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League Press Releases:

May 16, 2002: Conservationists and Citizens Battle for Voice in Public Matters

February 20, 2002: Support Swells for Saving Historic Catskill Buildings as Court Date Approaches

OVERVIEW:

Group Opposes Main Street Demolition Plans in Catskill

Yet another Main Street in New York State is under threat, requiring legal intervention by local citizens in an effort to prevent the planned demolition of historic fabric. The Greene County Legislature is planning to demolish ten buildings in the Village of Catskill to make way for a 108,000 square-foot County office building and 536-space parking lot, an action that spurred local preservationists to form a new coalition, Save Our Main Street Buildings, and file an Article 78 suit to challenge the project.

Seven of the targeted buildings are contributing structures to the National Register East Side Historic District. Six of these buildings are on Catskill’s Main Street; the seventh, a former church, is one of four remaining buildings designed by the artist Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painting. In support of the coalition, the Preservation League of New York State and Scenic Hudson jointly filed an amicus brief in support of the coalition.

According to David Seamon, one of the founders of Save Our Main Street Buildings, "Catskill’s 19th century architecture is its major resource. If our relatively intact downtown is to be revitalized—and its revitalization has already begun thanks to several creative and successful retailers—it needs these buildings and their storefronts. A gash in the row of facades will cause irreparable damage to Main Street."

Seamon and other members of Save Our Main Street Buildings agree that the downtown of the county seat is the most appropriate location for a county office building, but they argue that the new building should and can be constructed with minimal loss to existing historic fabric. Of particular note is that three of the buildings slated for demolition will provide only nine additional parking spaces for the facility, due to the steep topography of the site.

Greene County’s $14.7 million project is being financed by tobacco lawsuit settlement funds; the County has interpreted use of these funds as freeing the project from any requirement to consult with the State Historic Preservation Office. Tobacco settlement monies are being used to finance several capital projects with preservation implications around the state, including Seneca Park Zoo construction in Rochester, which will impact a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed landscape and relocation of Tioga County Legislative office buildings from Main Street to greenfields on the outskirts of Owego.

A decision rendered in County Supreme Court in early September ruled against the petitioners. An appeal will be filed shortly, but local preservationists are offering to meet with County officials to endorse a mutually-acceptable design that would avoid a protracted legal fight. Significant tools to assist "Main Street" communities like Catskill are on the political horizon, including revised New York State building code that is intended to streamline the rehabilitation of existing and historic buildings, tax credits for historic structures, and renewed interest in a Statewide Main Street program.

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