Deal for site of new facility to be signed
New Paltz property will be bought for $3 million
Ulster County Legislature Chairwoman Tracey Bartels said she will sign the purchase and sale agreement this week for two parcels totaling 57.3-acres on Paradies Lane that is slated to become the new location of the county’s government operations center.
Bartels, a non-enrolled legislator who aligns with Democrats, said she delayed executing the contract until consultants updated legislators about the new cost estimates for the project. That update happened during a special Ways and Means Committee meeting Wednesday, March 15.
“I wanted everyone to be aware that the cost of the project is more than they expected it to be,” Bartels said after the meeting.
The county is purchasing the property, which is the site of a former apple orchard, for $3 million, an amount that is slightly lower than the original $3.75 million negotiated purchase price.
The county intends to construct a new 911 dispatch center on a roughly 6-acre section of the property.
While the purchase price is lower than the originally negotiated price, the overall cost of the facility is up by some $10 million, to $34,583,746 up from the original cost estimate of $24,912,210 given to legislators in October.
Architects for the project told lawmakers that the additional cost is the result of expenses unrelated to construction, including furnishing and equipment for the facility, that weren’t included in the original estimate.
“The difference really from October is all that goes in for equipment,” said Christopher Young, an architect with Urbahan Architects.
Some costs are still to be determined, consultants said, including the cost of Verizon bringing in communications lines to the facility as well as providing water to the site.
The parcels are on property that in 2013 was proposed to
be used for the Wildberry Lodge water park and resort. That project was ultimately scrapped in large part due to contaminated soils and water on the property from when it was a functioning apple orchard.
John Montague from GPI, a Kingston-based engineering firm, told legislators that consultants are continuing to work with county and New Paltz officials to see whether it would be feasible to tap into the municipal water system for the building’s water needs or if a well and water storage tank will need to be constructed onsite. He said previous tests conducted in the area of the proposed government operations center have shown the presence of salt in the groundwater, likely from old road salt storage sheds that were located nearby. Montague said that if the county does draw water from an onsite well, it will have to be treated to make it potable.
“From an engineering standpoint, if we can get offsite water, that might be a better option,” Montague said.
The county will also spend about $100,000 to clean up contaminated soils from the area of the proposed building. Soils removed from that area will be used to create berms that would be covered with topsoil and seeded, according to Montague.
He said that as the result of extensive conversations with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the county will only have to remediate that portion of the property that it intends to use now, which, he added, “is the least contaminated” portion of the property
Estimates have put the cost of remediation of the entire property at between $800 and $1 million.
On March 2, the New Paltz Town Board voted to give the county “immunity” from its zoning laws to clear the way for the construction of the facility without the need to get land use approvals or building permits from the town.
The Paradies Lane property was one of 10 potential sites identified by consultants as a possible location for the center. County lawmakers have said the current 911 center is “woefully inadequate.”
Administration officials and consultants have said the Paradies Lane location is the best choice for the center because for a number of reasons, including that its proximity to several branches of the state power grid, as well as major communications lines, provide redundancy in services that county officials see as important for an emergency services center.
Young said the design of the facility is about 30% complete. He said consultants will update lawmakers again when the design is 60% and 90% complete.
Estimates have put the cost of remediation of the entire property at between $800 and $1 million.