A packed public meeting on Woodstock’s proposed Route 212 overhaul drew sharp questions about accessibility, tree loss, cost, speed limits and property impacts as officials laid out two related projects: a state-led reconstruction of Tinker Street between Schoonmaker Lane and Rock City Road, and a separate bike-and-pedestrian path proposal between Wittenberg Road and Schoonmaker Lane.
Supervisor Anula Courtis opened the meeting by acknowledging that the project had not been well explained to residents.
“This is the first of many,” Courtis said. “There’s just not been enough good information put out there. And we’re going to do better moving forward.”
For Woodstock resident Diane Dolce, 73, accessibility was at the center of the discussion. Dolce, who has lived in Woodstock for 26 years, said she lost a leg in 2018, the same year her son died, and now finds it nearly impossible to navigate Tinker Street in a wheelchair.
“You don’t,” Dolce said when asked how she gets around there in a wheelchair.
She described one curb cut as especially dangerous.
“When I come down that curb cutaway, it’s too steep. It puts me into Tinker Street, not across,” Dolce said.
Dolce said the only shop she can get into independently is Jean Turmo. Wider sidewalks, she said, could change that.
“The width of the sidewalk will allow more merchants to make their store a little bit more accessible,” Dolce said.
She also questioned whether the existing infrastructure had been tested from a disabled person’s perspective.
“When they say ADA, did they ever put somebody in a wheelchair and try it?” Dolce said.
Lindsay Zefting, a principal engineer and planner with Verity Engineering working with the town, said the first project, known as “post to village green,” began as a state bridge replacement effort that included sidewalk reconstruction to bring the corridor into ADA compliance. She said the Complete Streets Committee then pressed to look more broadly at how to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.
That funded state project, which runs from Schoonmaker Lane to Rock City Road, is in preliminary design and is scheduled to begin construction in summer 2027, with about $25 million in funding, Zefting said. The second project, known as “post to post,” runs from Wittenberg Road to Schoonmaker Lane. It is also in preliminary design, but construction is not funded. The town has applied for a Transportation Alternatives Program grant of about $7 million, with a required local match of between $1.6 million and $1.7 million, though Zefting said the town’s share could fall if the state picks up an additional portion.
Zefting said the design rules matter because they limit how much space can be reallocated. Sidewalks must be at least 5 feet wide, she said, while a shared-use path that combines cyclists and pedestrians must be at least 10 feet wide, with 12 feet recommended. In the more rural western stretch, travel lanes must be at least 11 feet wide with 4-foot shoulders. In the more urban eastern stretch, 10-foot lanes are the minimum and 12-foot lanes are preferred. Traffic counts near Schoonmaker Lane show about 5,500 vehicles a day, 4% of them trucks, traveling about 45 mph before entering the village, she said.
For the funded Schoonmaker Lane-to-Rock City Road segment, which encompasses Tinker Street, Zefting said the baseline state plan includes 5-foot sidewalks on both sides of Route 212, bridge replacements and a proposed 25 mph speed limit within the project area. A typical cross section, she said, would include a 5-foot sidewalk, an 8-foot parking lane, two 11-foot travel lanes, a 1-foot shoulder and another 5-foot sidewalk.
Beyond that baseline plan, she said, planners are weighing two main alternatives through town. One would create a 10-foot shared-use path, primarily on the north side, separating cyclists from vehicle traffic while combining bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The other, which Zefting said she preferred, would keep separate sidewalks while creating more distance between pedestrians and the road and more space for street trees and other traffic-calming features. That option would generally mean 5- to 6-foot sidewalks, along with tradeoffs such as narrowing travel lanes from 11 feet to 10.5 feet or shrinking parking lanes from 8 feet to 7 feet.
The presentation also included curb extensions, raised crosswalks, a raised intersection at Rock City Road and rectangular rapid flashing beacons activated by pedestrians. Zefting said narrower lanes, street trees and other physical changes can help slow drivers. She said the town has asked the state to study lower speeds in the “post-to-post” section as well, though not necessarily 25 mph.
West of Schoonmaker Lane, the current “post-to-post” concept calls for a 10-foot shared-use path on the south side of Route 212. Zefting said it would run mostly as a sidepath separated from traffic by a 3-foot strip and a curb, then transition to a sidewalk just east of Sawkill Creek Road. Other options under review would extend the sidepath farther east, including to Woodstock Meadows Drive, West Fitzsimmons Lane or just east of Old Beekman Lane. One option would also shift parking to the north side in part to help calm traffic.
She said designers are also studying whether to pull the sidepath farther from the road in some places to avoid mature trees or grading problems, though doing so could require more property acquisition. In other areas, she said, the path could stay closer to the road with curbs, guide rail or other barriers.
Questions about eminent domain sharpened the debate. Asked whether the project would involve taking private property, Zefting said yes, but clarified that she was referring specifically to the separate “post-to-post” project west of Schoonmaker Lane, not the full “post-to-village-green” section through Tinker Street. In most cases, she said, the process would likely involve only a few feet of frontage.
Another resident, Jacqueline Manganaro, said she worried the project had drifted away from accessibility and toward bicycling.
“Seventeen years ago, I approached Bill McKenna about needing accessibility, welcoming people with disabilities, mobility issues,” Manganaro said.
Former New Paltz Town Supervisor Neil Bettez, whom Courtis invited to speak, said Woodstock’s 2018 comprehensive plan already called for studying improved accommodations for pedestrians, bicyclists and people with disabilities along Routes 212 and 375. He described New Paltz’s Henry W. DuBois Drive shared-use path as a project that initially drew pushback but is now used regularly by seniors, wheelchair users, joggers, children and dog walkers.
He said protected bike lanes and shared-use paths can reduce collisions, support aging in place and increase local business activity.
“I ride it every day back and forth to work,” Bettez said of the New Paltz path. “I have not been on that road one time and not seen multiple people on it every time, including seniors, people in wheelchairs, on crutches, people jogging, people walking with small children pushing carriages or people walking dogs.”
Critics of Woodstock’s proposal raised concerns about tree loss, transparency and long-term costs. In a letter summarizing his objections, Woodstock Tree Committee co-chair Michael Veitch wrote that Complete Streets had “miscalculated their tree count by only counting 12″ diameter and larger trees,” even though, he said, town law protects trees 8 inches and above. He wrote that the Tree Committee’s count found “in excess of 200 protected trees.”
Veitch also wrote that the town would be responsible for maintaining the path indefinitely, including snow removal, and said, “No studies have been done to assess the need for this project. It has all been anecdotal.” He called the proposal “a waste of precious resources for a massive project with no demonstrated need.”
Zefting said she did not yet have a final tree-removal count and noted that the survey had only picked up some trees 12 inches and larger. She said planted trees are typically the contractor’s responsibility to maintain and warranty for at least a year.
Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.