Town Board
July 23, 2019
Closed Session
Personnel, Building Department and all department heads
Open Session
1. Water repairs on state roads
Highway Superintendent Paganelli and Water Superintendent Rundle advised the board that they did not have the capability to repair state roads to DOT specs after repairing water main breaks that damaged the roads. The town makes temporary patches to the road. To address the problem, they asked for and received permission from the board to draft specs to go out for bid for emergency repair services in the even this happens again.
Based on a meeting with Councilwoman Roker and Town Attorney Abbate, Mr. Tegeder listed some of the areas of concern that were highlighted during the public hearing: exempting ˝ lots from the law but keeping the requirement that a permit would be needed to remove more than two trees in a calendar year in a five foot side and rear yard buffer, changes to the mitigation requirements, the need to clarify some of the mitigation requirements and language, the need to better identify the functions of woodlands, including the function of dead leaves in a woodland, whether the removal of trees on slopes >15% should be handled in the Stormwater and Erosion Control Law, and need to strengthen the educational component of the law. The board directed Mr. Tegeder to work with Mr. Abbate to revise some of the text and return to the board with a revised draft that would be subject to a new public hearing.
3. Solar Law
The board remained undecided about the key issue in the law: whether commercial solar farms should be allowed in residential districts and if so with what minimum lot size. Mr. Abbate reviewed the specifications in the solar laws of other towns. Mr. Tegeder said his concern with a floating zone concept was that once the solar installation was decommissioned it might be difficult to prohibit another, different type of commercial use on the site.
Councilman Diana indicated that while he supported solar panels on roofs, he had reservations about them as ground installations. Both Councilwoman Roker and Councilman Lachterman expressed reservations about the proposed installation on Underhill Avenue. Mr. Tegeder explained that as part of the approval process a proposed installation would be required to submit a stormwater plan that would address drainage concerns.
The board asked Mr. Tegeder to set up site visits so they could see an existing solar farm. It was noted that one already exists in Yorktown, on the Yeshiva site on Illington Road.
4. Grant applications
The board approved the submission of the following grant applications
--$30,000 grant with a 10% match for a Non-agricultural nonpoint source planning and feasibility study grant for best management practices for Mohegan Lake.
--$55,125 grant with a 25% match for the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program to undertake a green infrastructure stormwater feasibility study and best management practices for Mohegan Lake.
--$1 million grant with a 25% town match under three different programs for implementing an active and passive recreational park at Rock Hill Park (aka Holland Sporting Club).
--$200,000 grant with a 25% town match under three programs for a tot lot and spray park at Sparkle lake Park.
--$89,850 grant with a 50% match for the Empire State Development Strategic Planning and Feasibility program for the future use of the Zino Barn. As part of the discussion, the board addressed the problem of the missing inventory of the timbers that were saved when the barn was demolished; the “barn manager” has said he won’t release the information until he has been paid and Breslin Realty, which agreed to pay for the demolition, said it won’t pay the person until it receives the information. Supervisor Gilbert explained that as the town was not a party to the agreement, the town is waiting for the two parties to resolve the impasse and that the barn manager has not made himself available to meet with the chairman of the town’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.
5. Selected resolutions
Intern education program: The board authorized the supervisor to sign an agreement with MonuMedic for a program involving cemeteries in the amount of $350. The work is to be done on town properties.
Pump Stations: Remediation of leaks: (See Town Board 7-16-2019.) The board authorized the $13,000 of emergency work that had already been done and because the estimated cost of the remaining remediation work at both pump station sites will exceed $35,000, the board gave the town engineer the okay to prepare bid specs for the future work. (Note: this is a correction from the CIY 7/16/20p19 summary that indicated that the board had authorized the additional remediation work.)