The season turns in Tuxedo. The recent Times Herald-Record article that many believed over-emphasized a certain town ennui has also apparently galvanized a local effort to look to the sunny side of the street. Freed from the onerous tasks of dealing with a enormous town casino proposal, Supervisor Mike Rost and the town council have pivoted to focus on those issues that initially led them to the Tuxedo Town Hall — curtail the town’s political divisiveness, work to fix the town’s fiscal and infrastructure problems, address head-on the Tuxedo Farms development, and make a decision on the town mulch pile.
Another major issues involves the proposed transition of George F. Baker into a charter school called the Tuxedo STEM Academy, a possible make-or-break proposition for the Tuxedo Free School District in terms of retaining control of educating the town’s kids from K-12.
Nysedp12@nysed.gov. Tell NYS Education why you support the Tuxedo STEM Academy! School choice can be yours! #Tuxedo pic.twitter.com/AgC1R9n0W7
— TuxedoSTEMAcademy (@TuxedoSTEMAcade) March 3, 2015
A mid-February meeting had the Town of Tuxedo council move to evict Perfect Cut from town Highway Department property along Long Meadow Road in Sterling Forest. The town ran into a buzzsaw of controversy over Perfect Cut’s management of the mulch and wood chip site, which saw contaminated runoff from the site contribute to a spectral downstream fish kill in Four Corners Pond and Warwick Brook in March of 2012.
Councilman Kristian Matthews has resigned from the Town Board effective immediately. In a letter written to Supervisor Rost, the Councilman stated that the resignation was for personal reasons. The Town Board will appoint someone to serve out Mr. Matthews’ term which is up as of December 31, 2015. — Town of Tuxedo
The mulch pile had grown into a near logging operation, with towering, combustable mountains of mulch in the middle.
Photo of the Tuxedo mulch pile before the DEC cracked down on the site’s various environmental issues / Photo by Geoff Welch
The Department of Environmental Conservation eventually stepped in with strict guidelines for Perfect Cut to follow. The board meeting revealed that Perfect Cut owes the the town as much as $133,000 — much more than Perfect Cut believed it owed the town, which was some $26,000 (information provided by TPFYI.com).
The heart of the town/Perfect Cut dispute is about money — according to Councilman David McMillan, the town made some money at the beginning of the relationship but after some nine years of operation the costs of the Perfect Cut appear to outweigh any benefits.
After a brief interlude of Executive Session discussion, the town board meeting resumed, whereupon, Supervisor Mike Rost made a motion that to obtain a Warrant for Eviction against Perfect Cut, along with a judgment for monies due to Tuxedo. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
The issue now becomes a landlord-renter dispute, with a bigger question looming — should Perfect Cut get pitched, who will pay for any remediation that the site might need? One of Supervisor Mike Rost’s campaign issues was to end the town and Perfect Cut relationship, due to longterm environmental consequences, and to get the property remediated at Perfect Cut’s expense.
Rost and the town board have made a decisive move in that direction.
Down at Tuxedo Farms
Going forward, Tuxedo is focusing municipal energy on Tuxedo Farms, the ambitious high-end development that, if ever completed, would nearly double the size of Tuxedo. The town has called a Special Joint Workshop meeting for Thursday, March 5, at 6 p.m. that will include the Town Board, Architectural Review Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.
The workshop will essentially get the various town boards working in tandem on the Tuxedo Farms special permit amendment proposal that looks to revise various construction and infrastructure components of the development as well as a proposed reconfiguration of the development’s North Ridge neighborhood. The key town infrastructure issues relate to storm water, sewage and waste water management, especially as they related to the Ramapo River.
Tuxedo will hold a Public Hearing on Tuxedo Farms’ Amendment of Special Permit, scheduled for Monday, March 9, at 7 p.m., at the Tuxedo Town Hall at 1 Temple Drive.
At this time, Tuxedo Farms appears to propose placing major sewer and drainage infrastructure along Quail Road (which intersects with Rt. 17 in Sloatsburg and loops around through the proposed complex to the North Ridge area at Rt. 17).
Additionally, Tuxedo Farms looks to relocate its meeting and greeting halls to more interior locations in the development. There’s also the placement of the development’s maintenance facility which must allow access by the town’s Highway Department so that the town can maintain public road and property arteries.
The 3000 square foot facility could be placed at Quail Road along Rt. 17.
How about hydro power?
New York is the largest hydropower producer east of the Rocky Mountains, with the rocky terrain and cascading hills making the state a natural for the use of this old, new clean energy. According to the NY Department of Conservation (DEC), conventional hydropower stations generate nearly nine-tenths of all the renewable energy produced in New York.
In the last Tuxedo board meeting in February, Paul Koksvik made a pitch to the board related to New York’s renewable and clean energy policy, which encourages municipal participation in energy saving programs. Koksvik volunteered himself and his company Save Energy USA as possible consultant to evaluate the town’s hydropower opportunities. At one time, Tuxedo received hydropower at a facility at the Tuxedo, but, like many small New York municipalities, the equipment and facilities to produce hydropower is long gone.
Koksvik said that the power produced would still be delivered by a utility such as Orange and Rockland. Although the board didn’t act on Koksvik proposal, the idea of hydropower at the Tuxedo dam is interesting. Startup costs aside, small municipal hydropower production creates various energy opportunities going in to the future.
Attendee Kristy Apostolides noted that at one time Tuxedo generated its own power at the aptly named Powerhouse, suggesting that if the town could ever re-establish hydropower, Tuxedo might its “own energy from a completely renewable and non-polluting source.” The past may just be the future in a world made by hand.
Note: much information for this article was gleaned from the good works of TPFYI.com — many thanks.
