COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED; JUDICIAL RECOMMENDATION EXPECTED

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

06-16-10 - 10:45 a.m. - Comments are no longer being accepted by an administrative law judge who conducted a hearing last month on a controversial plan for Ice House and Ferry roads in the Town of Stuyvesant.

The official record for the hearing on the fate of the two roads, which provide access from Route 9J to wetland areas of the Hudson River, was closed on Friday by Administrative Law Judge Peter Loomis.

NYS Department of Transportation spokesman Carol Breen said that “the administrative law judge will issue a recommendation by the end of summer.” Judge Loomis received six written comments on the more than decade-long battle between state agencies and town residents on the fate of the two roads. Breen said all six comments were “in favor of keeping Ferry Road open.” 

No written comments were submitted by town or county officials, though both entities were represented at the May 12 hearing during which their representatives spoke in favor of keeping Ferry Road open to the public. Ferry Road residents, along with town and county officials, have expressed a fear that the rail crossing on that road could be closed and historic properties on the road taken via eminent domain proceedings.  Outspoken Ferry Road resident John Hutchinson told ccSCOOP this week that he has heard nothing from the state since the close of the hearing.

The DOT hearing was the result of the award of more than $2 million in federal ARRA stimulus funds to improve the safety of rail crossings between New York City and Albany, including the Ice House Road and Ferry Road crossings.

Town and state officials have waged a two-decade-old battle over the future of the roads, which are located in the Nutten Hook section of the town. While DOT officials, citing safety concerns over the rail crossings, have sought to limit use of—or eliminate altogether—the grade level railroad crossings where the railroad runs close and parallel to Route 9J, town officials have sought more access to the nine miles of Hudson River shoreline in the town. 

State officials maintain that the Ferry and Ice House road crossing, in their present state, are unsafe and could cause a disastrous accident. During a hearing, state officials claimed the speed of the twenty-nine trains that use those tracks each day could lead to a derailment and potential loss of life if one of those trains struck a larger vehicle attempting to cross the tracks on those roads.

While a plan to close Ferry Road and build a connector road from Ice House Road was the subject of a memorandum of understanding reached in 1995 between New York State and the Town of Stuyvesant, that agreement fell apart because of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) concerns about building a connector road through a designated wetland. DEC officials voiced support of other safety options that would allow Ferry Road to remain open, largely because of the access Ferry Road provides to the Hudson River, where kayaks and car-top boats can be launched. Scenic Hudson has also supported other safety initiatives that would allow Ferry Road to remain open.