Panther Rock Creek and the Callicoon Creek, which converge in Youngsville, have flooded numerous times over the past decade, and now the state is moving to address the issue at Panther Rock.

At a public hearing on November 12, a representative from the NY State Department of Transportation (DOT) said the creek floods so often because the space below the bridge over the creek is too small. Root balls and trees get stuck in the opening and the water backs up and floods the surrounding buildings.

The DOT’s plan to mitigate this is to raise the roadway and bridge three feet. Because of the construction materials to be used this will actually result in the space under the bridge being four feet larger than the existing space, and will reduce the amount of flooding.

Jim Esposito, a DOT engineer, said the bridge is on a “flood warning bridge watch list,” and must be monitored by DOT crews whenever there is a flood warning. He said this has happened ten times in the past ten years, and it is expensive. He added that the bridge is still safe.

Four commercial properties in the hamlet will be impacted by this plan, because three-foot-high retaining walls will need to be constructed in front of the buildings, and guard rails will be placed on top of the walls.

For one property, the Youngsville Garage, which is owned by Callicoon town council member Scott Gaebel, there is the retaining wall and guard rail option, but there is also an option for the creation of an embankment, which would require the demolition of the garage, and require the state to purchase his building.

A DOT spokesman, Dave Hamburg, said that option was created for the garage because several garage bay doors that can now be accessed from the road, will no longer be able to be used, and the plan had to address that. He said the other property owners don’t have that situation. But the other property owners said their properties will be negatively impacted, and access to their properties will also be impacted.

Linda Babicz, the former town supervisor, noted that only one building owner, Gaebel, was invited to discuss the matter at a meeting in March, and Babicz said she had received her formal notification about the project only two days before the public hearing. She said she would be submitting documentation to the DOT about the negative impact to her building. She said if the retaining wall and guard rail goes up as planned, her building could no longer be used as intended, and she requested that the state buy her out if the project moves forward.

Another resident said that the solution to enlarging the opening under the bridge was to periodically dredge out the area underneath the bridge rather than raising the deck of the bridge.

Hamburg said that option is not feasible because as the creek gets near the bridge, the bed flattens out. This slows down the water, and gravel and sand that was being washed downstream stops its forward movement and is deposited there. Further, the DOT right of way extends only 50 feet each in either direction and this would prevent an effective dredging plan.

The project has not been funded yet, and there is some possibility that the funding won’t come through. If the project does go forward, the cost is estimated to be $1.3 million, with final design plans to be completed next year, and construction to be completed in 2016.