Dear Residents,
We will have a short workshop meeting on Wednesday, October 25th at 7 pm at the Village Hall to hear public comments on two NY Forward projects: Rothermel Park and the Village Square.
Attached below are two conceptual designs created by the New York State consultants. These are the same conceptual designs that were distributed and discussed at the previous meeting on October 11th. Please note that these are just initial concepts – not final designs. The public feedback from the October 11th meeting have been communicated to the State consultants for inclusion but they were unable to update the designs for this upcoming meeting.
The State representatives have notified us that final decisions regarding what improvements or changes that we may want to make to both the park and the square area will take place AFTER approval from the State – if the State approves them.
There will be ANOTHER public engagement process next spring where we will work with a specific architect to decide and finalize plans.
What the State is looking for from us right now is whether we want to submit a basic concept to make improvements to the park and/or square area with an estimated amount of NY Forward funding.
At the bottom of this email is a direct quote from the State consultant so that everyone can hear directly from them.
Also below is a short description of each of the designs.
Thanks again to all for your continued patience and engagement.
Sincerely,
Mike
NY Forward State Representative:
“The images we have been producing should be understood by everyone to be illustrative of concepts, NOT fully thought-thru and detailed designs. The simple fact is that there will be an entirely separate process that won’t even kick off until the projects are awarded funding. That process will feature the procurement of a design consultant for each project, along with whatever public engagement process is deemed necessary by that future project team. They will use what we’ve produced in this very-short LPC process as a conceptual guide. The designs can and will evolve and change in response to unforeseen conditions, permitting particularities, engineering considerations, and continuing public feedback. There is nothing in these illustrations that will be considered binding, save for the general concept/intent and funding magnitude.
What the LPC will be deciding on at our meeting Nov 1 is whether these concepts – broadly interpreted – merit further pursuit. The question should be understood to be along the lines of, “Should we vote to recommend the State fund $500k worth of improvements to Rothermel Park that broadly focus on the playground and entrance areas?” Any details beyond this would necessarily be studied further and refined as necessary.”
Rothermel Park description: The concept is to predominantly keep the park the way it is, except make some improvements to parking, the playground area, and to the tennis courts. We are considering installing a splash pad or misting station as well as improved material for the playground area.
Village Green description: We get a lot of complaints from residents regarding cars that speed through the access road from Route 9 to Hudson Street. Two years ago, the DOT regional director visited us and recommended that we make the turn into the access road more of a right hand turn, which will naturally slow traffic down. We would then turn the one parking spot on Route 9 at the center of the village into a right hand turn lane from Route 9 onto Hudson Street. The idea is to encourage traffic traveling north on Route 9 to turn right on Hudson at the light, and not travel through the access road where people park. We are also considering taking two-three parking spots in front of the Bandstand and making that area open, public space. The red shaded area that you see on the rendering would be a pedestrian cross walk.
