MILLINGS/MULCH, ETC.
Some of you may have received a town-wide email from a resident yesterday regarding this topic. I shouldn’t have to address emails like this but I will briefly with facts to put your minds at ease, but not review it point by point.
We have had a Highway Yard in downtown Armonk for decades. And it’s a highway yard, meaning vehicles and equipment are stored there, as well as material, whether it be salt and sand for our roads, organic yard waste, and temporary road millings.
Why do we have so many millings this time of year? Simple answer: We have been on a multiyear program to pave EVERY TOWN-OWNED ROAD over the last several years and will complete this by next year. I haven’t met anyone in Town yet that doesn’t want their road paved, so if you don’t want more roads paved, let me know.
We do not have to pay for the millings to be removed if we can have them taken away at no cost to the taxpayers, You. We consult with the NYSDEC as necessary to insure we are doing everything right in the temporary storage which is permitted, and if something needs correction, they advise us of such.
The email’s author has raised issues like this before with the Town and we responded with the answers, including involvement of NYSDEC, etc. I can’t control whether he likes the answers or not, but this year alone he has been communicating with the Town about removing the road millings from the Highway Yard as he says it impacts his office building that he owns across the street. He left that part out of his email, and the fact that he would prefer taxpayers to foot the bill of removing the millings versus the taxpayer-responsible approach of having them removed for free, thus freeing up more money for paving our roads. As an FYI, he built his building decades after the highway yard was established.
The same concept of free removal pertains to organic yard waste as well. We have a fiduciary responsibility to you, and to use your tax dollars as prudently and responsibly as possible, as well as an environmental responsibility. We’ve used the Middle Patent yard for decades as well, and when adjustments to its use are warranted, we make those changes. To his credit, the author of yesterday’s email raised his concerns about this site months ago and we answered his concerns and made appropriate changes, including swift material removal. We expect the equipment and the Town’s material to be removed by the end of June. At that time the Town staff will work toward developing a plan for future organic yard waste removal (remember, this material is removed for free). Additionally, all of the water provided by the Town goes through a rigorous testing process set by the Westchester County Department of Health. All of the Town’s Annual Water Quality Reports can be found on the Town’s website or by Clicking Here.
