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Village 'slammed' over Labor Day Weekend
If Labor Day marks the beginning of Cold Spring's busiest season, this year may foreshadow what villagers can expect throughout the fall.
"We got slammed this weekend; we were overwhelmed with visitors arriving by train and by car," Mayor Kathleen Foley said at the Wednesday (Sept. 9) meeting of the Village Board. She said she has asked Metro-North for passenger counts.
Foley outlined a number of problems, from heavy pedestrian traffic, vehicle congestion that necessitated making Fair Street one-way northbound, vandalism and hikers trespassing on private property. There were also lineups of "50 or more" at village eateries, restaurants running out of food and a traffic accident.
She pointed to a need for improved communications with New York State Parks, citing two mountain rescues during which parks staff couldn't be dispatched directly because their radios aren't linked with Putnam County 911. One parks police officer, she said, joined the rescue effort after seeing it posted on Facebook.
"This is bananas," she said. "It should be a simple solution."
Trash was also an issue. Royal Carting missed a scheduled pickup on Labor Day, leaving overflowing cans up and down Main Street while prompting critical comments on social media. Foley read an apology from the company for what it called the "unsightly and unsanitary mess" caused when its new computer program failed to schedule the holiday pickup.
"Cold Spring is being crushed by overtourism; our community cannot handle more people," Foley said. "We cannot continue to bear the cost of tourism ourselves. And we can't live with the consequences of a new attraction," a reference to the ongoing lawsuits brought against the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail and New York State Parks by the village and the Town of Philipstown. The municipalities argue in the lawsuit that an environmental review of the proposed 7.5-mile trail between Cold Spring and Beacon did not adequately address the project's impact on the village.
Foley reported that work has begun to stabilize the rock wall on Lunn Terrace. The sidewalk on the east side of Lunn is closed, and an alternate walkway has been established along the west side of the street. Trustee Tony Bardes described an "insane" scene in that area on the weekend as pedestrians walked around cars while drivers honked and yelled at them. Foley said the state Department of Transportation's delivery of Jersey Barriers, which would direct pedestrian and vehicle traffic, has been delayed. "This is going to be really challenging through the busy fall, but it's something that we have to get through," she said.
In its structural assessment of the Cold Spring dock submitted in late August, Race Coastal Engineering found the village pier to be in "fair to moderate" condition with no major items requiring immediate action, a conclusion Hahn Engineering's Will Angelillo described as "good news." The report's major recommendation calls for cleaning and coating the waterside face of the bulkhead and its cap along with minor repairs, work estimated to cost about $1 million. The report also provides detailed mooring recommendations, including maximum allowable wind speeds for vessels while docked at Cold Spring, from the 76-foot sloop Clearwater to Seastreak ferries that exceed 150 feet in length. Race Coastal also noted that the dock should be reexamined every three to five years. It was last assessed in 2011.
The mayor was authorized to complete negotiations with Seastreak for its fall schedule of weekend cruises to Cold Spring.
The board accepted Wind River's low bid of $64,050 for removal and disposal of sludge from the wastewater treatment plant, a 2 percent increase over its successful bid two years ago. Tully Environmental bid $238,000 for the contract.
The board accepted Clove Excavators' low bid of $235,375 for fall paving projects, as recommended by Hahn Engineering. Paving will be completed on Rock, Main, Fair and Ches...
If Labor Day marks the beginning of Cold Spring's busiest season, this year may foreshadow what villagers can expect throughout the fall.
"We got slammed this weekend; we were overwhelmed with visitors arriving by train and by car," Mayor Kathleen Foley said at the Wednesday (Sept. 9) meeting of the Village Board. She said she has asked Metro-North for passenger counts.
Foley outlined a number of problems, from heavy pedestrian traffic, vehicle congestion that necessitated making Fair Street one-way northbound, vandalism and hikers trespassing on private property. There were also lineups of "50 or more" at village eateries, restaurants running out of food and a traffic accident.
She pointed to a need for improved communications with New York State Parks, citing two mountain rescues during which parks staff couldn't be dispatched directly because their radios aren't linked with Putnam County 911. One parks police officer, she said, joined the rescue effort after seeing it posted on Facebook.
"This is bananas," she said. "It should be a simple solution."
Trash was also an issue. Royal Carting missed a scheduled pickup on Labor Day, leaving overflowing cans up and down Main Street while prompting critical comments on social media. Foley read an apology from the company for what it called the "unsightly and unsanitary mess" caused when its new computer program failed to schedule the holiday pickup.
"Cold Spring is being crushed by overtourism; our community cannot handle more people," Foley said. "We cannot continue to bear the cost of tourism ourselves. And we can't live with the consequences of a new attraction," a reference to the ongoing lawsuits brought against the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail and New York State Parks by the village and the Town of Philipstown. The municipalities argue in the lawsuit that an environmental review of the proposed 7.5-mile trail between Cold Spring and Beacon did not adequately address the project's impact on the village.
Foley reported that work has begun to stabilize the rock wall on Lunn Terrace. The sidewalk on the east side of Lunn is closed, and an alternate walkway has been established along the west side of the street. Trustee Tony Bardes described an "insane" scene in that area on the weekend as pedestrians walked around cars while drivers honked and yelled at them. Foley said the state Department of Transportation's delivery of Jersey Barriers, which would direct pedestrian and vehicle traffic, has been delayed. "This is going to be really challenging through the busy fall, but it's something that we have to get through," she said.
In its structural assessment of the Cold Spring dock submitted in late August, Race Coastal Engineering found the village pier to be in "fair to moderate" condition with no major items requiring immediate action, a conclusion Hahn Engineering's Will Angelillo described as "good news." The report's major recommendation calls for cleaning and coating the waterside face of the bulkhead and its cap along with minor repairs, work estimated to cost about $1 million. The report also provides detailed mooring recommendations, including maximum allowable wind speeds for vessels while docked at Cold Spring, from the 76-foot sloop Clearwater to Seastreak ferries that exceed 150 feet in length. Race Coastal also noted that the dock should be reexamined every three to five years. It was last assessed in 2011.
The mayor was authorized to complete negotiations with Seastreak for its fall schedule of weekend cruises to Cold Spring.
The board accepted Wind River's low bid of $64,050 for removal and disposal of sludge from the wastewater treatment plant, a 2 percent increase over its successful bid two years ago. Tully Environmental bid $238,000 for the contract.
The board accepted Clove Excavators' low bid of $235,375 for fall paving projects, as recommended by Hahn Engineering. Paving will be completed on Rock, Main, Fair and Ches...