Town Board Meeting Minutes
Posted on: 9/19/2007
Date of Minutes:
05/29/2007
MAY 29, 2007 TOWN OF
At 6:48 Supervisor
Block opened this meeting with Dod Crane, Paul Niedercorn, Ellen Silverstein,
Linda Sours and Warren Replansky all present.
Announcements:
Rhinebeck
homeowners, renters and businesses that experienced property or
income loss resulting from last month's flooding may be eligible to
receive federal financial assistance. To apply for assistance, please contact
FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 (TTY 1-800-462-7585) or register on-line at www.fema.gov
The town board
is accepting applications from Rhinecliff residents interested in serving on
the Hamlet Advisory Council. The terms of four members appointed last
year are up at the end of July and the policy is for those members to re-apply
along with other residents who wish to be considered. Please email sgblock@aol.com for an
application.
The Board of
PANDA TV will hold a public strategic planning session in Rhinebeck town
hall on Saturday, June 2nd, from 10 AM to 1PM. Anyone interested in
helping to improve the operation and programs of our local community access
cable station is invited to participate.
The Rhinecliff
Waterfront Committee is sponsoring a waterfront Cleanup Day at the dock on
Saturday, June 9th from 10am to 3 PM. Volunteers are needed to help
mulch, weed, plant and paint. Please call 876-5738 for more information.
Also in
Rhinecliff, the subcommittee planning the 3rd annual Rhinecliff Waterfront Day
is seeking volunteers to help oversee the many activities for that day, Sunday,
August 11. Interested residents should send an email to Rhonda Hammond at
Ajhlive@aol.com
The Rhinebeck
Community Pool at the
opening celebration this Saturday, May 26th at 1pm.
Many thanks to
the volunteer board of assessment review, a very patient public, and staff
members Donna Van Voorhis, Joan Winne, and Jadeen Murray for successfully
completing grievance day, once again under trying circumstances.
Many thanks as
well to the Rhinebeck Webloes 2 Cub Scout Pack #28 for once again helping to
plant the fabulous garden in front and around town hall.
Town Hall summer
hours, 8am to 3pm will begin Monday, June 4 and continue through the months of
June, July and August.
Town Hall, the
transfer station and highway department will all be closed on Monday, May 28 in
celebration of Memorial Day.
Rhinebeck's annual
observation of Memorial Day will begin at 9:15am with the Memorial Day Service
in Rhinecliff followed by the town wide parade beginning in the Village at
10:30am.
Old
Business:
1.
Supervisor Block
introduced Bob Ellsworth, Chairman of the Thompson Mazzarella Park
Committee. Bob explained that Phase II
has begun with Chris Lindner’s archeology study. This study is needed to
determine which part of the park can be developed. On June 20th we will be holding a
public session at Village Hall at 7 PM. We
have tried to prioritize our projects: development,
educational segments (different settlements, natural resources, field
plowing, financial resources available such as fund raising, grants and park
management when the park is developed.
The needs of soccer, baseball and town recreation programs needs to all
be analyzed. Eventually the Community
Center will be a sub committee off the Parks Committee. June 11th has been targeted as the
possible acceptance of our Master Plan.
We are not talking about approval just acceptance. SEQRA needs to be done through the Planning
Board. We will gather the public’s input
on June 20 and hopefully July 2nd the Planning Board process can
begin. Steve asked if the L.A. Group
would be at the June 20th meeting and Bob replied yes. Steve also wondered if the October 2005 public
session input has been addressed and Bob replied all 50 questions have been
answered.
Sally Mazzarella
stated the Town Board can be lead agency or the Town Board can choose to have
the Planning Board serve as lead agency.
This Committee is not deciding the Community Center location that is up
to the Town. Under current zoning the
recreation fields are permitted as a matter of right. The only approval is a building permit with
site plan review and SEQRA that considers the environmental impact. The Town will probably conduct an
environmental review of the entire site.
The SEQRA process can start while phase II and III are still being
surveyed. Linda Souers said the L.A.
