The Walden Village Board and a representative from the Millspaugh family provided several updates to the Waterfront Park, a project proposed for a portion of Wallkill River’s shoreline near Pine Street, during the village’s December 5 meeting.

The park is dedicated to the late Marcus “Mickey” Millspaugh who passed away last year. Both the board and his family have worked on the project since 2016.

Andrew Millspaugh, grandson of Mickey, made several comments about the park’s current state, opening with its scope and the need for trash pickup.

“The scope of the current contractor is done. I went down there earlier today and saw there was no equipment,” Andrew said. “There’s still some trash behind the cardboard rolls, their geotextile fabric is still left there, there’s a metal pipe. So there’s some odds and ends that they should probably clean up.”

Andrew also raised concerns about winter conditions and requested that the board implement stabilization to protect the park during the season.

“The state of it being left as bare soil, it’s susceptible to erosion. It’s important to keep the project moving,” Andrew said. “That’s something that you should have eyes on, especially with the winter season. We’re going to have ice and river levels, and the work that got done now could be in jeopardy over the winter if there’s not any temporary stabilization that’s done.”

Lastly, Andrew inquired if the village would change the park’s scope based on the current bids and the project’s remaining grant money.

“There’s $120,000 left, and I assume that’s related to the grant. I know that the bids that came in 2022 were in the $300,000 range,” Andrew said. “Is the scope being reduced or is the village making up the difference? What’s the plan for the remainder of the work to have a functional park?”

Following Andrew, Village Manager John Revella provided updates on the park, including landscape plans and extensions for its grant and DEC permit.

“The fabric and soil’s been done, it’s not top-grade yet. They did remove the stumps and everything was done there,” Revella said. “The engineer’s trying to get the contractor in to do the sidewalks and boardwalk, with one of the berm walls. I know they’ll need a lot of riprap by the river to hold, and after that, we’ll finish grade with the soil.”

“As of the last meeting, we got the extension approved for the grant, and I emailed the engineer to make sure we had the permit extended from the DEC, which they did subsequently,” he continued.

Revella assured that the park’s scope would remain the same and that the board is breaking the project into smaller chunks for the sake of obtaining cost-effective bids for contractors.

“We are waiting for contractors for the sidewalk and boardwalk parts of the project, and as I mentioned last time, we are doing it in pieces,” Revella said. “Because when we did originally bid it, it was way over budget, so now that we’re doing it in pieces, it’s been cost-effective to get it done.”

The board also voted to return the project’s dock, which was previously moved to Olley Park. It is now slated to return to the Pine Street site this spring.

Andrew thanked the trustees for this motion and suggested that they keep the DEC permit on the village’s next meeting agenda to confirm that it will be extended.

“Clarification on the DEC permit: it was submitted ahead of the required deadline, but it’s not reissued yet. It’s been logged in, received, but the decision due date is December 14. So I’d keep it on the agenda to make sure it’s reissued,” he said.