There may be a new highway of sorts to the Hudson Valley Mall and Plaza, but there will not be a new highway district.
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That is the upshot after Syracuse-based PCK Development Co. L.L.C. prevailed by default in its court challenge of the town of Ulster”™s formation of a new highway district which would have required 10 commercial property owners to pay $2.6 million of the $7 million projected cost for the initial phase of constructing new ramps to state Route 199-209 from Frank Sottile Boulevard, a road running adjacent the mall and serving as a connector route to its many outlets and parking lots.
The plan is designed to ease traffic pressure along state Route 9-W through the commercial heart of the town.
The article 78 action challenged the town of Ulster”™s formation of a new highway district in a suit filed last April 15. PCK contended incorrect sections of law were applied when town officials approved the highway district formally called Development Facilitation Improvement District No. 2 on Jan. 15, 2009.?The company also said town officials failed to properly conduct environmental impact statements when approving bond payments for the ramps that are to connect state Route 199 to Frank Sottile Boulevard near the mall and plaza as part of the highway district plan. The entire upgrade is projected to cost around $25 million and was supposed to be paid for by the state Department of Transportation, except for the $2.6 million portion that highway district would have collected from property owners. Â ?PCK won by default because representatives of the town”™s previous administration, voted out of office in November, failed to show up for a scheduled court appearance in October, according to members of the current administration. “The attorney for PCK defended their position and the town of Ulster had a chance to reply to the petition,” town Attorney Jason Kovacs said after the decision was made public. “The town of Ulster did not file an answer, and PCK was awarded judgment by default.”?The ruling was handed down in state Supreme Court in Kingston, ??“The judge declared that the manner in which the town developed this highway district was invalid (and) improper according to law,” said Kovacs.
The procedural path of the bonding resolution was a study in government mistakes. Andrew Zweben, who served as town attorney in the former administration, said on Friday that no response to PCK was filed in court because bond lawyers determined that legal notices about the new district that were published last Feb. 5 were five days too late.?“It was all done late and it”™s the lateness that makes the resolution null and void,” said Zweben.?In the lawsuit, PCK contended the missed legal notice deadline was one of several problems and said the Town Board had “acted in an illegal, arbitrary and capricious manner” when approving the highway district without having “substantial evidence” it was needed.
PCK”™s court victory doesn”™t mean the road improvement project is dead, said current town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley, who took office Jan. 1. He said the town will make necessary changes and then proceed as planned. The project was tentatively scheduled to commence in 2012.
