McKownville
Improvement Association
McKownville Water District property - easements to Stuyvesant
Plaza
The McKownville water supply
until 1973 came from the dammed reservoir on the west branch of the
Krum Kill, since 1959 sandwiched between Western Avenue and
Stuyvesant Plaza. This pond originally was made by William McKown in
the early 1800's to supply his
hostelry and
stockyards at the intersection of Fuller Road and Western Avenue.
William H Witbeck bought the McKown Hotel Farm property in 1907, and
sold most of it in 1912 to a partnership of his son Benjamin F
Witbeck and Arthur F Pitkin. This partnership, later becoming the
Pitkin-Witbeck Realty Company, used the reservoir as the minimally
treated water supply for their subdivision "Country Club Highlands"
east of Fuller Road on the north side of Western Avenue. In 1948,
after resident petition, the town established the McKownville Water
District, which
purchased the reservoir and a small amount of surrounding land,
and significantly improved the treatment of the water and the
distribution piping to residences.
Airphoto view taken in 1960 looking west over Stuyvesant Plaza,
Western Avenue, the NY Thruway and part of Westmere beyond. The
McKownville reservoir is seen on the left between the Plaza and
buildings on the northern side of Western Avenue. Part of the pond
known as Harrington's ice pond, or Church Pond, can be seen just
beyond the Thruway in the center of the picture.
Development of the Stuyvesant Plaza shopping center was proposed in
1955 and completed in 1959. In that year a perpetual easement
was granted to the Plaza of a strip of land at the
southeastern end of the Water District property for access to the
shopping center from Western Avenue. The entrance and exit built
then on this easement remains the main access to the Plaza.
Other easements of the Water District property adjacent to the
northern side of the reservoir were made subsequently by the Town of
Guilderland, acting on behalf of the McKownville Water District, to
Stuyvesant Plaza. These were made for access, employee/store owner
parking, for placing trash dumpsters, and have been used for
maintenance equipment parking and storage. An easement on the
southern side was made to permit installation of underground
electrical utilities. Since the reservoir ceased to be used as a
water source in 1973, and especially since its conversion to a
usually empty retention pond in 2010, there has been no great
disincentive to granting these easements from consideration of the
potential pollution that might enter the watershed from them (nor
more generally in the
watershed upstream, particularly from the Crossgates Mall and
its surroundings).
Property purchased for the McKownville Water District
Deed of sale April
1, 1949 from Pitkin Witbeck Realty Co to McKownville Water
District; Book 1160 pages 193-196
Parcel 1: ~9.51 acres including the main reservoir pond; Parcel 2:
~0.34 acres, a non-contiguous rectangular lot
Deed of sale April
17, 1961 from McKown Farm Realty Co to McKownville Water
District; Book 1683, pages 387-390
Two small separate lots adjoining the north and south sides of
Parcel 2 of the 1949 purchase
List of easements from McKownville Water District to Stuyvesant
Plaza Inc
February 19, 1959
- Book 1604, pages 544-546 [a more legible
copy of the agreement, and containing a sketch map]
A strip 50 feet wide (~0.25 acres) at the southeastern end of Parcel
1 of 1949 purchase; for access to the Plaza from and to Western
Avenue. A payment of $5500 was made for this easement.
also in:
- Book 1891, pages 491 and 499
- Book 1910, page 535
1968 - Both Fred Abele (Altamont
Enterprise article 15 August 1980) and John Esler (letter to
Altamont enterprise editor December 1972) record an easement
of 2.1 acres made in 1968; Esler remarks that on his request in 1972
the Town could not find a copy of this document. Later engineering
maps of the Plaza and the Reservoir Park make no identifiable
reference to such a document. Possibly this became, slightly
reduced, the December 11, 1970 easement.
December 11, 1970
- Book 2313, pages 294-295 (a map is referenced but is not included
in this copy)
Two parcels, one about 0.47 acres, the other about 1.05 acres,
respectively from the northern part, and the western part of Parcel
1 of the 1949 purchase for vehicle parking, including installation
of pavement, and for facilities and piping for surface water
drainage.
June 19, 2007 -
Book 2888, pages 70-71
A strip 30 feet wide on the southern side of Parcel 1 of 1949
purchase, for underground electrical utilities.
November 4, 2009
- Book 2963, pages 1064-1070 (this file contains a map)
A parcel (about 0.51 acres) along the northern side of Parcel 1 of
the 1949 purchase, for access, parking, and trash storage/handling.
Parking in this easement is available to the public visiting the
McKownville Reservoir Park.
Larger maps made in 2009 which show the easement proposed, and
more details of the
parking area
Map showing the original extent of parcel 1 of the 1949 sale to the
Water District, the easements that have eaten into it, the park
outline, and the areas of which sales were attempted [map as printable pdf page].
Attempts to sell McKownville Water District property to
Stuyvesant Plaza Inc
Two attempts by the Town to sell land of the McKownville Water
District outright to Stuyvesant Plaza were marked by controversy.
The first of these occurred in 1962, over a narrow triangular piece
of 1.5 acres along the northeastern side of the main parcel for
which Stuyvesant Plaza offered $10,000, the purpose being to
accommodate an expansion of the plaza for new stores. A public hearing on May 15
set out the proposal to residents. At the Town Board meeting on June
5, the Town Board agreed to submit a permissive referendum to Water
District voters; at this meeting claims were made
that a proper value would be in the range $25,000 to $50,000. The
easement of 1958, where $5500 was paid for just an easement over
0.25 acres, seems fairly clear evidence of a significant
undervaluation. The McKownville Improvement Association initially
submitted a
letter to the town board supporting this sale, but
reconsidered this support and submitted another letter
with reservations in it after there was a modification
(addition) to the plot to be sold. Another public hearing was held
December 17. The attempted sale was unsuccessful; a permissive
referendum of Water District voters failed to pass.
The other attempt was made in 1972, with sale of 0.6
acres of the northwest corner of the main parcel offered for $2500,
for a proposed movie theater. Residents
objected vigorously, again pointing to the astonishing
undervaluation of the offer price, and the requirement to have a
public hearing and vote by Water District homeowners. They also
objected to the claim by the Town to have ownership of McKownville
Water District property. A hearing by the
DEC was called in February 1973. There seems to be no record
published in the Altamont Enterprise about the outcome of this
hearing, but the sale did not occur. Fred Abele
recounted later that the McKownville Improvement Association
determined that the land was worth five times the price offered and
threatened a lawsuit over this issue. McKownville residents were
successful in causing the abandonment of this transaction.
Other easements
1969 - easement to Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation - 0.42 acres
1973 - easement to Guilderland Sewer District - 30 ft wide right of
way across the Krum Kill to Stuyvesant Plaza
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