The Village of Tannersville got a $1.2 million state grant to help pay for a highway garage in collaboration with the Town of Hunter, bringing to $2.45 million the amount of funding for a structure that’s also expected to be used by the Hunter-Tannersville School District and possibly as a substation by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
The latest grant, awarded in January through the Department of Environmental Conservation, aims to fund the relocation of Tannersville’s garage from its current site in the middle of a floodplain on Railroad Avenue, to the proposed building on Route 23A adjacent to the Hunter Town Hall, which is itself targeted for renovation.
“During Tropical Storm Irene and the 100-year storms, we had four feet of water flowing through the building,” said Tannersville Mayor Lee McGunnigle. Moving highway operations “puts everything on high ground.”
The latest funding comes on top of the $1.25 million that Hunter received in October for the same project through the Local Government Efficiency Grant Program. The garage is still in the design phase, according to Hunter Town Supervisor Sean Mahoney.
The sheriff’s substation would consist of a small office, shared locker room and break room inside the building and parking outside the garage, Mahoney said at Tuesday night’s Hunter Town Board Workshop.
The county department has not yet added financial support to the project. “We’re hashing-out some of the details,” Mahoney said.
The school district is in discussion with the town about using a bay in the garage for basic bus maintenance and washing, said Vincent Butera, superintendent for the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District.
“We don’t have a lift in the bus garage on our property, so it becomes difficult to do some basic maintenance,” Butera said.
The school district will be contributing funds toward the project in the future, Mahoney said. The garage would be close to a firehouse being built to accommodate the combined Tannersville and Haines Falls fire districts.
Barbara Reina is a contributing reporter. Reach her at reporting@theoverlooknews.com.