Town Board
November 14, 2017
CLOSED SESSION
OPEN SESSION
1. Quick Stop Gas Station (aka Gulf), 3451 Crompond Road
(See Town Board, 2/21/2017.) The applicants returned with generic drawings of the proposed improvements and wanted feedback from the board before proceeding. They said that volume has dropped off 50%-60% since BJs opened its gas pumping facility but their thinking was that the financial investment in upgrading the site (the Town Board said the site needed to be cleaned up”) might improve business. The board advised the applicant to work with the Planning Department to develop a more detailed plan for the proposed upgrades, including details on the canopy, façade materials, fencing at the rear of the building, a rendering, elevations and a monument sign
2. Poet Laureate
The board voted to appoint John McMullen as the town’s poet laureate at no cost. A second vote will take place at next week’s regular meeting.
3. Capital projects
Bridge & culvert replacement: Mr. Quinn advised the board that a capital projects budget line will have to be created for the Hill Blvd and Veterans road projects, estimated at $2.6 million. The town will have to lay out the money and will be reimbursed by the state as bills are submitted.
Infrastructure maintenance: Mr. Quinn advised the board that the DEC is requiring maintenance of the wetlands area abutting the Sparkle Lake dam and that the retention ponds constructed at Railroad Park and abutting the police station under the auspices of the East of Hudson Corporation will require regular inspections.
The board passed a resolution to hire an outside consultant, at a cost of $10,870. The contract will cover the $5,000 cost for the above mentioned maintenance projects while the remaining funds can be expended on an hourly basis for up to 50 hours, as needed, for consulting on wetlands issues. Mr. Tegeder said he was hoping that funds would be available for a wetlands consultant on an ongoing basis and not subject to a finite dollar amount.
Walden Woods and Jefferson Valley: Mr. Quinn advised the board that because the DEC permit for these upgrades expires at the end of 2018, the board should proceed now with the projects. (See below about previous bid history.) The board voted to hire GHD to make some changes in the previous bid specs.
Jefferson Park: The board passed a resolution asking the county to start the process for transferring the 26 homes serviced by the pump station to the Peekskill Sewer District. However, Mr. Grace said that the properties would be kept in the Hallocks Mill district after the transfer was made. (Note: the resolution may also have authorized GHD to prepare bid specs for the retouring of the sewage.)
Finishing up the details from its earlier vote, the board voted to declare itself lead agency under SEQRA, adopt a negative declaration, and approve the resolution for the rezoning of the property. Mr. Tegeder said that he had just received the final site plan and his department is double checking it to make sure it conforms to what was discussed at the public hearing. After his review is completed, the supervisor has already been authorized to sign the map.
6. 2715 & 2723 Hickory Street
(See Town Board, 9-26-2017.) The applicant presented what he called a Wetlands Functional Assessment report, but his verbal presentation was a brief narrative of proposed mitigation measures associated with the construction of the proposed two lots. The applicant said that the existing homes on Hickory were all built in a wetlands buffer. When Mr. Quinn said that the functional assessment report was not relevant as the current Wetlands Law did not require an assessment, Mr. Riina said that the report was presented for informational reasons and in support of a wetlands application that would have to be filed.
And when Mr. Quinn then added that the report did not include any technical details, Mr. Riina said that the applicant was looking for the “temperature” of the board.
Supervisor Grace said that under the applicant’s proposed public/private sewering plan, between 4 to 5 additional houses on Breen could have sewers brought to their street; no details were provided. Mr. Grace saw the extension of the sewer line as a benefit and said he was okay with the plan if there was sufficient wetlands mitigation. Councilman Lachterman also saw benefits in the project, while Councilman Patel wanted to see more details.
7. Police Department
Police Chief Noble got the board’s okay to spend the $10,000 from a grant received from Senator Murphy’s office for the training of the new police dog.
8. Miscellaneous resolutions
Work order management system: (See Town Board 10/3/2017 and 10/24/2107.) The board approved the contract with Woodard& and Curran. The dollar amount was not noted.
Weed harvester: the board approved advertising for bids for the harvester.
Railroad Station Building: The board voted for a resolution that would “accept” a DOT grant for the rehabilitation of the station. (Note: the grant was obtained in roughly 2008 but no action has been taken on it. In response to a question from the CIY observer after the meeting, Mr. Tegeder explained that the resolution was a formality and that he expected the town to go out to bid on the project in the near future. He anticipated that the town’s share would be about $140,000.)
Digitizing project: The board transferred $101,000 from the General Fund fund balance for the laser fiche capital project.
9. Granite Knolls Sports Complex
In a last minute addenda to the meeting agenda, Parks Superintendent Todd Orlowski presented the board with the results of the RFP for artificial turf for the three fields. Four vendors responded. After rejecting two bidders (one didn’t meet all the specs and the other installed the turf at Legacy that Mr. Orlowski said was “under performing”) Mr. Orlowski said his recommendation was to go with Shaw that was about $100,000 more than the other proposals. Although he presented the board with a spread sheet on the cost of various proposals, the precise numbers were not made public; the figure of “about $900,000” was mentioned and Supervisor Grace said the numbers came in at about what was expected.
There was some discussion about the material used as a base for the turf with concerns being expressed about rubber being possibly carcinogenic. Supervisor Grace didn’t think that was a problem but said that in order to allay any concerns he had no problem with using sand instead of rubber even though sand required more maintenance than rubber and had to be replaced over time. It was also noted that for players, sand and rubber had different impacts. The product has an 8 year warranty and the same company will provide the turf and install it. Shaw is available on state contract.
It was not clear at the end of the discussion if a decision had been made and the okay given to order the turf from Shaw.
CLOSED SESSION
Police negotiations