By Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong
Municipal bonds, an eagerly sought appraisal, and elimination of the Garrison post office all figured in the Cold Spring Village’s Board’s review last Tuesday (Sept. 28) of options for the old Butterfield Hospital property in the village.
With County Legislator Vincent Tamagna present and a memo from Mayor Seth Gallagher providing an update, the board again discussed possible government acquisition of the Butterfield property, purchased a few years ago by Paul Guillaro, a private developer. Tamagna has been instrumental in efforts by Putnam County to purchase the Butterfield site and use it to house various Putnam County, Town of Philipstown, and village offices and agencies — and perhaps an enlarged U.S. Postal Service branch to serve both Cold Spring and Garrison.
Gallagher said that he, Tamagna, Putnam County Executive Robert Bondi, Philipstown Supervisor Richard Shea, Town Councilman John Van Tassel, and others conferred earlier on Tuesday about the Butterfield site.
The post office in Cold Spring has quarters adjacent to the Foodtown grocery, but its lease ends next July. Constantine Serroukas, owner of the shopping center, has promised Foodtown that it can expand into the space at that juncture. That leaves the question that has pre-occupied the Cold Spring Village Board, Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals for months — where a new post office might go. Putting it at the Foodtown plaza complicates issues of traffic and safety and Tamagna and others have proposed using the Butterfield site instead, assuming it becomes government property. Mayor Gallagher suggested on Tuesday that another site might be available as well, adjacent to the Nest child-care center, across from Foodtown.
“The post office becomes a very, very important piece of that” overall scheme for Butterfield, Tamagna said. He noted that the previous weekend he had seen yellow caution tape at the Garrison post office. “That’s certainly another sub-standard facility — no handicap-accessibility and a whole bunch of other things,” he said. “As a county legislator, I say: `Why can’t we have one great facility? Why can’t we have good government services officered in a good facility?’ I think we need to move forward on that.”
Tamagna, who chairs the County Legislature, proposed that the county, town, and village simultaneously issue bonds “when we actually go forward and buy the property.” The county cannot “bond” the entire project when the town and village are also involved, he explained. “That would be perceived as us using our bonding power for the benefit of someone else and that’s a big no-no under general municipal law. I hope we would come to an agreement — we have to include Nelsonville as well — that we get three municipalities to all support and agree to this.” Whether Nelsonville backs relocation of offices, perhaps even its own village headquarters, to neighboring Cold Spring remains unclear.
Mayor Gallagher also emphasized in both his memo and remarks at the meeting that until the county receives an appraisal on the Butterfield property — now in the works for about a month — none of the governments can proceed in any substantive manner. “We need to get the appraisal,” he told Tamagna. In his memo, he elaborated: “The value of the property is critical to any municipal or county effort to purchase the property because a government may not pay more for property than it is worth as determined through appraisal. If the property comes appraised at lower than the asking price, the county- town- village could only make an offer at the appraised price and see if the owner is willing to come down.”
Tamagna said the Butterfield owner won’t delay his own initiatives forever. “He is very interested in either moving forward or doing his own thing there,” Tamagna said. He agreed with the importance of getting the appraisal. “We’re hanging and waiting on that one thing. I don’t know what’s taking so long. I’ll push it.” In a follow-up on Wednesday (Sept. 29) Gallagher informed Philipstown.info that “I talked to the county attorney today and she says they should have the appraisal by Friday or Monday.”
“The concern I see is traffic flow” if the post office stays at the Foodtown plaza and a grassy area at the corner of Benedict Road and Marion Avenue becomes a parking lot, Trustee Charles Hustis said. “That’s the reason I put it on the agenda. I didn’t do it to cause massive pandemonium and scare the holy heck out of people.”
Tamagna urged direct talks on the post office with U.S.P.S. officials, to “tell them how important it is that we keep it [a post office] right there in the heart of our village.” However, he added, “It can’t be at the Foodtown. It would impinge on the poor residential community there.”
“Where is the post office” in all the debate, Trustee J. Ralph Falloon wondered. “How dare they tie us up when they won’t tell us what they want?” Because the post office rents from Serroukas, it appears that it has dealt mainly with him. Gallagher said the U.S.P.S. plans to advertise for rental space and reportedly needs 3,000 square feet. Before proceeding with options at the Butterfield site, “they’re going to want something very definite,” he said. “That’s why we need to get the appraisal” and find out whether the purchase price is affordable.
Tamagna said that the site was previously appraised at $2 million-plus, but the asking price could be $3 million now. “The debt service on $3 million is $250,000 a year,” he calculated. But the old hospital site generates income from a cell tower structure and the Lahey medical clinic building and income from a post office lease would be another asset, he said. “Even consolidate the Garrison post office there and have 5,000 square feet and then we’re ahead of the game,” he added.
Gallagher asked who would underwrite the post office’s share of upfront costs. “How is that portion going to be purchased — the part that would be used by the post office?”
“I think that’s the least of our problems,” said Trustee Airinhos Serradas. “I think what Chairman Tamagna is saying is, ‘let’s get all our ducks in order.'”
“That’s a huge duck!” Gallagher responded. “Who’s going to pay for this?”
Falloon raised another point: “Who or what should be the lead agency on this thing?”
“It’s going to be a partnership,” Gallagher said, although “the Town is actually almost the most important component.”
“If we don’t come collectively together “¦ we have the option of losing the post office,” Serradas concurred.
I don’t think we can afford to let this opportunity pass us by. But I also don’t think we should give Mr. Guillaro a six figure profit for holding the property for 2 years. I can’t imagine any appraisal coming in that supports an appreciation of 200% since 2007.
Eminent Domain is a reasonable option in this situation, as the community at large desperately needs that property for a possible firehouse, a post office, and western Putnam County government offices and services.
We need to put our hearts and minds together to rescue a crucial piece of property that once belonged to the Village of Cold Spring. We lost it through lax oversight and clever manipulation on the part of Hudson Valley Hospital. Let’s not lose it twice.
I have to agree with Phil regarding the appraisal. It would be truly astonishing to have this one property buck the universal trend of depreciation of property value over the last two years. I would be interested in the source of Mr. Tamagna’s assertion of $3 mil asking price for the property. It would seem that Guillaro having purchased at the top of the market would limit his ability to demand a premium from the Village, Town, County to gain a profit in the light of current real estate values.
Is Mr. Tamagna attempting a little scare tactic to keep the pressure on moving things forward?
Did I miss the point about the Post Office having to be within a certain distance of the Senior Citizen Housing – I do believe that the Government states that certain facilities have to be within walking distance for the seniors, namely
Drug Store
Food Store
Post Office
I appreciate Chairman Tamagna’s efforts, as well as those of the village and town boards, to find a way to make the Butterfield solution work for both the post office and for upgrading and centralizing our other local government services into one facility. It would be nice for seniors, residents, first responders, etc. in the western half of Putnam to have access to the same standard of high quality government facility that is found on the eastern side of the county.
It is also good to see the village board open to options other than continuing to show preference for the current Foodtown expansion proposal. We have vacant storefronts, empty buildings and available commercial/business zoned property throughout the village that can be considered for this. It is best to explore these options and not let our village be forced into spot approving an unsafe and illegal (under current zoning law) plan that both the ZBA and Planning board have passed on once already.
Thanks to all our elected officials for focusing in on this and working together to get it done.