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ROTTERDAM
Great Flats preserve to expand
Nearby abandoned homes to be razed
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Edmund and Josephine Kriunas died more than a decade ago, but the rotted homes they left behind still stand today near the entrance to the Great Flats Nature Trail.
    The husband and wife left no known heirs when they died a year apart from one another. And the structures they owned were anything but desirable — one of the homes was reportedly used as a dog kennel before town offi cials had it condemned in 2000.
    Since that time, the homes have been left open to the elements and become a haven for interlopers. One of the structures — a historic Dutch colonial — was further damaged during a series of arson fires set by former a Schonowee volunteer fi refighter around the 67-acre Great Flats preserve.
    But sometime this summer, the sad legacy of sagging buildings the couple left behind will be demolished so that the 5.8-acre property can be added to the sprawling nearby preserve. County officials foreclosed on the property and are now poised to start a $70,000 demolition project to clear the land, which rests just beyond the parking area for the trail head on West Campbell Road.
    “We are going to dedicate it as parkland and transfer it to the town of Rotterdam,” County Attorney
Chris Gardner said last week.
    Half of the demolition cost will be covered through an environmental benefits project fund. Ray Gillen, the county’s commissioner of Economic Development and Planning, said the funding had to be specifically earmarked for a project to improve the environment and was subject to review by the DEC.
    “We had to find a project like this that met their requirements,” he said. “This did.”
    The county Legislature’s committee on Environmental Conservation and Parks favors the project. The full Legislature is expected to adopt a resolution approving the demolition of the Dutch colonial and an adjacent brick ranch house this week.
    Edmund Kriunas apparently bought the Dutch colonial home from the state just prior to the construction of Interstate 890 during the 1970s and had the structure moved to his property. The couple lived in relative anonymity until paramedics discovered the condition of the older home when the husband fell ill in May of 2000.
    Amid the garbage stuffed in the debris-choked home, code enforcers discovered 55-gallon drums containing various liquids, including human and animal feces. Town officials contemplated demolishing the home, but decided hire a company to cleanup the mess and bill the couple instead.
    But the husband died less than two months after being moved from the home. His wife died almost exactly a year after her husband’s death, leaving no heirs and their blighted property in legal limbo.
    The already sagging Dutch colonial was further damaged when former fi refighter James Devine lit fire to the structure near its rear entrance. Devine was later convicted of the arson and served fi ve years in prison before being paroled in 2010.
    Former Republican Supervisor Steve Tommasone discussed acquiring the property to add to the nature trail. County offi cials were hesitant to help the effort, citing a failed Republican plan to develop a recreation center near the nature trail in 2006. ..............>>>>....................>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00904&AppName=1

The Great Flats is a wonderful little trail area, but the town has enough to deal with there already.  Why not go ahead and sell this land, so that it can start to bring in more tax revenue, reducing the cost on the residents and businesses that are already here?  But the Metroplex   Commissioner of Economic Development and Planning is going to take this over and it's going to fix it.  Yeah, right.

At least it's not going to Parks and Recreation, considering they can't do anything with the leadership they have right now, including building a submarine dog park.

Rampage - this land is literally scrub-land. You couldn't even put a tool shed on it without facing scrutiny from about a dozen agencies. And then you have to contend with the NiMo right-of-way(and high tension power lines), which plows right through it. I pass by here usually twice a day and it's just a grand example of how poor planning and a lack of communication can hem a piece of land into non-existence.

Of course, if the town was willing to look the other way, this would be a great property to raise a cash crop of weed. No easy way to it by car...far from the police station...lots of sun...abandoned structures for processing. I'm just sayin'...

The Great Flats is a conservation area for one important reason -- It sits on top of the aquifer and we must maintain the integrity and quality of our water supply.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The Great Flats is a conservation area for one important reason -- It sits on top of the aquifer and we must maintain the integrity and quality of our water supply.

So does Rotterdam Square, Burger King, BJ's, Staples, and the entire lot of apartments across the street from The Great Flats.  So, where were you when we needed to protect all that area?  And now you're concerned about The Great Flats?  I remember someone coming on here spouting that it wasn't his job, after you were asked what your plans were as Parks and Recreations head to take care of them after the hurricane.  Oh, right, The Great Flats is a conservation area, not a town park, so you don't care.  

By the way, just so you know, someone defiled your hero's namesake park with a Ron Paul sign.  I wonder how quick that will come down after you said that also wasn't your job to take care of.  It better not move, or you'll be shown for the hypocrite you really are.

Let's not forget the chemical plant and the remnants of the old dump leaching toxins into the ground water.

BOA...State grants to clean it up....

dream that your hero Buffonti gets it all done!

Quoted from rampage

So does Rotterdam Square, Burger King, BJ's, Staples, and the entire lot of apartments across the street from The Great Flats.  

Not to mention the petroleum based roads that are salted/sanded yearly and where cars/trucks leak oil/gasoline!!!
It's a joke!!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

Not to mention the petroleum based roads that are salted/sanded yearly and where cars/trucks leak oil/gasoline!!!
It's a joke!!!!

The old GE dump that was behind bldg 85 and the mall has been leeching into the aquifer for 100 years.

There were a lot of 55 gallon drums of unknown liguid dumped and buried in that old GE dump.

Quoted from Shadow

There were a lot of 55 gallon drums of unknown liguid dumped and buried in that old GE dump.

And farmers got paid some bucks to allow dumping on their property. Folks are still digging up those old 55 gallon drums. They are EVERYWHERE!!!

Go check out the train tracks that go under the bridge by the si group!! Folks would be amazed at what chemicals have been dumped down there!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

And farmers got paid some bucks to allow dumping on their property. Folks are still digging up those old 55 gallon drums. They are EVERYWHERE!!!

Go check out the train tracks that go under the bridge by the si group!! Folks would be amazed at what chemicals have been dumped down there!!!

I remember seeing the giant landfill back there in the 60s and 70s. The was a creek that ran through it. We just called it the flats back then. There also was another dump between the Riverview GE plant on Campbell Rd and the railroad tracks that cross Campbell Rd at Burdeck St. Which reminds me that the land across from the Mobil at Burdeck St used to be a land fill as well. They built the BMX track over it.