On the 21.5-acre field beside St. Anthony’s Church in Pine Plains, Father Andrew O’Connor has begun cultivating a vision he hopes will shape how people interact with the land for years to come.
Last November, O’Connor carefully sowed barley across the property adjoining the Roman Catholic church. Over time, he said, the crop will begin to trace the Greek cross floor plan of Michelangelo’s 16th-century reworking of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
The project is taking root as Pine Plains continues its long and unresolved search for a wastewater solution downtown. The hamlet has no central system, and septic constraints have limited development potential on some properties.
Church land has figured into that search before.
As the Herald reported in February 2023, after securing more than $55,000 in state and county grants in 2019, the Town of Pine Plains began studying whether a unified wastewater system could serve its business district. Tighe & Bond, a Massachusetts consulting firm focused on engineering, environmental, planning and design work, surveyed nine Pine Plains locations and identified the Church Street field owned by St. Anthony’s Church as a viable site. The firm ultimately recommended a 5-acre stretch of the church lot for a wastewater system projected at the time to cost about $4 million.
In January 2025, the town’s wastewater committee shifted from a centralized plan to a quadrant-based approach using shared leach fields, but the effort has stalled as officials have struggled to secure land and participation from property owners.
The possibility of locating a system on church property resurfaced publicly last fall at an Oct. 13 meet-the-candidates forum, when Town Board member Kevin Walsh, then challenging incumbent Supervisor Brian Walsh, said there was “no plan” to take the church’s land for a wastewater system, but added that “taking property from them, while it’s not ideal, is not out of the question either” if a strong municipal need arose. Brian Walsh said he opposed eminent domain and said St. Anthony’s had “no interest” in selling land to the town.
O’Connor said he does not consider the church property available for wastewater infrastructure.
“I want them to know, in a subtle gentle way, that this is not something that I want to offer to the diocese for their giant septic system,” O’Connor said of the site. “This is a sacred land, and it’s of a higher purpose, and it’s part of the legacy of Pine Plains that I don’t think should be simply erased.”
O’Connor began a six-year assignment in February 2025 as pastor of a tri-parish community in northeastern Dutchess County that includes St. Anthony’s in Pine Plains, St. Patrick’s in Millerton and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Amenia. He said the parish is growing, with 11 baptisms and 13 confirmations this spring.
Standing at the edge of the field last week, O’Connor pointed toward the first faint signs of spring growth.
“There’s one part of this city of Pine Plains that says, let’s do something practical, and we’ve got to have the sewage plant, so let’s take over that land,” he said. “They feel that because it’s the church’s land that it should also be their land, the public land, which is an ancient conflict too.”
He said other elements could follow the barley, including shallow rectangular Roman pools made from lime and marble dust, pathways through the grounds, and outdoor liturgies.
“It’s the Garden of Eden being restored,” he said. “This is also getting people to sort of begin to think that when they go here, they’re walking into a sacred space.”
Good for Fr. O’Connor; its the Church’s land.
Clearly Father O’Connor has never looked at the proposed wastewater system for Pine Plains, which shows that the town would need only 3-5 acres for the project, most of which would be on the northeast corner of the front lot. This is far from a “giant” system he refers to here. It would truly be a gift from the church if they would collaborate with the town to preserve its future.
Only in Pine Plains would they want to seize beautiful land from a church to build a sewage system. Go take the old Peck’s location, the old Deuel’s location or the unfunded town offices property and not start a Holy War. Go drive around other towns and see how they handled it – successful towns like Rhinebeck, Red Hook and Millbrook didn’t make such mistakes.
Yes- this is a shame and a lost opportunity for a much needed waste water system. Perhaps if the appropriate town official, or influential parishioner, could sit down with Father O’Connor and negotiate the 3-5 acres, the church could maintain their sacred ground and the town could flourish.
All of the comments are thoughtful and show that Pine Plains needs more open dialogue addressing these large, landscape changing issues.
When you ask who a town sewage plant even benefits, I would answer -every one of us who come to town to shop, dine, run errands, etc.
As a business owner in town, I see (and painfully feel) the effect Peck’s slow demise and closure has had on other retail operations. It has now been non-operational for more than a year- potentially causing it to lose the grandfather clause (IF the Pecks were to decide to sell) that would allow continued use of their septic system.
Stissing House sneaked in just under the wire for the county’s permission to use the existing (large and high maintenence) septic system. A denial that could have derailed one of the town’s most viable business ventures ever.
Stissing Center was forced to upgrade, at great expense, their system in order to accommodate the many people attending their programs, (and the laundromat).
