The Town of Shawangunk board focused on maintenance and improvement projects during its March 6 meeting, from addressing cleanup and parking and ordinances to discussing upcoming park and signage upgrades.

During public comment, Resident Joanne Warren raised several concerns regarding the Hamlet of Wallkill’s cleanliness and maintenance, asking the board for answers. Her comments included the following:

a. Cleanup: Warren cited multiple areas in the hamlet where streets and sidewalks were covered in dirt, cut grass, and overgrown weeds. Two notable areas included the John G. Borden Middle School, which frequently blows cut grass onto the adjacent street, and Route 208 coming from Walden, which is the state’s responsibility to clean. For other areas in the hamlet, Warren stressed that residents and business owners must clean their properties, including removing yard waste and shoveling snow from their sidewalks.

b. Garbage: Warren stated that residents on Dubois Street, St. Orchard Street, and other roads were not moving their trash cans off the street after pickup, despite a town ordinance requiring them to move their bins after 24 hours. Additionally, she noted that Parkview House Restaurant and Tavern at 23 Main Street has a dumpster bordering the nearby sidewalk. Warren also requested that the board add larger cans to town parks.

c. Cars and parking: Warren described a house on the corner of 2nd Street and Bona Ventura Avenue that kept two unlicensed cars on its lawn and another one on the side of the road. She also asked the board to consider an ordinance for parking on the street during winter, as snow workers have a difficult time cleaning parts of the street where cars are parked.

In response, Town Supervisor Ken Ronk Jr. stated that the owner of the house on 2nd Street and Bona Venture Avenue has been fined, but their property is currently under foreclosure, so not much can be done until the foreclosure goes through. Regarding unlicensed vehicles, he explained that residents are only allowed to have one unlicensed vehicle, and properties with more than one should be reported to the town’s building department.

“The town code allows one unregistered vehicle on your property, so when you have more than one, you can be fined by the building department,” Ronk said.
For trash cans and dumpsters, both the board and highway department share Warren’s concerns, and the former is currently looking for a sample trash ordinance to model its own for Shawangunk. The board is having difficulty finding an adequate sample ordinance, however, as they vary across different municipalities.

“The trash ordinance is something I want to work on, for both trash cans and dumpsters. I want to find the best, but there doesn’t seem to be one, they’re all over the place,” Ronk said. “So far, we’ve only talked to New Paltz, and they have an okay one that we could model ours off of. I know the highway superintendent has similar concerns about dumpsters, particularly on town roads where there’s no sidewalk or whatnot.”

“For larger trash cans in the park, we’re in the process of a parks revitalization, and that’s definitely something we can look at first,” he added.

Regarding the town’s street parking, Ronk stated that the town’s current parking ordinance is outdated and would likely be updated this year. For general maintenance, the board will hire new staff to maintain parks, shovel snow off sidewalks, and address unlicensed vehicles. Rounding out the comments, Council Joe LoCicero asserted that he would reach out to John G. Borden Middle School about its grass clippings.

Later in the meeting, Councilman Alex Danon discussed improvement plans for the town’s Verkeerderkill Park. Using $100,000 in grant funding from Orange County, the town seeks to revamp the park with new playground equipment, security cameras, ditching, fencing, and the aforementioned larger garbage cans. Currently, Danon is working with different companies that will provide the town with renderings of the new playground; he is hoping to receive the renderings this week.

On a related note, Ronk mentioned that the board will implement new signage for the town hall, as many residents and visitors find the current signage unhelpful. Ronk is currently looking into pricing.

“The signage for the town hall has been a perpetual problem; it was brought to me before I was supervisor, and brought up a couple of times afterward. We need better signage, nobody knows where to go,” Ronk said. “Everyone just tries to go to the clerk’s office to start with. I’m going to get some pricing from Fastsigns and Timely Signs in Kingston. I’d like us to label the sides of the entrances, such as labeling the court and main entrances.”