A proposed drag strip in the Town of Plattekill has upset residents who have expressed concerns over house value depreciation and noise ordinances.

On March 12, 2019, Anthony Dirago and Tina Bucci proposed an application for a drag strip with car shows and related activities, and was presented under a Special-Use Permit for Outdoor Recreation and Amusement.

Dirago and Bucci own property off of Freetown Road and had purchased adjoining lots to the north, and are hoping to place the 660 by 30 ft drag strip in the place of the lots. Hours of operation would be Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., reserving hours on Thursday evenings for “test cars” runnings, as stated in the Plattekill Planning Board Minutes from the March 12 meeting. Dirago also hopes to host events on Fridays and Saturdays, leaving Sundays open for rain dates and other weather-related cancellations.

The pair hope to host car shows, have food tricks for concessions, bleachers for an audience and a staging area. Otherwise, there would be no alcohol served at the site. The Board stated that the noise, traffic and lighting would be significant concerns for the project, and thus must be sent to the Ulster County Planning Board for approval — the Board expected a lot of revision to assist in the placement of the track which would then be the basis for site plan applications.

Steve O’Flaherty, Plattekill resident, raised concerns at last week’s Town Board meeting regarding the value of his home, and the impact this drag strip could have on the community as a whole.

“The proposal for this dragstrip, in my mind, is twofold,” he said. “If you’ve been to my house ... I like my toys; I have an affinity for these things. I also appreciate motorsports. However, there’s a distinction between a need and a hobby, and I feel that a drag strip to accommodate the masses of people that are coming into our town to give a yay for this proposal are short sighted in the sense that they don’t pay taxes in our town, they can go home to serenity. It’s a place where I moved because of those two things: It was quiet and I knew I was secure.”

O’Flaherty’s major concern was the potential depreciation of home values, leading to an increased taxable base, meaning that his taxes would increase because the proposed dragstrip would provide no new jobs and no tax base.

“The revenue that is generated from this will be left in the pockets of the owners and the people that are gambling or betting on these races,” he said. “I don’t have any issue with side bets or gambling. It’s not my thing. You want to do what you want to do, but that those dollars aren’t exchanging hands at that point.”

He was upset with the movement of this process, and was confused as to how the Town Board was allowing this to occur in the first place, but Supervisor Joseph Croce explained that in local government, no single entity can squash a proposal.

Croce said that the project was proposed at a conceptual meeting, which is to find out if what they were proposing would be allowed in the zoning that is on that property, but overall that means it is up to Plattekill’s Code Enforcement Officer.

“We can’t simply say, if somebody is proposing a laundromat, ‘Well, we don’t think that’s a good idea, so no, it’s not going to be allowed,’” Croce said. “We don’t have, and no other town has, the authority to do that.”

Sometimes, projects can take several years to even hold a public hearing for the planning board to even come to the Town Board, according to Croce. He says he has seen projects that are still on the books over 10 years later and people are still trying to push them through.

“We can’t jump the gun on anything and we have to follow the process, because if not, anybody can basically come in and attack us,” Croce said.

“For me, I have to have faith in what’s going on in my local town, that things are just going to operate under the pretense that this makes no sense. There’s no way that this could happen, I almost expect that,” O’Flaherty said. “[So] when I get thrown a curveball, I fight and I don’t understand why, and maybe I need to push back, and that’s what I want all of you to know tonight.”

The Board discussed future budgeting of COVID-19 relief funds for Town improvements, and steps toward summer camp planning with hopeful decisions being made at the next Town Board meeting on May 5 at the Plattekill Town Hall.