Trash agency OKs lease for New Paltz site

The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency board has approved a 10-year lease that will keep the New Paltz transfer station open on town-owned property at 3 Clearwater Road.

The contract approval, during an agency meeting Wednesday, came six days after the New Paltz Town Board agreed to terms that include a $23,000 one-time payment and $7,500 in annual payments.

“The 20-year transfer station agreement with the town of New Paltz is up at the end of this month,” said agency Executive Director Tim Rose. “Instead of a 20year agreement, we’re going to go with a 10-year agreement . ....

“Twenty years ago, there was a one-time rent payment of $15,000 ... [and] a $5,000-a-year monitoring and safety payment to the town. They asked for the increase to $7,500,” Rose said.

The contract also calls for the agency clean up along Clearwater Road leading to the transfer station. Rose noted the agency does similar litter removal near its own facility in the town of Ulster.

“That’s not a problem,” Rose said. “We pick up on Route 32 here twice a year — every spring and every fall.”

The New Paltz Town Board’s approval last week included acknowledging the contract is subject to state regulations that require it be put to a public vote if a petition is filed seeking a ballot measure.

Town residents have 30 days from the Sept. 22 approval to submit the petition, though information on the number of voter signatures needed was not immediately available.

Some concerns about the use of the Clearwater Road site were voiced last month by Laura Petit, director of the town transfer station adjacent to the county facility. She said there should be requirements in the next contract for the agency’s station to be secured.

“The gate’s down, somebody ran it over,” she said. “The New Paltz police have to go out there several times a night ... just to make sure the site’s secure. ... Maybe the money is nice, but they could kick in a little bit more.”

Rose responded that closing the site would be an inconvenience for residents and haulers who would have to drive an additional 17 miles to use the agency’s town of Ulster facility.