WJFF to pursue new building

Long empty house would be used for expansion

By FRITZ MAYER

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Promoted as “the best little radio station by a dam site,” hydropower has always been a big part of the identity of public radio station WJFF, and many of the volunteers who work at the station have strong feelings about maintaining that identity.

Therefore, when a suggestion was made that perhaps the station should move to another location — the Blue Victorian on Main Street — quite a few people connected with the station were opposed, not least because it would mean moving away from the dam and the hydropower.

It can’t be denied, however, that the building that houses the station, which was built almost entirely with volunteer labor, is somewhat cramped. And the parking lot could certainly use a makeover and expansion.

About a month ago, volunteers discovered that the house right next door to the station was soon going to be on the auction block. The building, which has been owned by a woman named Estelle Krieger and which has been empty for about eight years, was being sold to settle an estate.

With very little time to act, the WJFF Radio Catskill Board of Trustees appointed a committee to examine the possibility of bidding on the house at an auction to be held in Brooklyn on December 5.

At first, the committee recommended that the board not proceed with the attempt because, among other reasons, the deed to the property has a restriction that it must not be used for commercial purposes, and there was no way the restriction could be addressed or changed before the auction date.

Also, it seemed that if the station bought the land, the new building could not be serviced by electricity produced by the dam because it was believed that the lines carrying the power could not legally cross a property line.

However, by the time of the second meeting on the issues, on November 29, at the Jeffersonville Branch of the Western Sullivan Public Library, the committee had changed its recommendation. Trustee David Barnes, who was a member of the committee, said the possibility of buying the building had “galvanized the volunteers” and others connected with the station. As to matter of the deed, Barnes said the station could try to persuade nearby neighbors “… to agree in writing not to enforce the deed restriction.”

Various other options were also discussed, such as using the building for storage or housing, and expanding the parking on the lot, which might not be considered a commercial use.

There was still the matter of the electricity to consider. Trustee Stephan Schick, who was a member of the committee considering the bid, said he did not think the board should bid on the property unless it could also purchase the land on which the current building sits. That land is owned by Jeffersonville Hydroelectric Company, which is owned by Kevin and Barbara Gref. The land had never been transferred to the station because of the issue of the transmission line crossing a property line.

At the meeting, however, Barbara Gref said that she had researched the matter further and discovered that in August of this year, an interpretation of regulations governing independent power producers sending power over private lines had changed slightly in a way that would allow power from the dam to be sent to an adjacent property.

The Grefs expressed their intention to to formally transfer or sell the land under the building to the station, and the board unanimously agreed to authorize a bid on the parcel. The bidding on the house on December 6 went a bit higher than the board had planned to go, so their representative dropped out. However, two volunteers stayed in the process a bit longer and made the winning bid of $62,000. The volunteers and the board reportedly intend to work together to have the house become the property of the station.