First grants awarded for new stream corridor program

MARGARETVILE, June 3, 2008 - Three projects in Greene County and one in Ulster County were approved for funding under a new Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) program intended to reduce the potential for damage and injury resulting from floods.

The Stream Corridor Protection Program funds proposals to mitigate or correct conditions that present an imminent and substantial danger to people or property in hamlets, villages and populated areas. At its May 27 meeting, the CWC Board of Directors approved the first four grants under the program.

The Greene County Highway Department will use $27,033 to repair a stacked rock retaining wall along County Route 15 (Sutton Hollow Road) in the hamlet of Ashland, near NYS Route 23. Drainage will be improved and the road repaired to alleviate the potential hazard to motorists.

The Oakwood Rifle and Pistol Club was granted $99,200 to armor 140 feet of embankment of the Schoharie Creek on the group’s Prattsville property on Route 23. Periodic high flows have eroded the bank so that the club house’s foundation is threatened.

The Town of Windham will receive up to $100,000 to repair an aging concrete wall that has protected Windham’s Main and Mill Streets from Pratt Brook overflows for 50 years.

Ulster County Soil & Water Conservation District will use $48,112 to repair and rework some aspects of an Esopus Creek stream restoration demonstration project in Woodland Valley. Damage done to the project by flooding in 2005 will be corrected by the installation of two rock veins extending into the creek, grading the slope and planting vegetation.

The CWC Board of Directors also approved four low-interest loans on May 27.

John Houshmand (Houshco LLC) plans to use his loan to expand and relocate his high-end wood furnishings manufacturing facility to a new location three miles from the current site at Scotch Valley Ranch on Roses Brook Road near Hobart, Delaware County. Houshmand creates specialty items from walnut, cherry, oak and other woods and markets them around the world.

Gail McNee, owner of a building at 194 Delaware Street in Walton, will use a loan to refinance an existing mortgage that was acquired to make substantial improvements following flood damage in 2006.

New Paltz psychologist Kathleen Caproni, doing business as North Star Sun Creek Building, will utilize her loan to construct and develop a behavioral psychotherapy and healing arts practice with five other practitioners. The 2700-foot, two-story office building will be built at 8 Sun Creek Lane, Stone Ridge, in the Watershed Town of Marbletown.

Marietta Hanley and Caroline Ciraulo (SparrrowHawk Affaires LLC) will purchase and operate the SparrowHawk Bed and Breakfast on Route 209, Stone Ridge. The mother/daughter business team will also add a greenhouse and grow organic vegetables to serve at the inn.

The CWC is a non-profit, local development corporation responsible for several environmental protection, economic development and education programs in the New York City Watershed West of the Hudson River. For more information, go to www.cwconline.org, or call toll-free 877-928-7433.