The Clarkstown Town Board hopes to add a 9.23 acre parcel on Germonds Road in West Nyack to its Open Space properties.
The owner, Hugh Traphagen, who died in December 2010, had given the town the right of first refusal to purchase the property after his death. The license agreement between the two parties was dated June 24, 1976 and ratified on Feb. 15, 2002.
Although the Hugh Traphagen Trust has entered into a contract with a third party to sell the property for $900,000, the Town Board on Tuesday night directed the Town Attorney's office to exercise the right and enter into an agreement to purchase the property for “general municipal purposes.”
“We have right of first refusal. We have the right to match that offer,” said Town Supervisor Alexander Gromack.
Councilwoman Shirley Lasker, D-Upper Nyack, quickly polled her fellow council members before she voted to make sure they were in agreement to retain the majority of the property as undeveloped. “Our intent is to preserve it as open space,” she said.
Soon after the Open Space Referendum was passed by town voters in 2000, the Open Space Committee identified the Traphagen property near Germonds Park as first on its list.
The property at 131 Germonds Road has a large white house on it and a stone barn. A stream runs through the property and there are some stone walls visible behind the house. The rest of the property appears undeveloped.
The town board unanimously approved authorizing the town attorney to enter into negotiations and to authorize issuing bonds for $925,000 to cover the property purchase and financing fees.
