Fencing could be installed to block access to swim site

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » Officials are considering placing about 150 feet of fencing along Platte Clove Road to stop people from crossing village-owned property to access the Blue Hole swimming site.

The proposal was discussed during a Village Board meeting Monday at which village Water Superintendent Mike Hopf said the suggestion was made by a neighbor of the site who complained unwanted visitors are trespassing and then have to trespass on his land to access their destination.

“The village owns ... from the bridge [at Becker Road] and have a fence that extends up Platte Clove maybe about 20 feet or so,” he said. “So people going to the swimming hole are accessing along the fence, and when the fence ends, they cut in.”

Hopf said he would like the village to extend the fence up to his property because once you get up there, the whole embankment gets steep.

“So if we extend the fence up and put a little wing on it, people will maybe think twice,” he said.

Hopf said reaching the swimming hole, which is on state land, requires about a 1-mile walk along the Plattekill Creek.

“It’s always been popular, but now even more with the internet,” he said of the swimming hole. “In the past couple years, it’s gotten worse, and DEC (the state Department of Environmental Conservation) has been actively ticketing people who have been trespassing on [private] property or the village’s property.” Another issue of concern in the area is illegal parking along Platte Clove Road. To prevent it, officials have tried to keep vehicles off village property with the placement of large stones. Vehicles also have been ticketed and towed.

“People will park all the way down to the intersection of Manorville [Road],” Hopf said. “If you go there on the weekend, especially on a day like [this past Sunday], when it was really hot, there are just tons and tons of people.”