CALLICOON – Sullivan County Commissioner of Planning Heather Brown reported to the Planning and Community Resources Committee of the Legislature on Thursday that the construction of Callicoon Riverside Park in the Hamlet of Callicoon is on schedule to begin next year. 

The land, a 38-acre parcel in the Town of Delaware located along the Delaware River, was originally acquired by the county from Trust for Public Land in the Spring of 2022. The parcel is located along Creamery Road in the Hamlet,southeast of the Delaware Youth Center. 

The county has intended to develop the parcel as an outdoor recreational asset and incorporate it into the inventory of park facilities.  

Brown stated that they are trying to avoid any kind of impact on the 2025 County Budget. She asked the Legislature to bring a resolution to the Executive Committee in two weeks for a transfer of funding from what is leftover from Lake Superior this year. 

The transfer would go into the funding for Callicoon Park so that they can use budget funds already available into the development of the parking lot, driveway and entryway for the first phase, which includes keeping up with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance.

The Planning Commissioner said that the money being transferred from Lake Superior is about $150,000, and they also have $125,000 from Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) funds as well as additional funds that they budgeted for in Callicoon. 

“I believe that the total is approximately $425,000,” Brown said. “There are certain areas that we are going to be doing pervious pavement. We don’t want to do any kind of impervious surface because it is in a flood plain, but we also need to make sure that the areas like the handicap-accessible parking spots have a hard surface for people to get out.”

She said that the areas that they need to make ADA compliant are likely going to have hard surfaces, but with permeable pavement. The permeable pavement in those areas, she said, is what’s making the cost higher than what they had originally anticipated. 

“But we think that it is important that the park remains accessible to people of all abilities,” Brown said.

She said that the first phase of construction would also include some of the work on the first loop of trails as the first phase is about the first 10 acres of the 38-acre parcel.

“We’re starting on the pieces that are necessary to just get the park open and then we will start to look at additional projects in the future as we get through the development of the plan,” Brown added. “That would include targeting grants for the additional amenities. We also have some funds available through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for some of the invasive species mediation and mitigation on the site as well.”

Brown also added that there are a couple of buildings that have to come down on  the  site, including   old   restrooms. She said that Brian Scardefield, Sullivan County Director of Parks and Recreation, and his team have done a “remarkable job” cleaning the site up. 

“There was an awful lot of glass and debris from the old campsite that used to be there, which was washed out from the flood in 2006,” she said. “So it has been a much heavier lift than anyone had anticipated when it started. And we certainly don’t want to have a park open to the public where we think that someone could run the risk of injury because they step on something that is left over from the flood.”

Brown also said that the state has their own timeline for a parcel that is directly adjacent to this one, part of the original acquisition. She said that the parcel will go to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) which plans to make a fishing and kayak or canoe access on that property. 

“So the drive eventually will also be accessed by people who would be cutting across the county property to access the state-maintained river access there,” she said. “It gives additional free access to the public on the Delaware River, which is a pretty big draw for the area from a tourism standpoint.”

With no objections from the board, Planning and Community Resources Committee Chair Matt McPhillips gave the go-ahead to add the resolution for funding transfer to the next Executive Committee meeting later this month on Thursday, December 19. 

Brown also said that they are getting “very close” to issuing a bid for the Neversink Crossing Project, within the next two months as long as everything goes well with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and getting the final design approval. 

The Division of Planning has also begun working with Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress for the development of potential housing programs in the county, Brown said.

RUPCO was also recently awarded $5 million for the entire Hudson Valley region, which includes Sullivan County, for the rehabilitation of vacant rental units. Brown stated that they are hoping to get that started in January. 

“Every little bit helps, it’s not a huge number of units, but anything that we get in Sullivan County is going to help the issue that we have ongoing,” Brown said. “There’s also some funding that’s coming out for infrastructure and we are looking at that internally right now as the best way to approach that, making sure that the infrastructure is in place to support the housing that needs to be developed to address the ongoing affordable housing crisis.”