Town picks contractor for Katrine Lane drainage work

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. >> Town Board members have accepted a $159,875 bid from Margaretville contractor Hubbell Inc. to fix the drainage problems on Katrine Lane coming from a Central Hudson property.

Supervisor James Quigley last week said the work was important in resolving water runoff.

“We finished the piping and the catch basin … there should be no future flooding from any source because we put the conveyance mechanisms in place to move the water away,” he said.

“We are now moving forward to fix the problem with (two) properties,” Quigley said. “CSX and Central Hudson have also worked out a deal and they are cleaning up everything on the east side of the track in the pond.”

Hubell was the lowest of six bidders for the work. Other bids came from Ben Ciccone of Poughkeepsie at $177,125; Arold Construction of Kingston at $189,885; Precise Enterprises of Wallkill at $275,775; Legacy Supply of Valhalla, at $345,800; and Sun Up Construction of Wappingers Falls at $374,650.

Board members in October 2021 approved spending up to $40,000 for engineering plans to correct drainage on Katrine Lane and former a stormwater district to pay for the improvements. However, the district was not formed because the cost estimates came in lower than expected.

“We spent $40,000 out of the (American Recovery Program Act) for the design and solution,” Quigley said. “We are still evaluating whether to move forward with the district. …I had originally thought it was a $600,000 expense and we were quite pleased when the bids came in at the level that they did.”

Problems with the site date to the years immediately following the purchase of the property by Miron for a lumber yard in 1967. The primary work area of the lumber yard was near the CSX tracks, with paving done in the early 1970s to have water run off the northwest end of paved of the property.

Among issues with the drainage has been that water has seeped under the tracks and travelled north to Glenerie Boulevard, where drainage was not able to keep up with heavy storms.

During a recent clearing by Central Hudson in an area north of the former Miron yard on the east side of the tracks, there was significant flooding on the west side of the tracks.

Central Hudson officials have done work to address the issues, with Quigley hoping the work on Katrine Lane is able to connect all the drainage work done during the past year.

“We’re correcting problems that have existed for a long time,” he said.