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September 2, 2008 – Workshop Meeting
The workshop meeting of the Gardiner Town Board was held
this date at the Gardiner
Town Hall, at 7:00
PM. Present were Supervisor Katz,
Councilmen Wiegand & Finger and Councilwomen Lemmon and Kern. There were approximately 37± audience
members.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sept. 6 – Friends of the Library Annual Mum Sale 9 AM to 3 PM Gardiner
Town Hall
Sept. 8 – Central
Hudson Galeville
Substation Presentation
Gardiner Town
Hall 7 PM
Sept. 9 - Town Board meeting 7 PM
Sept. 13 – Gardiner Day 11 AM to 4:30 PM Majestic Memorial
Park
Sept. 12, 13 & 14 – Library Book Tent Sale
APPROVING THE NAME
OF A PRIVATE ROAD
– OWL RIDGE ROAD
Resolution No. 95
– Offered by Councilwoman Lemmon
WHEREAS, the Town Board has received a request to approve the name of a private road
to be know as Owl Ridge Road, which said private road intersects a public
highway known as Forest Glen Road; and
WHEREAS, the proposed name has been reviewed and approved by
the Ulster County Real Property Tax Service Agency, then
RESOLVED, in accordance with Resolution No. 32-1992, the
Town Board hereby approves the name Owl
Ridge Road for said private road.
Seconded by Councilwoman Kern and carried.
REGISTRAR OF VITAL
STATISTICS
Resolution No. 96
– Offered by Councilwoman Lemmon
Whereas, the New York State Local Government Commission on
Efficiency and Competitiveness has made certain recommendations to the Governor
which affects the operation of local governments, and
Whereas, one of the recommendations of the Commission was to
move all Registrar of Vital Statistics duties to the County level under the
direction of the New York State Health Commissioners, and
Whereas, the local Registrars provide residents with
efficient, individualized services at a reasonable cost, and
Whereas, in Ulster County it would take some residents of
the County more than one hour to travel to the County Seat in Kingston to
transact business, during a time when the cost of gasoline is $4.00 per gallon,
and
Whereas, the local Registrars charge $10.00 per certified
copy and the State proposed that the County will charge $30.00 per certified
copy, and
Whereas, in this time of economic hardship, it is
inappropriate to suggest that the residents incur extra unnecessary expenses,
and
Whereas, New York State Department of Health has
inappropriately attached these proposed changes in changing the structure of
the Registrar of Vital Record's duties to the "Pandemic Flu and Public Health
Emergency Preparedness Law" S8184 (Hannon) and A11550 (Gottfried),
Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved, that the Town of Gardiner
Town Board adamantly opposes the proposal to move the Registrar duties to the
County level, as it would create a great hardship and a disservice to our local
residents and taxpayers, and
Be it Further Resolved, that a Certified Copy of this
resolution be forwarded to Governor David Patterson, Senator William Larkin,
Senator John J. Bonacic and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill.
Seconded by Councilman Finger and carried.
UPDATE ON TOWN
HALL LIGHTING AND PARKING
Architects Kim Hoover and Joe Trapani have designed a
parking and lighting plan for the Town Hall.
The plans include digging for trenches for the electric which will
include 14 lights and parking areas
September 2, 2008 – Workshop Meeting Page
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around the sides and back of the building. Total cost to the Town is $48,300. Funds are available through the Capital Town
Hall Fund.
PUBLIC HEARING –
MORATORIUM OF OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS
At 7:15 PM the Town Clerk read the legal notice for a local
law for a moratorium on outdoor wood boilers.
Supervisor Katz read a letter received from the Attorney General's
office outlining the need for a local law to regulate outdoor wood boilers. The town believes that there is a risk to the
hamlet for both health and safety.
Supervisor Katz opened the hearing to the public for questions and
comments.
Mary Bonner – no
moratorium, just put the rules and laws in place.
Ralph Erenzo –
will this apply to indoor units.
David Straus –
what districts will this affect.
Jerry Pratt – since
the request was from the State, did they make any suggestions to the Town.
Pam O'Dell – the
EPA states that outdoor wood boilers are the most efficient and lowest in
particulate matter. The Town should
check out the current information from the EPA.
Mike Calderone –
this is a tough time to restrict residents from burning wood. The building inspector should do inspections
of the sites to determine if the location is sufficient.
Marion Kells –
how did the Town determine the boundaries of the hamlet.
Annie O'Neill –
believes it is good to hold up installations at this time. It affects others in the community.
John Habersberger
– are there any installed in the hamlet to date.
Henry Tortora –
if you are worried about pollution, why does the Town shoot off fireworks.
Councilman Finger
– the Town Board needs to investigate the efficiency and EPA ratings.
Councilman Wiegand
– do the research and write the law reflecting the updated sciences of the
ratings.
Ralph Erenzo –
set minimum acceptable standards.
Pam O'Dell –
vendors have sample law on websites.
On motion of Councilwoman Lemmon, seconded by Councilwoman
Kern and carried, the public hearing was tabled to the October 7 meeting.
PUBLIC HEARING –
AMENDING ZONING MAP – TUTHILLTOWN HAMLET
At 7:30 PM the Town Clerk read the legal notice for a local
law to amend the zoning map in the Tuthilltown hamlet. Councilwoman Lemmon recused herself from this
hearing. The purpose of this change is
to certain parcels where the map boundary did not follow property
boundaries. The Supervisor open the
hearing to the public for questions and comments.
Ralph Erenzo –
his property was always commercial until the zoning was changed in the early
90's, when the master plan changed the hamlet to a residential hamlet. The new zoning law states that, where
possible, map boundaries should follow property lines.
