Millerton community pool construction pushed to 2026

MILLERTON – During her mayor’s update at the Tuesday, July 29, trustees meeting, a visibly dejected Mayor Najdek shared a significant delay in the timeline for the community park project — specifically the long-awaited swimming pool.

“I’m sure you’ve all seen that construction has not started,” she began. After meeting recently with project engineers, Najdek said she was told that construction would not be feasible before April 2026.

“With that in mind, it was my recommendation that we wait until after the 175th celebration so that we actually have a physical place to host it,” she said. Najdek, who has championed the park project for years, acknowledged the frustration and added, “It will never be ready in time for our celebration regardless of how hard we push any permitting agencies, so we’ll be waiting on that.” The celebration of the Village’s anniversary is scheduled to take place from July 11-19, 2026.

Originally slated to begin this past spring, construction of the park has now been pushed back more than a year, largely due to a slow permitting process related to wetlands on the property, according to Najdek. Roughly a month ago, she warned of potential delays, though at the time, there was hope the setback would be measured in months — not a full year.

Najdek did not elaborate on the reason for the year-long delay during the meeting, but in July she noted that both the Dutchess County Board of Health and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation were still reviewing the project in connection to septic system placement and wetland buffer regulations.