Cochecton visitors center update

By FRITZ MAYER

COCHECTON, NY — The Cochecton Town Board voted unanimously to take on part of the responsibility of maintaining the proposed nearly $1 million visitors center at the site of the Cochecton train station on Route 97.

At the town meeting on September 10, the board agreed that the town would provide sanding, snow plowing and lawn-mowing services for at least five years once the facility is up and running.

In August, questions arose about the viability of the project when county officials cut their share of the funding, about $150,000, from the 2008 county budget. County manager David Fanslau, however, later said that the money will be included in the 2009 budget, and won’t be needed until next year, because New York Department of Transportation officials won’t have finished their reviews of the project until then.

In another development, on September 5, the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway (UDSB) approved a motion to grant $25,000 to the center. That money will be earmarked for interior design or exhibits in the center. The money was a grant to the UDSB, which had been secured by senator John Bonacic, but the grant had not yet been allocated to a particular purpose.

Now county officials are seeking to become the lead agency for the project for purposes of steering it through the State Environmental Quality Review process.

Larry Richardson, acting supervisor of Cochecton, said he is optimistic that the facility will be operational by the end of 2009.