Town Board

February 2, 2016

1. Volunteer board appointments

Advanced Life Support Commission: Paul Turiano and Lee Joffee (reappointment)

Board of Assessment Review: Steven P. Tvert

Residents interested in serving on other volunteer advisory boards should send resumes to Mary Capoccia, mary@yorktownny.org.

2. Gay Ridge Road

(See Town Board, 10-27-2015.) The board “accepted” the new portion of Gay Ridge Road as a town road and, at the request of the new homeowners on the street, renamed the new portion Winchester Court.

3. No Parking, Laurel Court

(See Town Board, 11-17-2015.) Based on the November, 2015 public hearing, the board approved the No Parking Sign on Laurel Court, 100 feet south  of the intersection with Hallocks Mill Road.

4. RPG Properties, 3574 Lexington Avenue/Public hearing on rezoning request

Several homeowners from neighboring Ellis, Clover and Lakeland Avenue spoke in opposition to the rezoning, citing their concerns about maintaining the character of their single family neighborhood, preserving the value of their property, safety, traffic, drainage, loss of trees buffering their homes, and lighting. They also wished that more of the neighboring homeowners had been informed about the rezoning request earlier.  (Note: Town Code requires the adjoining and opposite property owners be notified, but not the broader neighborhood.)

Citing provisions of the Comprehensive Plan that  called for preserving the character of existing neighborhoods, they said they were not against change or progress but felt that the rezoning to multi family use and the plan  calling for 12 units on one acre was out of character with the neighborhood. They also expressed concern that the units, planned as rental units and managed by an outside company, would not be maintained to the same standard as owner occupied units.

Planning Director Tegeder said that the rezoning conformed to the broad outlines of the Comprehensive Plan that talked about preserving the character of the entire town and not necessarily each individual neighborhood.  He explained that the plan, as presently designed, would require variances for the side yards but that the plan did meet the required buffer for the abutting Ellis St homes.

Councilman Bernard explained that many of the homeowner concerns such as the removal of trees abutting the Ellis St properties, as well as drainage and lighting issues, would all be part of a future Planning Board site plan review if the Town Board approved the rezoning request.

Supervisor Grace said that while he felt the parcel was not a bad location for multi-family use, he was concerned about the proposed density, adding that the board could put conditions on any rezoning resolution.

At Supervisor Grace’s suggestion, the board agreed to adjourn the hearing and ask the developer to come back with a revised plan, possibly with 8 units instead of 12, and some architectural drawings, with the board reviewing the new plan at a work session.

5. Courtesy of the Floor.

Courtesy started at 8:57 pm.

Public notification: Jay Kopstein commented on the lateness of receiving the agenda for the meeting and the lack of response to his morning email to the supervisor on the same issue. In response, Supervisor Grace said the delay was due to board members attending a wake.

Quality of Life issues: Citing the enforcement and penalty provisions of the Tree Ordinance, Dan Strauss  asked why the owner of the Hilltop Service Station on East Main Street has not been punished and fined for having cut down trees without a permit.  He also suggested that the town increase its fine for littering, a problem he found intolerable and unacceptable, to $1,000 instead of $500  and that the code be enforced and that something needed to be done about the littering on Wood St. In response, Supervisor Grace said the problem with raising fines was the enforcement surveillance.

Dogs at the track: On the recurring issue/problem of how to deal with dog waste at the YCCC track, Miriam Curtin suggested that dogs not be banned from the track but banned only from the playground  and exercise areas and the ballfield. She also said that the existing law needed to be enforced. In response, Supervisor Grace said that dogs were not being banned; they were just prohibited from defecating in the park.

Roma Building: In response to Gil Kaufmann’s concerns about the building, Councilman Diana said that as an outgrowth of a conference call he and Supervisor Grace participated in that included the DEC, the attorneys for both the service station and the building owner and  a representative of Senator Murphy’s staff, some action to clean up the problem would occur “forthwith.” Supervisor Grace added that the underlying issue is a landlord/tenant issue and he hoped that the recent conference call will  have broken the impasse. He added that the DEC is satisfied with the cleanup that has been done by the service station owner.

6. Miscellaneous resolutions

(See Town Board 1/26/2016  for background on some of resolutions)

Town engineering services: Authorized an agreement with Lynstaar Engineering to provide engineering services for the month of February, 2016. (Note: Supervisor Grace announced that the town is accepting proposals from engineering companies interested in providing the service to the town on an ongoing basis.)

Truck purchase: authorized Parks Department purchase of a pickup truck.

Bruce Barber: Authorized payment of $6,687.50 for work done in relation to Algonquin Pipeline Project.

Herbicide use: Authorized continued use of organic fertilizer and herbicides on town owned property.