By Rob Sample
At its Monday, August 12 meeting, the Marlborough Town Board passed a variety of measures for its next building-construction project: renovating the garage complex on Route 9W that houses the town’s Highway and Public Works Departments.
The building is approximately 75 years old and has never been remodeled. The expenditures for the project will be covered by several bond measures that have already been issued, noted Town Supervisor Scott Corcoran.
“It’s a big expense but it’s an expense that’s well worth it,” Corcoran said. “It’s an eyesore along 9W, it has undrinkable water, and the HVAC system is outdated.”
The four funding measures approved by the Town Board were based in part on the bid recommendations of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., the firm hired by the town last October for engineering, design, and construction services for the garage complex. Corcoran noted that as a cost-saving measure, Highway Department employees will do much of the prep work and demolition work there.
The largest of the four was the approval of a bid from Barone Construction Group of Highland for general construction. Its bid of $1,173,000 was the lowest of three received for the project.
Next up were two bids for the project’s plumbing. Greenman-Pedersen recommended the lower of the two bidders – Candelas Plumbing of Goshen, at a bid of $154,800 – and the board followed that recommendation unanimously.
The work for the facility’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system received just one bid, for $343,000 from DJ Heating and Air Conditioning of Marlboro. This bid also received unanimous approval from the Town Board.
Finally, Upstate Electric of New Windsor was the lower of two bidders for the project’s electrical work. Its bid, for $299,195, also earned unanimous approval from the board.
Highway Department Supervisor John Alonge spoke during the Monday meeting, though not about the garage project. Instead, Alonge outlined the work being done by the town to replace two culverts along Bingham and Hampton Hills Drive. These are needed to alleviate flooding conditions in that area.
“This past winter we had a storm that washed out the culvert on Bingham Road in Marlboro,” said Alonge. “We temporarily fixed it, but today we started the excavation” for the new culvert, which is 50 feet long.
“Bingham Road is closed from Lattintown Road to Hampton Hills Drive. It’s going to be closed for a week,” Alonge pointed out. “In another few weeks we’re going to be doing the one on Hampton Hills Drive, which is double the size of the one we’re doing right now,”
The Town Board okayed a proposal by Corcoran to add a ballot measure for Marlborough voters at the next general election – scheduled for Tuesday, November 5. The measure concerns a budget increase for the Sarah Hull Hallock Free Library in Milton. If approved by voters, the library’s operating budget will be $198,660, which represents a $9,460 increase from the current allocation by the town.
The Town Board also passed resolutions authorizing Corcoran to sign memoranda of agreement with the Police Benevolent Association. These okay new collective-bargaining agreements for part-time and full-time police officers in the town. The earlier agreements for those officers expired on December 31, 2023.
The board also agreed to hire Van DeWater and Van DeWater, LLP, of Poughkeepsie, to represent the town in an injunction against Mount Rose Road property owner Adam Broza in Ulster County Supreme Court. Broza purchased four different properties there in 2020, aiming to create a space for weddings and other relatively large gatherings.
However, under the zoning rules for that neighborhood, a parcel must be at least 10 acres in size for an owner to use it for that purpose. None of Broza’s parcels are that big. Although he announced the intention to combine all or several of them into a large-enough parcel, he has not yet received approval from the Zoning Board to do so.
“Until they do that, they can’t operate,” said Corcoran. He noted that large events have continued at the compound – to the consternation of the neighbors along Mount Rose Road and nearby James Street.
“They’re nice people – but at the end of the day they’re not respecting their neighbors and the Town of Marlborough,” said Corcoran. “I don’t want to do this; I’m forced to do this.”