NARROWSBURG, NY — It was recently brought to the attention of the Town of Tusten that the deck on Main Street in Narrowsburg will need to be replaced. In August, the Tusten Town Board agreed that it would be their responsibility to replace the deck. At the September meeting, the Narrowsburg Beautification Group contributed its Golden Feather Award of $25,000 toward the rebuilding of the deck, and the $106,000 grant from the state for the Waterfront Revitalization Project will go to the deck. In November, it was announced that the cost would be around $300,000. Now, at the December Town Board meeting, the board discussed the cost, saying it is too high.

The conversation was spurred by two letters that Supervisor Carol Wingert read at the December 17 meeting, one from Charles Petersheim and one from Karl Wasner. In Petersheim’s letter, he writes that the deck has stable footing and could be rebuilt at a fraction of the cost. “I was pleasantly surprised to see numerous and large deck footings already in place, reducing, in my opinion, the project’s scope and complexity by 75% or more,” wrote Petersheim. Wasner, the design committee chair, responded that the deck is a “focal point of the town” and that it should be built as it is designed. “This space, if built as designed, will serve all residents year round as a connection to this mighty river and a reminder of our history and a beacon pointing to our future,” he wrote.

The reason the cost is so high is because the foundation needs to be drilled down into the rock. As it stands now it is basically sitting on ash, and therefore over the past few years the deck has shifted. Larry Boudreau of Chazen Companies and town engineer Wes Iling both agreed that this is true and that the deck needs a new foundation. However, Councilman Ned Lang and Petersheim assert that it does not need a new foundation, and that a new deck should just be built on top of the existing foundation. In his letter, Wasner responded to this contention: “The design that Larry was authorized to work on by the design committee could not possibly use the existing foundations. The town came together as a whole to design the new deck and then came together to approve the design. Now we simply are trying to build what was designed and approved.”

Some of the board agreed the price is too high. “Everybody loves it [the deck],” said Councilman Tony Ritter. “It is definitely an attribute of our town. What I’ve been hearing, though, is, ‘do we need to spend upwards to $300,000 on this?’ Some of the people I’ve spoken to, who happen to be contractors, are saying, ‘You can still get a beautiful deck and structurally sound for the next 30 to 40 years, but you don’t have to spend $300,000.’”

Wingert pointed out that there are a lot of things on the list that can be accomplished with in-kind services, such as taking down the existing deck and donated bluestone, which will save money.

The board agreed that there should be a public hearing for receiving public input on the idea of bonding money for the deck, but they tabled the resolution to set a date for the public hearing until the next meeting.