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"Billy's Way" - Might it be the Wrong Way?
Dear Editor:
Rte. 301 (Main Street) in Nelsonville, just west of where 301 and Fishkill Road intersect, look to the south and you'll notice a road with an inviting stone entranceway engraved "Billy's Way".
Being inherently curious, I recently found myself compelled to see for myself what exists beyond this stone portal. What I found was in my opinion cause for possible concern.
The entrance which leads one south from 301 crosses a portion of Foundry Brook (this tributary flows directly into the West Point Foundry Preserve and former EPA-CERCLA Superfund cleanup site) which flows under the paved road that was until recently a mostly undisturbed wetland and stream.
Where the small road crosses Foundry Brook, there remain remnants of what one might surmise were once silt fences, put in place to "theoretically" control construction-site runoff. Continuing over and beyond Foundry Brook, glance to your left and you'll notice a large drainage pipe, this is where the potentially contaminated and/or toxic runoff from the eleven single family dwelling development is directed to flow directly into the West Point Foundry Preserve by way of Foundry Brook. It would appear from my observations, that development activities at this site have gone on with very little environmental safeguards having been put in place.
According to Historic Cold Spring Cemetery's long time Proprietor whose office rests on the bank of Foundry Brook and is situated just downstream of the residential development, sediment runoff from the construction site has literally created an Island where Foundry brook until construction commenced at the site, flowed unobstructed.
I'm certainly not an authority on environmental law, but I would guess that the conditions at this site could very well be in violation of the clean water act. Lastly, perhaps another concerned Philipstown resident could inquire with the Village of Nelsonville as to whether or not the septic systems and septic fields for the homes that have been constructed just to the south of Foundry Brook are beyond required 100 feet of the wetland buffer and Foundry Brook.
Russ Cusick
Philipstown
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