Parks Board weighs options after $50,000 Rivertown Trail award; EREP ready funds could fund workout courts

Town of Newburgh — Board members discussed multiple grant and repair options for the Rivertown Trail and other park sites at the Feb. 5 meeting, including a roughly $50,000 award to replace riprap on the trail and leftover Ready 1 funds from EREP that must be spent by September.

Deputy Town Manager Andrea Balboni said the Rivertown Trail award covers riprap replacement but did not fund gabion baskets or a concrete retaining wall. "They didn't fund the gabion baskets or the concrete wall," she said, and the town is obtaining quotes for either like-for-like riprap replacement or the more durable (and more expensive) options.

Balboni also described outreach from EREP about remaining Ready 1 money and said the program favored a workout court as a shovel-ready project similar to a Mount Vernon example. She warned that some projects would require revising the lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for property at Overlook (a 1.84-acre leased parcel near the new lock and dam) and said the town likely needs an estimated local match of around $22,000 for certain proposals. "My only concern ... is getting the core involved. We have to redo that whole lease portion of it," Balboni said.

Board members discussed site constraints including a gas line that affected prior pickleball court plans, drainage concerns at the Overlook parcel, and the potential need for shade structures on outdoor workout courts. Board members asked staff to pursue a site survey and quotes so the town can meet grant timelines and weigh trade-offs between like-for-like repairs and enhanced solutions.

Next steps: staff will solicit engineering quotes, prepare matching-fund estimates, and forward materials to Ashley (EREP contact) and to the finance committee and Town Council as needed for approvals and lease revisions.