"We are a little perplexed by the problem. It's not common. We have installed them in Fishkill, Rhinebeck, and I think Saugerties, and we haven't had these problems," said agency spokeswoman Sandra Jobson. 

She said the granite curbs were requested by the Village during the design phase and were installed, in spite of the additional cost. For that reason, the state will not remove them or grind down the edges, as requested by the Chatham Business Alliance in a petition submitted to the Village Board last month. The board forwarded the request to the Department of Transportation and to local legislators, including Assemblyman Marc Molinaro (R-Tivoli).

“Absolutely not,” Jobson said when asked if her agency would consider grinding the curbing down to reduce its alleged sharpness. "It's incredibly expensive curbing, and it’s what the Village said it wanted.”.

The granite curbs cost $62 per meter as opposed to $53 per meter for standard cement curbs, representing a $56,000 increase in the overall cost of Chatham’s multimillion dollar Main Street redesign project. The project, construction work on which began in 2008, is intended to improve safety and traffic flow at the main intersections in the village, including the junction of Routes 295 and 66, the roundabout at the north end of Main Street, and the intersection of Routes 66 and 203.

"It was a big expense,” said Jobson, “but the Village requested it, and, because it's a historic area, we went along with it."

Mayor Paul Boehme said the granite curb request was made based on input from a citizens’ advisory committee. “The belief was that [granite curbs] last longer and . . . they look better,” said Boehme.

Boehme said the residents, business owners, and visitors to Chatham have to understand that the village is a construction zone, and caution has to be taken when driving and parking. “People have to look at where they are and what’s going on around them,” he said.

Jobson and Boehme both predicted that when the final coat of asphalt is “laid down,” most of the curb problems will be fixed. The final layer of asphalt will raise the level of the road and reduce the height of the curbs, which now stand about 7.5 inches higher than the roadway—almost twice as high as the curbs that were there previously, Boehme said.

More than 260 residents signed the Chatham Business Alliance petition, which CBA co-chair Donna Oakes said represented only a portion of the “disgruntled people” who visit village businesses.