Town officials disagree, say it’s a city issue
North Bethlehem resident Brian Jerry said it was five years ago when he first noticed the Krumkill, running adjacent to his Andover Road property, changing shape.
We had experienced some pretty severe erosion from runoff from stormwater upstream, Jerry said, and the banks of the river were widening into his property.
He called the Town of Bethlehem, and workers came out to examine the situation.
`We were left under the impression that the town was working on our behalf to rectify our concerns about erosion,` Jerry said. `Nothing could have been further from the truth, they had just turned their back and walked away.`
Now, representatives from the Department of Environmental Conservation and Albany County have visited Jerry’s property and issued opinions that point to a culvert under Krumkill Road as the reason for the erosion that is pushing the banks of the river back.
In a letter to Jerry, DEC Stream Protection Biologist Steven Swenson said his assessment of the location indicated the size culvert should be increased to prevent further erosion.
`The banks at the culvert outlet are so undercut that it is my belief that Krumkill Road is at risk of eventual collapse if nothing is done to prevent this,` the letter reads in part.
Joseph Slezak, field manager for the Albany County Soil and Water Conservation District, has also examined the location, and said the culvert is too small.
`We went out to the site immediately, and we met with [Jerry] and DEC, and basically just assessed the situation,` he said. `It appeared that the culvert was undersized.`
Officials in the Town of Bethlehem disagreed, however. Supervisor Sam Messina said he has examined the location along with town staff.
`They don’t see an engineering issue with water throughput that would affect that road,` he said. `At the present time, it is not clear, precisely, what action should be taken.`
Messina went on to say the culvert and road is located in the City of Albany. As such, the town has not done a cost estimate on replacing the culvert.
`At the present time, it does not appear to me that it’s a Town of Bethlehem issue,` Messina said.
Slezak said he would be contacting the Town of Bethlehem to discuss the issue, but could not say which municipality is responsible for the culvert (here, the Krumkill serves as the border between Bethlehem and Albany). He said the county Soil and Water Department might act as facilitator between the municipalities to sort the issue out, if necessary.
Rick Georgeson, a DEC spokesman, said the agency does not have any jurisdictional power to require the culvert to be replaced.
`It’s [the town’s] call whether they want to replace that,` he said. `We’re going to continue to talk things over with the landowner, and be available to the town.`
Georgeson said other approaches to minimizing the erosion might be effective, such as reducing the `center bar` of gravel in the river that is pushing water outwards to the banks.
While county and state officials declined to say if development upstream is affecting this stretch of the Krumkill, all said it is a possibility.
`It’s pretty much understood that when you increase development there’s more impervious surface,` Slezak said.
On Feb. 17, The Spotlight reported a number of McKownville-based groups, along with Assemblyman John McEneny, D-Albany, are blaming development for displacing stormwater and increasing instances of flooding in that area.
Jerry is also protesting a proposed condominium development in North Bethlehem, which he believes would further exacerbate the problems with the Krumkill by adding runoff to the river. He spoke out against the project at a recent Planning Board meeting and recommended the town of Bethlehem and Guilderland halt development until further notice.
`Any further development in the Krumkill watershed should be put on a moratorium until DEC has an opportunity to study these questions,` he said in a later interview.
Daniel Hershberg, project engineer for the proposed Blessings Corner project, said the development would feature a stormwater management system that will regulate the flow of runoff and clean it of sediment, and would actually be better for those downstream.
`The system we’ve proposed at the 572 Rusell Road PDD site, was actually going to clean the stormwater,` he said. `Quality and quantity will both be controlled.`
Hershberg also argued increasing the size of the culvert under Krumkill Road would simply transfer the erosion problem downstream.
`That will violate the current intent of DEC’s own regulations, because it will increase the flow downstream,` he said. `Somebody’s got to study the downstream impacts.`
Georgeson said the DEC does not have enough detailed information to comment on possible downstream impacts associated with resizing the culvert.
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