By DIANE VALDEN
COPAKE—The great Copake hamlet road and sidewalk fix-up is coming!
But when it gets here, where will everyone park?
That is the question weighing on the Town Board’s mind as it strives to get another hamlet parking lot, this one on Main Street, in place before the long-awaited major hamlet project starts.
The Town has already rehabilitated the Church Street municipal lot next to Key Bank . The lot has a newly-paved surface with 36 regular parking spaces, 2 handicapped spaces and 4 spaces for drivers to hook their cars to electric vehicle chargers, according to Copake Highway Superintendent Bill Gregory.
For anyone who has somehow missed all the project publicity over the years, the extensive multi-million dollar Copake hamlet fix-up enterprise has been talked and dreamed about for 20+ years. Finally construction on what is formally called the County Route 7A Reconstruction and Preservation Project is set to start in the spring of next year.
The project involves the reconstruction of 1.75 miles of County Route 7A through the hamlet starting at Center Hill Road and continuing out in a Y-shaped formation to the north and south entrances to the hamlet on State Route 22.
The project will be paid for with federal, state and county funding.
Though town funds are not required for the basic project, Copake has been putting aside money in a capital reserve fund for extra amenities such as plantings, park benches and street lights not paid for by the federal, state or county funds.
In addition to the tearing up and reconstruction of roads and sidewalks, the project will have a significant adverse impact on parking and by extension, if not remedied, hamlet businesses that rely on parking for their customers.
Gone forever will be the pull-in parking spaces in front of many hamlet businesses. Instead, limited on-street parking will be available in parallel parking spaces only.
With the coming reduction in parking in mind, Copake Supervisor Richard Wolf told The Columbia Paper this week, that the town attorney has been negotiating with the owners of the four parcels that make up the Main Street parking lot that is accessible off Main Street between the Copake General Store and the Copake Wine Works. The town wants to acquire permanent easements to the total 0.326 acres of land there so it can fix it up and maintain it in perpetuity as a municipal parking lot, said the supervisor.
That privately-owned parking lot is currently in bad shape with craters that rival those on the surface of the Moon.
But time is of the essence, Mr. Wolf said, noting that construction/repair of the lot must get underway this year before it gets too cold and asphalt producers shut down production and materials will not be available. The lot must be usable prior to the start of the major hamlet road reconstruction project in Spring 2025, he said.
The Town Board will conduct a public hearing in accordance with Eminent Domain Procedure Law prior to the May 9 board meeting to hear from residents about the town’s Main Street parking lot construction idea before the land is acquired.
In conjunction with the public hearing, the Town Board adopted Resolution #19, which in part states that “Copake Town Board has sought and will continue to seek to acquire said real property interests through negotiation and agreement, or if such agreement cannot be reached, then through eminent domain procedure…” which is the right of a government to take possession of private property for public use, with payment of compensation, according to the Oxford Languages dictionary.
The public hearing starts at 6:40 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mountain View Road.
To contact Diane Valden email dvalden@columbiapaper.com.
