Rail Trail parking added on South Center Street

MILLERTON — Looking to free up parking spaces on Main Street for businesses, the village paved property on South Center Street adjacent to The Motorworks auto garage last week, adding nearly 30 municipal parking spots for Harlem Valley Rail Trail users.

The project was a long time coming and also addressed issues of remediation that had stalled it from taking shape in the past. The property had in the past been home to automotive garages and was used as a space to store fuel tanks that were suspended for passing trains. Those usages contributed to a significant amount of petrolium-contaminated soil on the property.

Ownership of the property passed to the county through delinquent taxes. Dutchess County is leasing the space to the village.

A Community Development Block Grant was awarded to the village five years ago by the county, Mayor John Scutieri said, to help with the remediation costs. It turns out that the best way to clean up the spill, known as “capping,� was to pave over the area before drilling small holes where an ammonia-based solution could be released into the ground below to break up the petroleum.

“As it turns out, the easiest way [to remediate] turned out to be the least expensive,� Scutieri said.

Last week the village highway department paved the once-dirt driveway on the property and painted parking lines. This past weekend the municipal parking lot was opened up to the public, with the hope that anyone parking in town to use the Rail Trail would utilize that parking space, leaving Main Street spaces open for shoppers.

The entire remediation process will take up to two years, but the most important steps will be the initial treatments, once a month, this summer. The drilling will be small enough that it won’t affect parking.

Scutieri said the village intends to take over ownership of the property from the county (at no charge), but that the village’s legal council advised the board to wait until the remediation was addressed. The mayor said the transaction would probably occur soon after the first three months of treatment.

Paved parking is just the first step for the property. The village intends to install a sidewalk on the north border of the property linking South Center Street to the Rail Trail, as well as a central kiosk behind the property’s building that would serve as a village information site. The village highway department will install split-line fencing and Scutieri said a beautification committee is being organized to plant trees and shrubs.

The project will be completely funded by the block grant of nearly $150,000. Scutieri said the intention is to keep the project well under budget, and part of that money has already been used to complete loops in the water district on nearby Fish Street.

Signs will be erected advertising the additional parking soon. As for the building on the property, Scutieri said it will be securely locked up, but mentioned that he has hopes the building and property could eventually become  new  headquarters for the Millerton Police Department.

“It really is tailor-made for that,� he pointed out, noting the close proximity to the Rail Trail and the fact that the police department was recently certified to patrol on bicycles. “That area could use the security and once the village owns the property, we’ll talk to a couple local architects to come up with some mock-up drawings.