Officials to pave section of preserve driveway
RHINEBECK, N.Y. » Town Board members have approved paving a section of the Ferncliff Forest parking lot in an area where vehicles wait to pull out onto Mount Rutsen Road.
The work was authorized during a meeting Monday, with officials told the abouta-car-length of paving was needed to keep dirt and gravel from coming onto the town highway.
“We have a bad sight distance to the north, so people peel out,” said Knick Staley, the site’s ranger and a former Town Board member. “This creates dozens and dozens of pot holes, and four times a year (former town Highway Superintendent Kathy Kinsella) would be there filling the potholes.”
Staley said dirt and gravel from the apron of the parking area goes onto the highway and tears at the pavement. He noted that the suggestion to pave part of the parking came from current Highway Superintendent Barry Sherrod, who asked that the town pay $1,000 of paving costs estimated at $3,500.
“It’s a maintenance problem for the town,” he said. “Apparently Barry thinks that you should go onto Ferncliff Forest property, too, which is fine with the board of directors, and he’s asked us to pay two-thirds of the bill, which is also fine with the board of directors.”
The resolution only stated that “Ferncliff Forest has agreed to pay the majority” of paving cost and did not provide a specific percentage.
Staley said it was uncertain where the town highway right-of-way ends and the Ferncliff Forest property line begins.
Ferncliff Forest was established as a forest preserve and game refuge in 1964 after 190 acres was donated by Brooke Astor to the Rhinebeck Rotary, which later transferred ownership to Ferncliff Forest Inc. as a not-for-profit organization to maintain the property.