At the March 23rd meeting of the Rhinebeck Town Board, the Dutchess County Department of Public Works' (DCDPW's) rushed plans to cut down five 100-year-old trees (in the first week of April!) as part of its plans to turn the River/Mt. Rutsen Road intersection into a "T" (instead of current "Y") were publicly revealed for the first time.

The Rhinebeck Conservation Advisory Board publicly went on record at this meeting, stating that they did not want these five trees cut down, and further, that the Town of Rhinebeck LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program), approved by the Town Board (and now part of state and federal law), means that the land in question must go through a "coastal assessment form process."  Sadly, DCDPW is trying to avoid this; Bill Dowden of the CAB noted at the Mar. 23rd meeting that DCDPW had not reached out to CAB either on this issue, and further, that the land in question is also part of the Estates District Scenic Area of Statewide Significance in Rhinebeck (part of the LWRP):http://www.rhinebeck-ny.gov/files/LWRP/Appendix_A.pdf .

Unfortunately, the fact that County Legislator Joel Tyner advocated last June in a letter to DCDPW for the River/Mt. Rutsen Road intersection to be made safer was twisted at the Mar. 23rd Rhinebeck Town Board meeting to be interpreted as meaning that DCDPW had succeeded in convincing Co. Leg. Tyner to sign off on the cutting down of the five 100-year-old trees in question in the triangle/intersection-- nothing could be further from the truth (in fact, since last June, no one had communicated anything to Tyner about this project-- especially DCDPW plans to take down five 100-year-old trees).

Go to the intersection of River Road and Mt. Rutsen Road yourself-- you will soon see that, indeed, the intersection can be turned into a much safer "T" instead of a "Y"-- by ending Mt. Rutsen road (at River Road) between the two northernmost trees in the triangle.

This is the type of win-win, pro-safety, pro-tree solution that should be pursued by the Dutchess County Department of Public Works and others involved.

Period.

Email Deputy Dutchess County Public Works Commissioner Robert Balkind on this now-- at rbalkind@dutchessny.gov!

Joel Tyner, Dutchess County Legislator (Rhinebeck/Clinton), 324 Browns Pond Road, Staatsburg, NY 12580 joeltyner@earthlink.net 845-876-2488/845-464-2245 http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com Host of "The Real Majority Project" Saturdays 8-11 am on http://www.WHVW.com 950 AM