The costs of doing so are onerous in a time of small retail operating margins. Several projects planned for the town have not gotten off the ground because the septic situation would not accommodate them. You can debate all you want about whether the town needs another place to get coffee or buy books, but this is the same issue that will keep you from the ability to buy groceries or grab a burger in town as businesses change hands, or sit empty, and age out of permit status.
And Scott addressed another hugely important issue for the town, affordable housing. Sorely needed. Without a countywide transportation system, a location in the town center would be the most viable for tenants needing to access the services in town.
So, yes I do think this would be an opportunity for the Catholic Church. At the very least, they could examine, and listen to what the larger community (and their parishioners) need in these changing times. As Darrah pointed out, there is room for art and commerce.
In my opinion, donating five acres for a wastewater treatment center would be a practical act of Catholic stewardship that protects clean water, helps the community grow, and supports the common good. In the spirit of St. Brigid of Kildare (protector of safe drinking water) and St. Vincent Ferrer (patron saint of plumbers), the Church would be helping turn a basic sanitation need into lasting civic benefit.
Not to mention the project would allow more businesses to open in town, which could attract more residents (and Catholic parishioners) to town.
Ah, the comments are kind. Let me express what I suspect some others feel: This is a selfish and vain act by someone who’s been here just over a year. Who wants to tell residents what the “sacred land” should mean to them.
Maybe in years to come, when good ol’ glorious Pine Plains is reduced to a Stewart’s on one end of Main Street and a Dollar General on the other, the land will be enjoyed by the squatting dope heads who have come to define the town.
To Ian Kathleen and Darrah, I applaud your factual unemotional response to the needs of this town. I couldn’t have articulated it any better. I truly hope the “sacred” nature of this land speaks to the pastor in a way that awakens his mind to other alternatives this town so desperately needs.
It’s wild to see folks taking an interesting story about a new member of our community, who supports the arts and has been all around the world, and then focusing on a project that has nothing to do with them.
Maybe instead of putting a sewer plant in the middle of town, or acquiring more property for other fantasy projects, we maybe finish the idea of a new town hall? Who even benefits from a sewer plant?
Hopefully the Church will look long term for the benefit of the community as this property is critical to future of the Town and offers many possibilities. As a professional planner, life long resident, former Town Planning Board Chair, former Town Supervisor, I can tell you this property is critical to the future of our community. It should have been the location for the Library, the Town Hall, Community Center, with a mixed use affordable housing complex for seniors with assisted living transitions and young people starting out.
It still can be. With imaginative design and cooperation with the Church, not for profits (like Hudson River Housing who have already expressed an interest in Eastern Dutchess and specifically Pine Plains) we could have mixed use development of this property that would strengthen the community, follow the community desires as expressed in the Town Comprehensive Plan, and even add parishioners to the Church. The best example might be be the affordable housing complex that the town of Red Hook, the County of Dutchess and a private developer collaborated to provided over 70 rent controlled apartments. Our area is facing an affordable housing crisis that is forcing our young and senior people to leave our area. Our Town Comprehensive plan through many iterations dating back 50 years and approved after years of public meetings, surveys and public approvals calls for us to support a strong community center within walking distance of the intersection of 199 and 82 with housing and community services (shopping, schools, library, government, Post Office, medical services, central water, central sewer). This property never was a “sacred barley field” nor should it be. The Church needs to take a leadership position is determining how this property can help strengthen our community and make Pine Plains a place that we all can live, work and raise families in for an entire lifetime. Sorry – a barley field planted like a church doesn’t do that and I believe the guidance from above would want us to do more fore for struggling young and seniors. The Church needs to broaden their view and address community needs. The Church needs to take a leadership role in calling together the Town leaders, the County, Hudson River Housing and private developers to come up with more than a sacred barley field.
In your time during those influential roles what prevented you from solving those problems then? Why does it fall to a non government entity to do the work our government consistently falls short on? In my opinion the reason so many people left is we zoned them out making the only remaining livable properties unaffordable. Wasn’t the new development by the school designed for seniors? What happened then? If we need only 5 acres for a sewer plant why not buy 5 acres from the school next to the bus garage? That’s pretty central, would give the district some money it needs, and doesn’t impact the visuals of downtown. Before my current work I was a highway laborer, and every town I paved for had a sewer plant next to their highway depts. They didn’t remove green spaces for those projects. Imagine the business we could have if they didn’t need to go through layers of boards and bureaucracy to build a space that suits their needs (ie lumber company, second grocery store, etc.). As a “younger” member of the community I’d enjoy having a conversation with you in person about ideas to make the community better. Maybe we can grab coffee sometime to chat. Respectfully, Michael Cooper
Excellent points – well said.
What are the next steps in the sewer process? Can someone familiar with the process or town government speak to this in the comments or a new article? I like that Michael and others here are oriented towards in person conversations. Also Scott thank you for your efforts with respect to the town government.