Group has the SEQRA process. Sally feels
the Town should go through the same process as citizens are required to
follow. She wondered if it is possible
to show 2 sites for the Community Center in the SEQRA process.
replied 2 or more alternatives can be listed in SEQRA. He feels it would probably be wise for the
Town Board to solicit for lead agency. A
long EAF will be necessary. Whoever
serves as lead agency, Town Board or Planning Board, will make a decision about
DEIS. Paul asked what types of projects
must follow SEQRA and
stated anything that requires Planning Board approval, Type I, Type II or
unlisted actions.
Dod asked what
are we trying to get done first and Bob said trails and skate board park. Bob is on his way to a Boy Scout meeting this
evening and hopefully trails could be an Eagle Scout project. Dod wondered who owns the design and
Board project so the Town owns.
Sally Mazzarella
reminded the board that the infrastructure must be in place and it is going to
be very expensive. This has to be done
up front before any field development is started.
2. Website
Committee
Kerri Karvetski,
Co Chair, was introduced by the Supervisor.
She presented a slide show of the Town/Village website. The Committee has been collecting data for a
year now. The home page, with all the newest information, will be maintained by
the Town Clerk’s office and the Web site Committee. She stated the Zoning Code will eventually be
on the web. Now there are several categories: newcomers, home owners, parents, civic
participation. Hopefully we will launch
in late June. Dod would like to see clear discrimination
between the Town and the Village; maybe a split screen in the content area of
the home page. Ellen feels there is a
clear need for permits and community links sections and to list all places of
worship. Linda suggested adding a help
session or instructions to the calendar.
3. Committee on Aging
Marsha DeBlasi reported
that her committee meets monthly and has had meetings with the Dutchess County
Office of the Aging, Northern Dutchess Caregivers, and the Association for Seniors. There are 1,700 residents of Rhinebeck who
are over 60 years of age. We are
planning on pulling together a survey.
Kay Verrilli suggested asking seniors in this survey if they
volunteer. Marsha said we are trying to
improve the quality of life for seniors in our community. Transportation is an essential part of
growing older. Caregivers provide
transportation for medical services. One
problem is communicating to the senior citizens what is available. The available services need coordination and
publicity. The Committee is working hard
trying to make that happen.
4. The report
on the November’s Collaboration conference was postponed to later date.
5. Warren
Replansky presented a proposed local law to the Board which could become the
parking law for the town, including, but not limited to
Town over a year ago and has codified it into one law. It makes more sense to consolidate all
previous local laws into one law. He
sent Kathy Kinsella this proposal in February for her review. Kathy thinks this is a great document but this
is a huge project and she hasn’t had time to review. It is a very lengthy process.
asked her to check the existing sites.
We need to know what needs to be added or changed before
proceeding. Dod stated the Rhinecliff
residents have requested a lower speed limit and no parking on the north side
of Shatzell along the China Rose side due to a width miscalculation. Since the consensus was all the previous laws
cannot be addressed tonight, Dod motioned and Ellen seconded to draft a local
law for
Steve Block
explained there is a problem down at the Rhinecliff Hotel which James Chapman
has brought to our attention. The width
of the road has been miscalculated.
James does not want to paint the parking stripes on the road if it is
unsafe. At this point
to the Planning Board for site plan review and if there is an actual
miscalculation, we can also have the law limiting parking along that stretch. Dod suggested Kathy measure to width of the
road and then the Rhinecliff Council will make a recommendation to the Town
Board for
parking. After much discussion, the
Supervisor tried to bring the Board back to the point at hand. We need to consider the safety issues and road
standards. Kathy wants to know what the
Planning Board site plan used as their measurement. She will measure the roadway tomorrow and
report back to the Board.
6. On
motion from Linda and second by Dod, the
basketball court re-paving project was awarded to Hudson Valley Pavement for
$14,455 upon review of references. Linda
explained they want to do this in mid August.
They won’t do it after October.
It takes 6 weeks and must be completed by October 21st. All were in favor.
7. The
Supervisor explained 6 bids were received on the Town Hall renovation project. Ashokan
Architecture and Planning for $50,000, LAN Associates for $19,880, Liebman
Associate/Alfandre Architecture for $37,900, Liscum,McCormick, Van Voorhis for
$35,500, Lothrup Associates for $95,685 and SPIRE Architecture for
$25,400. Ron Evangelista will review and
report back to the Board.
