Nearly 10 years ago, town officials secured a $250,000 grant for park improvements. Now, it looks like that money has a chance to be spent.
Glenville officials are eyeing $500,000 worth of upgrades for Maalwyck Park, located off Route 5 near the edge of Scotia. Park enhancements would include a central pavilion with bathrooms, a new western entrance into the park and additional parking, according to town Director of Operations James MacFarland.
The 60-acre riverside park, which includes 17 acres of soccer fields, was targeted for upgrades in the mid ’90s during the town’s process to create a parks master plan, MacFarland said. The upgrades would add “some of the basic elements” for park development.
“The goal here is to provide kind of a more complete and hospitable park for people to come and visit,” MacFarland said.
The town is trying to complete the work without using taxpayer money. The town would utilize the $250,000 grant from the state’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, which requires the town to match the funding. Since securing the grant, the town has been earmarking parkland funds received from developers to apply towards the project, MacFarland said.
He said the fund has about a $300,000 balance, so most of the fund would be drained. There is one potentially bigger hurdle, though — an archeological survey of the site must be completed.
The Town Board recently approved awarding a bid to Altamont-based Landmark Archaeology, Inc., for about $24,000 to conduct an archeological dig at the site. Depending on what is dug up, the town could proceed as planned or revise the plans.
Councilman Sid Ramotar, the board’s liaison to the Park Planning Commission, some bids came in at $50,000, so he was pleased to see the Landmark’s bid fall well within the town’s budget.
Even if significant discoveries are made during the dig, Ramotar optimistically said that could possibly be incorporated and featured in the park.
Ramotar said he supports the project “100 percent” and fellow board members also expressed support. Also, he thought the project makes for a wise expenditure of parkland funds.
“It is doing everything to make Maalwyck Park a park of the 21st Century,” he said. “We want to be able to have parks in Glenville that people can use all the time. We want them to be accessible for residents of all ages and enjoy all the parklands that Glenville has to offer.”
Maalwyck Park was flooded during Tropical Storm Irene, but MacFarland said the upgrades wouldn’t be impacted by a future event.
“We are not building anything fragile,” he said. “We feel confident we can keep our plans intact and plan that occasionally there will be water on site.”
Areas where structures are planned would be raised slightly during development, he said. Also, a barrier could be built to prevent ice and debris from damaging the facilities.
Highland Soccer Club is the main user of the park, but Mekeel Christian Academy, Frisbee groups, adult soccer clubs, dog walkers, runners and electric powered airplane enthusiasts also use the land. After the park is further developed, Scotia-Glenville Youth Football and Lacrosse have expressed interest in using the park.
MacFarland estimated a typical, non-winter week sees between 1,000 and 1,500 people visiting the park.
