Kent Senior Center construction halted

The future of the new Kent Senior Center planned for Ludingtonville Road near the Putnam-Dutchess County line is now in the hands of the New York State Legislature.

By a unanimous vote last week, the Putnam Legislature decided to halt all work on the project until alienation legislation is approved by the state allowing the construction to proceed. According to legislative counsel Clement VanRoss, the “property had been declared to be parkland for usage as green space in 1994.”

Legislator Dan Birmingham of Brewster put it this way: “We have nothing against our senior citizens, but have decided to wait until the state allows the county to use the property for other than parkland purposes. For us to proceed without the state’s permission would be a reckless act.”

Putnam County has received a Community Development Block Grant totaling $600,000 to partially fund the construction of the new senior recreational center in Kent.

The grant has expired, and, according to Legislature Chairman Tony Hay, “in order to have it extended, the county committed to fund the balance of the project by issuing bonds totaling $600,000 for preliminary construction costs.”

A sanitary system and geothermal wells have been installed, but lawmakers decided to delay any additional site work such as placing a foundation on the property until the alienation legislation is approved by the State Legislature.

Since the action will not take place until 2010, the Putnam Legislature directed that no additional work take place on the site this year.

The center will eventually replace Putnam’s Office for the Aging facility at the Donald Smith Governmental Campus in Carmel, which has become extremely overcrowded due to increased use and the growing senior citizen population found throughout the county.

Putnam’s senior centers in Mahopac, Putnam Valley, and Cold Spring will not be affected by the legislative decision.

—Eric Gross