Kay Verrilli
doesn’t want the Landsmen Trail Association request of extending the horse back
riding trail through the old landfill dropped.
This was first brought up 3 months ago and still has not been
resolved.
be used by a private entity. Paul
doesn’t see why the Town can’t just require them to maintain the trail and
grant the request to continue their loop through the old landfill.
doesn’t think it is a good idea to expand the trail over the landfill, more
research is needed. Sally Mazzarella
stated that Winnakee has worked with Red Hook and
Park
towns. It is really the wish of the
municipality. We need to set an example
and continue this loop trail. The
linkage is necessary. There are trail agreements
which spell out the responsibility. Dod
doesn’t think the Board should make a hasty decision; the purpose tonight is to
figure out the complexity of the issue.
Steve agrees that there are too many thorny issues and we need to be
careful. He agrees with Sally that we need
to pay attention to the trail issue and he thanked Kay for sticking to this.
New
Business:
8. Supervisor
Block stated someone wants to recycle the old floats that are being stored at
the
said the standards are if the property has no value then the Town Board can
decide on what to do. Paul asked who we
are giving them to and Steve replied a friend of John Kilmer, former highway
employee. He also said there is a 35 year
old cub tractor being stored and there are some guys who do tractor pulls who
are interested in this. Linda wants to
know more since this is the first she has heard of this. Steve just wants to pursue the
possibility. On motion from Ellen and
second by Dod, all were in favor of giving Steve the authority to dispose of
the tractor and former floats.
9.
implications of the moratorium schedule announced at the prior town board
meeting. Planning Board input is necessary.
Should we make it more restrictive or less restrictive? We could always allow projects to start and
continue the application process but only to a certain point prior to
approval. Jonathan Mensch doesn’t think
the current moratorium addresses commercial building. Sally Mazzarella suggested the Town Board sit
down with
sincere effort to u the Comprehensive Plan in place. Steve will contact Roger Ackley.
Proposed
Actions:
10. Paul
motioned and Dod seconded to provide2007 season pool passes for all permanent
town employees and officials and their immediate family members, as per last
year. Motion carried unanimously.
11. On
motion from Paul and second by Dod, Adriana Morgan was unanimously approved as
full time lifeguard contingent upon Sex Offender registry clearance at $8.50
per hour. All were in favor.
12. Linda motioned and Paul seconded to appoint Louis Cacciabaudo to
the Waterfront Advisory Committee through December 31, 2007. All were in favor. Arnold Feinsilber has resigned.
13. Paul
moved with Linda seconded the approval of a banner on the docks announcing this
year’s Rhinecliff Day on August 11th. All were in favor.
14..Paul motioned
and Ellen seconded to approve Abstract
5B, vouchers 537-575, checks 2383,2390-2420 for $70,991.10. Carried unanimously.
15...On motion
from Paul and second by Ellen the following capital projects were unanimously
approved: Cap Proj # DESC
ABS Voucher Check #
Amount
H27 Docks 3
4 2384 $463.20
#62 T&M Pk 4
5 2388 803.35
38 Pk/Rec 7
10-11 2386 1,660.76
78 Cem 5 7 2389 117.00
43 Ston Chur 5 5 2387 36.00
31
5 8 2385 397.75
16 Linda
motioned and Dod seconded to authorize bookkeeper to make the following budget
transfers,
General Fund
ASSESSOR
Contingency 00 01 1990 40 ($2,350.00)
Appraisal 00 01 1355 451
+2,350.00
Allow for Baptist
Home Pilot Program appraisal
PLANNING
Contingency 01 01 1990
400 ($10,375.00)
Biodiversity 01 07 8020 491 +10,375.00
All were in
favor.
Adjournment
At 10:15 Paul motioned and Dod
seconded to go into executive session to discuss three matters of possible
litigation: Vanderburgh Cove, David
Queen and Michele Kagen. All were in
favor. At 10:45 this session ended and
the meeting was formally adjourned on motion from Dod and second by Ellen.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Cunningham
Town Clerk