STUYVESANT–The Town Board received an update on the Stuyvesant Falls Hydroelectric Plant, originally constructed in 1899 by the Albany and Hudson Railroad Company, and mothballed in recent years. According to Town Supervisor Ron Knott turbines may be delivered within the next two weeks and the plant could be operational within the year.
The license to the plant is now held by the town and Albany Engineering Company. When the plant was still in use it produced 3.5 megawatts of power, but the upgrades now underway will allow the clean energy plant to generate 7 megawatts.
Also at the board’s Thursday, May 10 meeting, board members learned that the Environmental Management Council’s Greenway Grant Land Conservancy Program, which started in early April, plans to put together users groups and develop applications. Environmental Management Council member Kathryn Schneider discussed the program’s features, which include determining the grade of slopes, road mapping, locating specific habitats and endangered species.
In other news, the board discussed a proposal introduced at last month’s Town Board meeting by Mike Locker to create a pavilion on Sharptown Road dedicated to his late, brother Tom Locker who recently died. Board member Tom Burrall met at the site with the Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC) about future of the park, because the park is divided into conservation and parkland. Ellen Journet-Epstein the community project manager for the conservancy, presented maps of the open pavilion, and discussed it as an amenity with potential for educational uses. The CLC plans to study the area further, using GPS images and land surveys, and as of now it appears that no special permits are needed for development of the pavilion.
