Hyde Park’s town leaders received new recommendations for a scaled down police/court facility project with few bells and whistles and a reduced price tag of $4,876,200.
Last July, voters defeated a $5.5 million project to build a new police and court facility on a parcel located on Cardinal Road that would have been donated by Hyde Park resident John Golden. According to Bob Kampf, a recently retired member of the Town Board and chair of the police/court facility advisory committee, Golden has extended his offer to donate the land to the town. The advisory committee recommended that the town continue to combine police and court departments in one new building with less features at a cost that reduces last year’s project budget by 11 percent.
At a Feb. 11 Town Board meeting, Kampf said the advisory committee has spent the last several months reviewing 19 other possible sites and looked at proposals to lease buildings to serve as headquarters for the police and court departments. “It looked like the town was going to pay a lot more to lease than what they’re paying now,” said Kampf.
Supervisor Pompey Delafield (D) concurred with Kampf, saying that estimated monthly lease payments were comparable to a monthly mortgage payment. In addition to costly monthly payments, lease agreements expire after five years and allow building owners the option of not renewing their contract with the town. “We’re at the mercy of the landlord after five years,” said Delafield.
Kampf attended the meeting with members of the advisory committee and David Souers, principal architect with Optimus Architecture, who presented revised renderings of a scaled-down police/court facility. Souers explained that the revised design is “plain and simple,” and reduces the exterior appearance to a “bare minimum.” Ornamental exterior design features, such as a cupola, dormers, cultured stone, decorative shutters and gable louvers have been removed, as well as interior finishes such as porcelain tile, wainscoting, wood chair rail, vinyl wall covering and crown molding.
The committee also recommended cutting $100,000 from last year’s project budget by removing the community room from the plan and also deleted furnishings from the new budget, instead recommending that the police department use existing furniture or seek outside funding, such as grants, to purchase furniture. Kampf noted that the committee has spoken with state representatives Sen. Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) and Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Hudson) to seek financial assistance for numerous elements of the project. Kampf also suggested that the town hire a public relations consultant to produce printed materials to could provide residents with more detailed information on the proposal. One of the people Kampf suggested for the task is Maria Hoskins, a Hyde Park resident who coordinates communications materials for the Hyde Park Central School District.
Kampf said that if the town feels this new proposal is feasible, they should move forward quickly to hold a new election this spring, prior to the school vote. “People feel that something has to be done,” said Kampf. “We’re trying to put some pride in Hyde Park.”
Delafield noted that construction costs continue to escalate, and if the town agrees to present the project to voters, a decision needs to be made quickly. “The question is if we can get it in the ground by fall,” he said.
One of the major factors attributing to last year’s defeated project was the price tag; town leaders will need to determine whether or not voters will accept the new figure of almost $4.9 million. Delafield deferred to his fellow board members for advice as to whether or not to support this new facility plan. “You’ve all got to accept the responsibility with me,” said Delafield. Board members requested further details from Souers before making any decision.
Property maintenance law discussed
In an effort to address resident complaints and beautify Hyde Park, the Town Board is considering a new law that would allow the town more authority to address property maintenance issues such as junked cars, debris and overgrown vegetation.
According to town attorney George Rodenhausen, the new law will allow the town to send a building inspector to investigate property maintenance complaints; if the inspector sees evidence of poorly maintained property, the town can issue a notice to property owners giving them 30 days to correct violations. If the improvements aren’t made in 30 days, the town will have the authority to hire someone to correct violations at the property owner’s expense.
According to Rodenhausen, property owners face a fine for each day of violation under the proposed law. Any expenses incurred by the town to correct violations will be collected through the owner’s property taxes. “What we’re trying to do is give them 30 days to clean it up,” said Rodenhausen.
Delafield introduced the proposed law during his state of the town address last month, where he pledged to address “quality of life issues” such as neglected properties. “There have been a number of complaints,” said Delafield. “This is definitely an issue.”
Town board members acknowledged receiving resident complaints on a regular basis, including Richard Perkins (I-4th Ward) who said he’s received at least two phone calls in the last three weeks. “People are trying to sell their homes, and the home next door is a junkyard,” said Perkins.
Councilman Robert Linville (D-1st Ward) said under current laws, town officials have little authority to address property maintenance complaints. ‘It’s very frustrating to elected officials and residents that it doesn’t seem we can tackle serious issues,” he said. “I think this proposed law does a really nice job of much more rapidly, much more sanely addressing these issues,” he added. Perkins was relieved after confirming that town officials will have authority to remove junked vehicles from properties. “You’re going to make a lot of people very happy,” he responded.