Delaware joins watershed efforts

By TOM KANE

HORTONVILLE, NY — The Village of Jeffersonville had two flooding incidents in the last year and Mayor Ed Justus isn’t sitting around waiting for the next one to hit.

Justus is asking neighboring towns to join the village in advocating for a hydrology study of two watersheds that empty into the Callicoon Creek and run through the hamlet. The study would be done at no cost to the municipalities.

The Town of Delaware Board agreed to cooperate at its meeting on September 21.

“We want to support Jeffersonville, so we’ll join their efforts,” said Delaware Deputy Supervisor Jim Scheutzow.

“We’re trying to get Bethel and Callicoon to also join us,” Justus said.

“We have had preliminary discussions with J. Robert Folchetti & Associates, a civil and environmental engineering firm from Walden, NY, to address excessive watershed run-off that created flooding conditions in and around Jeffersonville during September and April,” Justus said.

“Flooding has been so bad along the Callicoon Creek that it makes sense to investigate any assistance we can get,” Justus said.

It will also be necessary to do this study in neighboring townships where the watersheds begin in order to develop a flood mitigation plan, he said.

“Folchetti would seek grants to conduct a watershed water analysis that is expected to cost $60,000,” Justus said. “After gathering the necessary data, they would submit it to New York State Emergency Management Office for a mitigation grant,” Justus said.

“We’re encouraged by a letter we received from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an arm of the U.S Department of Agriculture who turned us down for direct funding, who suggested that the damage done recently be investigated to determine if a Small Watershed Protection project should be planned and implemented,” Justus said. “That’s why we contacted Folchetti.”

An agent of NRCS will be in contact with the village in November to review this possibility, Justus said.

In other board matters, several members of the board stated that the Villa Roma Resort Hotel has begun the foundation of a time-share unit without a building permit.

“[Code Enforcement Officer] Bill [Buckmaster] should go up there and investigate,” said Scheutzow.

“There was a slight misunderstanding between us and the town’s building inspector,” said Marty Passante, who co-owns the resort hotel with General Manager Paul Carlucci. “We have stopped all construction and will seek the proper permits. I don’t want to break the law.”

Passante said that his decision to build without a permit was deliberate. “I wanted to get attention from them,” he said. He would not elaborate further.

“I have put over $50 million into the ground here,” he said. “I’ve been here for 37 years and I’m not going to start a war now.”