(Stony Point, NY - April 23, 2008) The NYS DOT has returned twice this month to the Town of Stony Point with revised plans for the replacement of the James Farley Bridge. Lead engineer for the project, David Bennett, Jr. P.E., started the meeting with a brief recap of this project, beginning when the DOT initially met with Stony Point Supervisor Phil Marino and his staff back in January 2006 and again in November 2006 to discuss the plans to replace the bridge. However, Supervisor Marino never provided any leadership on this issue or mentioned anything to the town residents or even the newly formed master plan committee members in 2006 about the DOT plans or gave any indication that these plans involved demolition of the historic town center and the Malloy's Building.

SPACE president, George Potanovic, found out about the plans to demolish Malloy's from Building Inspector Bill Sheehan at a Master Plan Committee meeting and went public with the information in the summer of 2006. SPACE rallied public awareness by producing distributing fliers and holding its own public informational meeting for town residents. As a result, a public informational meeting held by the DOT at Farley Middle School on January 16, 2007 attracted more than 120 residents and business owners. The subsequent public hearing on June 20, 2007 attracted even more residents and businesses with signed petitions which spoke in a unified voice to save our historic town center and businesses from demolition. Senator Thomas Morahan also wrote supportive letters to the NYS DOT on behalf of local residents and businesses. To read more about last year's bridge meetings, go to: http://www.stonypointer.org/pages/moreFarley.html

The NYS DOT responds with revised bridge plans

On April 2, 2008, the NYS DOT initially presented its revised plans to a small meeting at Town Hall and again, on Wednesday, April 23, at Rho Building to a larger audience. The revised plans have been developed by the NYSDOT in response to the public's overwhelming request for a safe bridge but a project that is "scaled down" from the original plan to avoid the negative impact and demolition of local businesses occupying the historic Malloy's Building on the east and the Chelsea Communications building on the west corners of Route 9W and Main Streets, the corner gas station and Shell Ann Printing and to acknowledge the "overwhelming public support" for preservation of the town center.

As lead project engineer for the New York State Department of Transportation, David Bennett, P.E. explained on Wednesday, the DOT's current plan is to replace the bridge within its existing alignment and footprint will improve traffic flow and safety issues, while providing sidewalk on both sides and a third turning lane from the bridge onto West Main Street. In addition, the DOT has offered two alternative plans for consideration by the town - Plan A, which includes a 23 foot wide linear park with tree plantings and benches alongside the eastern side view of the bridge, overlooking Lowland Park and Plan B, which reduces the sidewalk area to 11 feet along the eastern side of the bridge and adds an extra turning lane from Route 9W north to East Main Street. Supervisor Phil Marino has already sent a letter to the NYSDOT, expressing his preference for Plan A, the 11-foot wide walkway with turning lane.

At the Wednesday meeting, the Stony Point Fire Chief, Adam Feuer and Police Chief, Patrick Brophy also expressed concern about the lack of a turning lane from Route 9W south to East Main street in the revised plans. In addition, Chief Brophey mentioned the need for a large turning radius in the intersection for Gypsum trucks turning right at East Main to Route 9W north. In response, Dave Bennett, explained that while their office is looking at this project as primarily a bridge replacement project the plans do address the police chief's concerns by relocating the vehicle stop line a slight distance north at the light for traffic heading south on Route 9W -- thereby stopping vehicle traffic further back from the intersection and agreeing to equip the Wayne Hose Fire Dept. with a device that can turn the traffic light to RED when the alarm sounds, thereby, keeping the intersection open for the fire trucks by preventing traffic from entering the intersection.

Several other persons who attended the meeting, including George Harris, a former Stony Point Republican Party Chairman, Edward Keegan, a Zoning Board of Appeals member and current candidate for the North Rockland School Board, Doris Joyce, a Stony Point Planning Board member and Stony Point Republican Committee person, Building Inspector, Bill Sheehan and newly elected Councilman James White all criticized the DOT engineers for not including additional road widening of the Route 9W intersection and corridor north of Main Street and all expressed views that favored complete demolition of the Malloy's Building if necessary.

SPACE president, George Potanovic and Board member, Frank Collyer, both commended the engineers and the NYSDOT for its efforts in responding to the input received from Stony Point citizens and business owners during the public meetings last year. "The NYSDOT has done a remarkable job of returning with plans that address most all of the concerns raised by the public at the two public meetings held last year," says SPACE president, George Potanovic. "This proves that the state DOT had heard the public's concerns for both safety and preservation and responded with revised plans that reflect those concerns as well as the goals and objectives that are identified in our Stony Point Town Comprehensive Plan."

Potanovic went on to criticize the Town of Stony Point for not recognizing the need or opportunity for a local economic plan that takes advantage of Stony Point's unique history and location within the heart of the historic Hudson Valley in order to generate revenue for the town and build local economic development for businesses. "We live in a town located along the Hudson River, a nationally recognized treasure in a most unique area of this country with real Revolutionary War history and we do nothing as a community to take advantage of that fact or to build local economic development," Potanovic said. "If we allow our remaining town center and historic buildings to become demolished, we will become nothing more than a town full of strip malls along Route 9W with no character or appeal. If we have no vision, we might as well take our "Welcome to Historic Stony Point" sign from the entrance to town and throw it in the garbage as it just doesn't really mean anything."

To learn more about Historic Hudson Valley, go to:

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/

For more information about this and other issues, contact SPACE:
Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment
PO Box 100; Stony Point, NY 10980
845-429-2020
info@stonypointer.org
www.stonypointer.org