North East town supervisor sets goals for 2021

NORTH EAST— Talk to North East town Supervisor Chris Kennan and he’d be among the first to admit that 2020 was a difficult year — the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic only made his job of running the town that much tougher. But Kennan was still able to see a number of projects accomplished, and as he begins the second year of his four-year term he spoke to The Millerton News about some of his goals for 2021.

More Rail Trail parking

“One of the things I am interested in getting started is access to the Rail Trail, because there are no parking lots up there till you get to Under Mountain Road. It’s nine or 10 miles till you get to another parking lot, and for many people that’s just too far,” said the town supervisor, who spent the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 26, running the newly completed northern extension of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail (HVRT). “It’s great — really beautiful. I’m actually quite encouraged. I think between New York State Parks and Dutchess County we will find a solution.”

When asked what exactly the town is doing to solve the issue, Kennan said it’s fairly basic. 

“First of all, we’re talking about it. We’re letting people know there is a need for parking up there, otherwise people will be parking on the roads, and that is dangerous,” he said. “Even now, just in these colder months, we had a lot of people parking on the roads. When we get to spring and summer, it needs to be addressed.”

The only parking specifically designated for the HVRT is on South Center Street, right near the soon-to-be vacated town highway garage. There are roughly 27 parking spots in that lot, not nearly enough for trail users at the height of the season. The Rail Trail is a favorite tourist destination, not to mention a very popular amenity for local residents — especially during the pandemic, as noted by Kennan.

“I think the Rail Trail has been a great asset for our community in this time of COVID because it is a place where people can get out and walk, not so much bike, but walk or run,” he said. “Even on Saturday [Dec. 26], there were people out there north by Boston Corners Road, I think I passed about six or seven people, I went out at 4 o’clock, and it was getting late, it was getting dark.”

Wastewater goals

Another priority for Kennan is to bring a wastewater system into town, specifically into the village center.

“There are such big implications for economic development and implications for housing,” he said. “It will change conditions, which at the moment are inhibiting more stores, restaurants and other attractions from coming to our town and creating jobs.”

While primarily planned for the village’s business district, the wastewater system could also be brought into the Boulevard District, which stretches from Route 44 out toward the Connecticut border, “a place  where businesses could be opening and just [aren’t],” according to Kennan, who said “it’s not inviting at the moment,” though it is a focus for the town’s new Zoning Review Committee (ZRC), and “it is something which a wastewater system would help,” according to the town supervisor.

The benefits could include attracting a new food market, said Kennan, which the town desperately needs. 

“And I’m not saying ‘supermarket,’ I’m saying ‘food market,’ because a supermarket is too big for this location, but a nice food market would be so important to the community,” he said. “Everybody misses not having a market.”

Previously, residents were able to shop at the Millerton Fresh Market, but that store closed on June 17, 2019; that was the last time there was a local supermarket. 

Highway garage

“We made lot of progress,” said Kennan. “We acquired that site at a very advantageous cost, thanks to the previous board. Now we have two of three buildings finished: the storage building and the sand and salt storage. Next year my hope is we will actually complete the highway garage. That will enable us to move everything out of the location at South Center Street, which has always been an inappropriate location for the town’s highway garage.”

The sand and salt shed at 11 South Center St. has already been discontinued, as it was leaching salt into the Webatuck Creek adjacent to the site. The materials are now stored at the sand and salt shed at the new Route 22 site.

Once the new highway garage is complete, hopefully by year’s end, the deteriorating garage on South Center Street may be knocked down, if the town supervisor has his say.

“I think the building itself should be demolished,” he said. “What happens to that site is a bigger question. We will be interested in getting a lot of ideas for that; if funding came with the ideas it will be even better. That’s a ways down the road. That facility will be in use through all of 2021, so it won’t be until the end of the year, at best, until we’re out of there.”

Support park redo

And while the redevelopment of Eddie Collins Field is really a village project, Kennan said he feels strongly about it, as the park is “such a great resource for our community, important for our community and the plans that have been developed are really exciting and very thoughtful and it will be a real attraction.”

The town supervisor said he plans to lend his full support to the village of Millerton and the committee that’s spearheading the park’s renovation. The town even contributed $25,000  from its recreation account during its November board meeting.

“I think everybody on the Town Board felt we wanted to not just support [the project] with our words but make it clear that Eddie Collins Field is not just a park for village, but also for town residents,” said Kennan. “My dream is that it gets used by a lot of people. It will lend itself to a variety of different activities.”

In addition to a new ball field, soccer field, basketball courts and outdoor community center there will be a new swimming pool — something the entire community has been longing for after major cracks and other damage forced the old Denney Pool to shut down.

More board participation

Kennan touched on another point: he’d like to see more participation in town government.

“One of my goals for the Town Board is to find a way to open up our board meetings to more discussion, “ he said. 

Another goal? To begin the planning process for a new Town Hall. The logical place is where the current Town Hall is located at 19 North Maple Ave., said Kennan, as it “really is a municipal center, with a cluster of essential services located nearby: the post office, the bank, the village hall.” The only problem now is that the existing building is unsuitable. It’s a former private home, not designed for municipal purposes.

“In a perfect world we would have a municipal building with part of the building for town government and part of the building for the village,” said Kennan. “The village is in temporary quarters at the moment, but it’s one step at a time.”

Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said the town’s old highway garage at 11 South Center St. should probably be demolished once the new joint highway garage complex is complete, which he hopes will be done by year’s end. Photo by Kaitlin Lyle