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PDRA Objects To Paving Road
(Reprinted at the request of the author)
To Bill Mazzucca and all the members of the Town Board of Philipstown, NY,
I am writing in my capacity as president of the Philipstown Dirt Road Association (PDRA) and on behalf of all the people whom we represent. We strongly object to the decision made on September 12 to pave East Mountain Road North.
Let me remind you that you ran for elected office on a platform that promised to maintain and preserve the rural character of the area and the quality of life we enjoy here, which includes having unpaved mountain roads. You assured everyone that you would not rush toward paving. However, you have done just that by suddenly introducing the proposal to pave E. Mtn. Rd. at the last Town Workshop. There was no prior announcement that this issue would even be on the agenda—other than a notice in the September 12th issue of PCN&R, which did not get distributed until Thursday, September 13th. You haven’t given our members or the public any chance to respond to the paving of this road.
The September 19th issue of PCN&R reported that the town is being faced with possible fines from the DEC related to continued run-off problems on East Mountain Rd. North. One landowner on East Mountain Road North has built a fish pond visible next to the road that is being negatively affected by this runoff. This resident, Mr. Sussmeier, has created this situation on his property. The pond was built without regard to the existing conditions and relationship to the road. The town should not be pressured into taking the radical action of paving all of East Mountain Road North in response to Mr. Sussmeier’s improper construction. The continued chemical runoff from the asphalt will even more adversely affect the fish in his pond and the fish in the stream that flows through his property.
PCN&R noted that congruent with the paving, the town would take steps to improve drainage. In 1996 the town commissioned Gary Wood and Peter Messmer to issue a report on the town roads. This report stated that there was no need to pave any of the dirt roads but emphasized the importance of making drainage improvements. The report can be reviewed on the Web site of PDRA at http://highlands.com/pdra.
Highway Superintendent Roger Chirico has already demonstrated his ability to control drainage. We are confident he could eliminate all runoff from the dirt roads if he applied his department to achieving such a solution. But the roads don’t have to be paved in order to relieve the run-off situation.
We are all concerned about the safety of our roads. It is clear that people drive faster on paved roads than on dirt ones. It is also clear that they drive faster on wider roads than on narrow ones. Traffic calming techniques, pioneered in Europe and now are evident in many suburban areas of the U.S., involve narrowing the roads and adding bumps so that cars are forced to slow. Widening and paving the roads will only accomplish the opposite.
The Philipstown Dirt Road Association respectfully requests that no paving or widening be done on East Mountain Road North or any other of our local dirt roads until drainage is first improved and a proper hearing is had on this matter.
Rodney Dow
President
Philipstown Dirt Roads Association
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