deemed too costly to make sense.

The town has remained coy about its latest search efforts — not wanting to jeopardize any progress it’s made negotiating a potential purchase. In the past, the board publicly announced a certain property it was interested in buying; after doing so that property was sold out from under it. Town Supervisor George Kaye has said he doesn’t want a repeat performance.

Which is why, Kaye said last week, he can’t comment on whether the town is pursuing a 17-acre site on Sharon Road. But Sharon Road resident Bill Kish said he’s quite sure that’s exactly what the town is doing — to the detriment of local property owners.

“This is 17 acres of undeveloped land, primarily forest, from Sharon Road to Webatuck Creek. It’s a very beautiful piece of property that has been on the market for a long time,” said Kish. “It is right in the sweet spot of the residential area of Sharon Road, and it goes between the end of Maple Avenue in Millerton and the Connecticut border. It’s a very lovely area when you get down closer to Sharon, farm land primarily, with a lot of open space. 

“People have houses, really within shouting distance of this piece of property, including myself,” continued Kish. “This is one of the lower elevations, with people looking down on it. It’s the low point of the valley, and what I’m concerned about is placing a highway garage here with a material storage area. Heavy truck traffic will increase significantly, noise will increase. This is basically setting up a heavy equipment garage in a residential community.”

Kish, who sits on the town’s Planning Board, said if a private entity wanted to establish a garage there, it wouldn’t be permitted — especially with the nearby creek and wetlands. The town, however, doesn’t have to go through the same review process.

“The town sets zoning, so it can do whatever it wants,” he said, adding the result of the loud trucks and salt shed storage will likely be noise pollution and environmental pollution, not to mention light pollution. “I don’t see any upside. It seems like a very foolish place to put a highway garage, and maybe the only thing they’re considering is the price. To me, that’s not the place to start a search like this, or even wind up.”

According to public records, the land in question is owned by Hectare Ltd. in Manhattan. The CEO of Hectare is attorney Howard Crystal. Crystal did not return calls for comment by press time.

Kaye, when asked directly about the parcel on Sharon Road, said he couldn’t comment.

“We have a couple of different sites we’re looking into, and I don’t want to jeopardize negotiations,” he said, adding the board was advised by its attorney to be careful about releasing too much information before any deal is brokered. “It doesn’t matter whether we’re considering anything there or not. There may be several spots we’re looking at. I can’t put out information on any of them. I would love to be able to sit here and say exactly what’s going on, but I don’t dare.”

That’s why Kish filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the town. According to the Committee on Open Government, Kish said, the FOIL’s response could indicate the town’s stance.

The committee’s head, Robert Freeman, told Kish to write a simple FOIL, requesting information regarding specifics. If the town replied there was nothing to hand over to Kish, he said he wouldn’t have to worry about a pending sale.

“If they come back and deny it, then you know something is going on,” said Kish. “They came back and denied it based on the fact that they can’t disclose that information. Now I have confirmation based on a logical assumption that there is the consideration of this spot on Sharon Road.”

That’s why Kish decided to warn his neighbors and inform them of the possibility of a highway garage on Sharon Road, and to ask for input.

“If you’re concerned like I am, please let me know, and if there’s interest we can meet as neighbors and discuss what steps to take,” he wrote. 

Kish is hopeful the town will “become more open about what it is they’re considering,” and share its plans.

“Tell us publicly if it’s off the table so we won’t have to worry anymore, because we’re quite worried,” he said. 

For his part, Kaye acknowledged the town has “one site in mind,” but resisted from sharing details. 

The prerequisites for a suitable parcel include a minimum three-acre lot size, with flat, dry land, able to accommodate triple-phase electricity, in an area that’s centrally located but not too densely populated, as described by Kaye. He said a larger lot would also work, to allow for future plans.

Did somebody say transfer station?

“Possibly, in the future, we may hopefully be able to put other things than the garage there, like a possible transfer station,” Kaye said, noting that the public will have to weigh in on such matters and that the town isn’t purchasing any property with that specifically in mind. “We’ve had several people from the community ask about a transfer station. If they think that might be something that we should have, we would consider including it there.”

But, said Kaye, it’s way too early to realistically consider such a possibility.

In the meantime, no additional public meetings have been planned to discuss possible highway garage sites. Kaye said once the Town Board and the Highway Garage Committee make some more progress, a public meeting will be scheduled.

“People don’t realize that it’s not that we’re trying to hide this from the public,” he said, “it’s that we’ve had bad experiences with it before and found out that silence was necessary in this situation.”