TOWN OF WALLKILL – The City of Middletown is moving ahead with plans to develop recreational trails around its reservoirs, which are located in the Town of Wallkill. Town Supervisor Edward Diana has concerns about that.
In a letter to Mayor Joseph DeStefano, Diana brought up the issue of the safety and security of the system, noting after September 11, Middletown “has taken great measures to protect the reservoirs by not allowing public access.” He is worried if that were to change.
“That is a concern of ours as a town the security of the water, but also we have residents that live around there in the Town of Wallkill,” Diana said. “They are concerned with added foot traffic, people coming to walk, walk dogs there, with more traffic there.”
DeStefano said the city’s plans will be moving forward while taking the town’s issues under advisement.
“I thanked him for expressing such concern about our system and told him we will certainly review his letter and probably move ahead with our project as planned,” the mayor said.
Residents of Restorative Estates in Wallkill built their homes adjacent to the Highland Lake Reservoir and to open up the land for recreational purposes will have “the potential for a decrease in our property values and almost certainly our quality of country life,” they wrote to city officials in a letter signed by The Concerned Neighbors of Restorative Estates.
They said the proposal “sounds like a nightmare” to them.
