Town Board
October 9, 2018
CLOSED SESSION
Interviews for Environmental Consultants and Planning Board and Litigation and negoiations involving Assessor’s Office, Human Resources and Town Attorney
OPEN SESSION
1. Rezoning Petition/Celestial Route 6 Associates, East Main Street, Mohegan Lake
The owners have formally filed a petition to rezone the property. According to the new traffic study they did, there won’t be any significant increase in traffic on Route 6 from what was originally proposed for the bank and the new plan for a mix of retail and fast food in a 7,200 sf building. The earlier bank plan was for a 4,000 sf building. To date, no potential tenants have been identified. The board voted to refer out the rezoning request.
Mr. Tegeder advised the board that while the change to retail made sense, several technical issues needed to be worked out once there was a formal site plan.
2. Homeland cell towers, QuinlanStreet
(See Town Board 3-27-2018.) The company, which constructs cell towers for mobile phone providers, wants to build a new 135’ mono pole on top of the Quinlan Street towers. The pole would serve both municipal use and private carriers and would replace existing towers now in the 60’ range. A public hearing will be held on November 20. The company has an agreement with Verizon and T Mobile and is currently negotiating with other carriers. The proposed lease would be for 10 years with nine 5-year renewals.
At the suggestion of Mr. Tegeder, at the hearing, the company will provide a viewshed analysis indicating where the tower will be seen from. The company will also have a map showing the tower’s coverage area, as well as a map of how other towers, including from other companies, are covering the town are where there are gaps in coverage.
The board deferred a discussion on both laws to a special October 23 work session meeting that will be a joint meeting with members of the Planning Board, Conservation Board, and Tree Conservation Advisory Board. Supervisor Gilbert stated that the passage of both laws was a slow and arduous process that took time but that the important thing was that it be done correctly.
In a memo the Town Board received just prior to the meeting, the Planning Board suggested the joint meeting for the tree law; Supervisor Gilbert said that since the solar and tree laws go hand in hand, they should be discussed together.
4. Resolutions
ACCC: The board approved 2019 hourly rental rates for non profit and other groups.
Sewage treatment plant: 1) the board approved a contract not to exceed $13,500 to clean out one mile of sewer truck lines. After the line is cleaned out, TV cameras will go through the line in an effort to identify any problems in an effort to reduce inflow and infiltration into the sewer lines. The contract will include revisiting a line that was prone to grease clogs and was cleaned last year. Councilman Diana asked if the property that had caused the clog was ever fined.
Mr. Quinn advised the board that he Fire Department will be working with the Building Department to check whether the problem parcel has corrected the situation. If the problem persists, the town will be liable for fines.
2) the board approved a $215,000 budget transfer from the sewer district’s reserve fund to cover the cost to repair a generator. The DEP will reimburse the town 100%. While the town advised DEP that the repair might not be sufficient and that a new generator should be purchased for $350,000-$400,000, DEP told the town to repair the generator first and that if that didn’t solve the problem, it would later pay for a new generator.
Water Department. The board authorized two budget transfers totaling $50,000 to its overtime line to cover costs associated with numerous recent water main breaks.
Sexual harassment policy. The board adopted a policy.
CLOSED SESSION