New Highway Garage & Salt Shed Infrastructure Project

Amenia Highway Department

The Highway Department is responsible for maintaining all town-designated roads, ensuring they are accessible for vehicular traffic every day, in all kinds of weather. This includes grading, paving, and sealing roadways; clearing, cleaning, and grading ditches; tree and brush trimming in the town rights of way; mowing roadsides; and plowing, salting, and sanding during the winter months.

Amenia has 58 town roads, consisting of 30.83 centerline miles (61.66 lane miles) of road, seven bridges, numerous catch basins, and countless culverts. The Department is overseen by an elected and working Highway Superintendent who supervises five crew members and a part-time office manager.

Existing Highway Garage Facility

The existing Town Garage is located at 8 Borden Lane, Wassaic, NY 12592. The existing site is outdated and past its useful life. It consists of a (i) 80’ x 50’ concrete block garage building erected prior to 1955, (ii) a temporary 20’ x 40’ salt shed built in 2006, and (iii) a pole barn structure for equipment storage. The existing site is located on approximately 2.5 acres of usable land; is partially in a federal wetland and flood plain; and portions are built on an abandoned landfill.

Existing Exterior Garage Building and Salt Shed

Existing Interior Garage Building  

New Site Obtained

After many years of searching for a suitable site, then Supervisor Victoria Perotti negotiated with New York State to convey to the town a 5 acre section of Lot 36 of the Great Nine Partners Patent. The section was conveyed to the town in November 2018. The parcel is located at 3754-3756 NYS Route 22, Wassaic, NY 12592 just south of the junction of Sinpatch Road and abuts the NYS DOT Garage. 

Feasibility Study – Request for Proposals

In April 2022 the Town Board released a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking professional engineering services to prepare a Feasibility Study for a New Highway Garage and Salt Storage Facility. Six firms responded to the RFP and in July 2022 LaBella Associates, D.P.C. was selected.

Feasibility Study

LaBella delivered the Feasibility Study on March 19, 2024.

Identified Issues

• Unsafe, outdated with extreme deferred maintenance beyond reasonable repair
• Insufficient land and building space
• Past its useful life 
• 2.5 acres of usable land
• Built on abandoned landfill
• Partially in federal wetland and flood plain
• 80’ x 50’ concrete block garage building erected prior to 1955
• Temporary salt shed is an environmental hazard near Wassaic Creek
• Pole barn storage structure is to small for equipment 
• Limited fuel storage
• No backup generator
• No fire suppression system

Concept Design

• 5 Acre lot
• 13,000 SF highway facility
• 2,300 SF covered storage
• 6 double loaded drive thru bays
• 1 administration bay with toilet room facilities, office space, break room, locker-room/shower space and storage
• 80 feet deep building allows for two plow trucks in each bay
• 50’x70’ salt shed - accommodate salt / sand mixer
• Well and on-site septic
• Increased fuel storage
• Backup generator
• Fire suppression system

Environmental Review, SHPO