Southern Ulster Times Jan. 17 2018

T IMES SOUTHERN ULSTER Vol. 15, No. 3 3 JANUARY 17 - 23, 2018 The Marlborough Town Board continues to fight with a united voice against the U. S. Coast Guard’s push to establish additional oil barge anchorage areas along the Hudson River, stretching from Yonkers to Kingston. Last week Marlborough approved a resolution aimed at preventing any new anchorage areas “from being sited at locations where they pose a clear and direct threat to the environment, quality of life and regional economic development goals of the Hudson Valley.” The resolution states that Marlborough in particular has economic, natural and scenic assets that would be threatened by anchorage areas in their town. Marlborough’s concern is that large barges have the potential to disrupt the economic “vitality” of the newly revived waterfront, may endanger drinking water supplies, damage fish habitats and could detract “from the scenic beauty and quality of life along the river.” A nautical map of the barge plan calls ONE DOLLAR Father- daughter dance Dukes stun Newburgh Page 5 Page 36 SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL Anchorage plan for Hudson still alive By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] 3 for establishing 10 formal sites with a total of 40 berths. Proponents of the plan point out, however, that these are not new areas as vessels have anchored in these parts of the Hudson River in the past. The plan only seeks to establish these areas in an official capacity. Just off of Marlboro, the plan calls for marking out 154 acres of the river where vessels could anchor, in Milton 74 acres are proposed and just to the south in Roseton 305 acres are being proposed. All are slated as long term sites, meaning Continued on page 3 Nothing like a roasted marshmallow Kids loved roasting marshmallows at Winterfest 2018, Saturday. More photos on page 2. WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM Plattekill Library board still at odds over new building By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] For the past three years the Plattekill Library Board of Trustees has been unable to reach a consensus on how to build a new library in town due to significant and ongoing disagreements on how to proceed. The board spent several years on a failed attempt to buy the nearby Cider Mill property and it appears they have lost their deposit of $9,250 because of the mishandling. This lack of cohesiveness on the board was on full display at last week’s meeting. When Karen Adamson, Valerie Smith and Lynn Ridgeway were asked if they had voted in the past against the present library property for a new building, Ridgeway flatly denied they had voted no. Adamson said she has never been against considering the present property but does not want to sink any money into the actual structure while Smith wants “proof” that their present site is a “good thing for the taxpayers.” Library board minutes reveal that in 2016 the trio were willing to spend nearly $1 million for the sale and remediation of the Cider Mill property before a shovel went in the ground for a new structure. The library’s own architect calculated Continued on page 4