New Information on Potential Reopening of Popular Closed Park In Orange County

Last Fall residents in the Orange County town of New Windsor were saddened to learn of the indefinite closure of a much loved and favorited town park. That park is the beautiful and scenic Plum Point Park located right on the Hudson River off of Route 9W.

Plum Point Park for years has been a favorite amongst local residents and those visiting New Windsor, however, a fire at the park forced its closure. With the ending of the Winter season and the welcoming of Spring, many have wondered when it is that the park will be reopening. I myself as a New Windsor resident have wondered the same thing and reached out to New Windsor officials for that very information.

What I learned is that reopening the park is not as simple as just taking down the "closed" signs at its entrance.

Bridge Fire at Plum Point Park

To summarize how we got to this point, the fire that occurred last Fall at Plum Point Park actually occurred at or rather under the bridge that leads visitors into the park.

The fire occurred at the very beginning of the Fall season as Labor Day weekend celebrations signaled the close to the Summer. On the night of August 31, 2024, first responders and emergency services received the call for the fire at the bridge and after a battle were successful in extinguishing the flames.

In the immediate aftermath, town of New Windsor officials visited the bridge and developed a plan which would require the bridge to be evaluated by a structural engineer to come and assess the damages, determine its viability. Plans also included closing the park.

For more information on the original event, you may read my previous story about the fire and park closure provided in the link below.

Previous Coverage: Weekend Bridge Fire Forces Closure of Popular Orange County Park

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Searching for Answers: When is Plum Point Park Reopening?

My attempts to answer this question started out simple enough and that was with personally driving to the park on a couple of different occasions to see with my own eyes that the closed signs were standing strong.

The next step was through the power of the internet. A simple Google search for "Plum Point Park reopening" will lead you straight to the Orange County Governments page on the park where it states in the middle of the page itself that...

The Park will be closed until further notice for pubic safety reasons....

These previous steps led to the step I took just the other day, where I reached out via email to Orange County Officials who would or could have more detailed information that I could not previously find myself. To my surprise, I received not only a response but a phone call from New Windsor Town Supervisor Steve Bedetti.

In our conversation, Mr. Bedetti provided some needed details and context that has gone into the assessment and investigation of the bridge fire since it initially occurred.

Starting out with the obvious was the inspection of the bridge itself post fire. In that inspection it was confirmed that the fire did cause damage to the structural support beneath the bridge and that parts of that support were also experiencing rotting. That damage made closing the bridge and therefore the park itself the most logical choice in regards to public safety.

Mr. Bedetti also confirmed that two juveniles were arrested and charged for allegedly starting the fire.

Communication and Evaluation

As the conversation continued, Mr. Bedetti went on to provide details about the process of hiring an engineer to assess the bridge itself in its current condition, specifically how much weight the bridge can hold. That process itself is still ongoing and it involves the State of New York and therefore State officials as I was also informed that the bridge is actually owned by the state.

With so many different parties involved and multiple communications taking place, it has taken a great deal of effort just to narrow the time frame down to when the reopening will occur.

This leads to the most important piece of information I received and it's that as things currently stand, the best case scenario is to potentially see the bridge and park reopened sometime between April and May. That however is contingent on the engineer giving his stamp of approval to reopen the bridge, which would come with a reduced load limit until repairs can be made.

The other side of that coin is that if an engineer doesn't give the stamp of approval, then that would mean that the bridge and the park could remain closed for the year and potentially longer.

For all intensive purposes and with information provided, at this time we do not have a definitive answer on when it is that Plum Point Park will be reopened. What we do know though is that a more definitive answer is on the horizon, so Plum Point lovers should keep their eyes and ears open for more news in the near future.

Lastly, I personally would like to thank Mr. Bedetti for responding as quickly as he did and giving the time needed to provide some answers to not only my questions but questions that many New Windsor residents have also been asking themselves. Here's to hoping that we will all soon be able to enjoy visiting Plum Point Park once again.