Town of Rhinebeck

RHINEBECK TOWN BOARD ERROR DELAYS PARK FUNDING:

Town Board members on Monday moved to correct a four-year-old procedural error that has held up grant funding for improvements to the Rhineson property, now known as Thomas Thompson Recreational Park.

The board amended a conservation easement conveying 71.95 acres to the Winnakee Land Trust from the town and village, acknowledging that it previously failed to give notice of a permissive referendum on the easement.

"The original grant of the conservation easement should have been effected through the publication of a resolution ... subject to a permissive referendum," Town Attorney Warren Replansky said.
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Replansky said the Town Board's approval of the land transfer sets in motion a 30-day period for petitions to be filed objecting to the easement. He said a referendum would be required if signatures are obtained from 5 percent of town voters in the most recent general election.

"I suspect there won't be," he said. "Very rarely are there petitions for permissive referendums, except in very controversial subjects."

The article doesn't answer the natural question: why did it take four years to correct the error?