Roberta Rinaldo –
read section 220 – Article 1 of the Town of Gardiner law.
Her concern is with the distillery and the offensive odors that are
coming from it. She is concerned that
this map change will allow the distillery to expand.
Supervisor Katz –
reminded the audience that the purpose of the public hearing is to address the
map boundaries only.
Bo Rinaldo – the
Health Dept. told him that the distillery should not be there. If you pass the map boundary law the Town is
not taking the problem with the distillery seriously. He believes the distillery creates a significant
health hazard.
Scott Bittner –
hypocritical to do a moratorium on wood boilers for pollution and not stop the
odor from the distillery.
Councilwoman Kern
– she just heard of the odor problem.
She doesn't feel repositioning of the boundaries will solve the problem.
Mike Pileggi –
read a statement opposing the change. He
asked the Town Board to refrain from voting until the DEC investigation is
completed.
September 2, 2008 – Workshop Meeting Page
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Roberta Rinaldo –
asked what permits were issued by the Town to allow the distillery.
John Habersberger
– He believes there are two different issues – a zoning map change and misuse
of property.
Councilman Wiegand
– This is a difficult situation. He is
sympathetic to the neighbors, but this is not the issue before the board.
Jack Hayes – upset
with the response from the Board. This
is part of the issue and should most definitely be addressed.
Toby Gabriello –
asking the Board to postpone the vote until the odor issue can be resolved.
Ralph Erenzo – 2
separate issues. He is engaged in
discussion with the DEC and the Health Dept. to resolve the odor. He was not required to get a special permit
from the Town since his business is categorized as a farm distillery – a use
allowed by right.
Pat Schaefer –
she is a certified community health nurse.
She is unable to open her windows because the air is so caustic. There are serious health concerns.
Councilwoman Kern
– assured the audience that the Town Board is taken this very serious.
Councilman Wiegand
– What is the Code Enforcement Officer's role in this issue.
Supervisor Katz –
he is in contact with DEC.
Bo Rinaldo – what
would it do to postpone the vote.
CLOSE PUBLIC
HEARING
On motion of Councilwoman Kern, seconded by Councilman
Wiegand and carried the public hearing was closed at 8:15 PM.
The Town Board has three choices – pass the law as is,
defeat the law or postpone the vote until the Town knows more about the
distillery problem. Councilwoman Kern
questioned the urgency to change the law and Councilman Finger felt there was
no clear connection between the two actions.
He would prefer to wait for the Code Enforcement Officer's report.
Councilman Wiegand made a motion to accept the map change as
presented. There was no seconded
therefore the motion failed. A second
motion was made by Councilwoman Kern to put off the vote to the October 7
meeting pending receipt of more information.
Councilman Finger seconded the vote.
Councilman Wiegand vote nay.
Motion passes.
TRANSFER STATION
UPDATE
Supervisor Katz announced that the DEC has approved the new
plan for the transfer station. Mark
Millspaugh from Sterling Environmental spoke to Supervisor Katz and advised him
that the next step would be to go out for bid on the design and engineering of
the pole barn. Mr. Katz will be working
with Mr. Millspaugh on the bid outline.
SEWER DISTRICT
FEES
There have been complaints about the sewer use fees in the
Sewer District. Morris Associates has
reviewed the sewer fee schedule for the Town and has sent a report to the
Supervisor. Mr. Katz has reviewed the
report with the Assessor. They have
determined that a building to building inspection will need to be done to
assess the right fees. Supervisor Katz
plans to have a report for the next monthly meeting.
TIMBER HARVESTING
LAW
A draft of the timber harvesting law has been received. Supervisor Katz has asked Building
Inspector/Zoning Code Enforcement Office Hank Vance to review the law. Mr. Katz will introduce the law at next
week's meeting and set a public hearing at that time.
September 2, 2008 – Workshop Meeting Page
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PARKING ISSUE ON
THE MOUNTAIN
Supervisor Katz had a meeting with the directors of Mohonk
Preserve and Minnewaska
State Park to discuss the
parking and back up problem on Route 44/55 directly related to the two
locations. NYS DOT is not cooperating
with them so they are looking for a way to enforce the time limits for
parking. The Town could hire the Mohonk
rangers as part time employees. They
would issue tickets on behalf of the town.
This may end the parking problem.
2009 BUDGET
All budget worksheets have been turned in to the
Supervisor. He is currently working out
the tentative budget to be distributed to the Town Board by October 1. Mr. Katz requested a sense of percentage
raises for all employees. The cost of living raise for 2009 is set at
3.8% nationwide, less than the cost of living increase itself. He suggests considering up to 4%.
PRIVILEGE OF THE
FLOOR
Marion Kells – Thank
you for not supporting shared services with respect to the Registrar of Vital
Statistics
Pam O'Dell –
asked if the money had come in for the Rail Trail. Asked what the cost of the sidewalk
project is going to be and the status of
the sidewalk district. Is there going to
be an open space commission meeting this month and what is the status of the
open space grant application.
Steve Greenfield
– spoke about the Crossroads development planned for the Town of New Paltz and the effects
if will have on our community. He
suggested that the Town Board contact the New Paltz Planning Board stating that
our Town is an interested agency. The
deadline for this is September 18, 2009.
Paul Colucci –
asked the Supervisor were the Town is with the 2008 budget.
Supervisor Katz –
the Town is spending less than budgeted.
Mike Calderone –
asked if there are plans for lights to shine on the flagpole. He commented that the flag is tattered and
faded.
Rich Koenig –
Thank you to Councilman Wiegand for his efforts on the Open Space Commission.
He will be sorely missed.
ADJOURNMENT
On motion of Councilman Finger, seconded by Councilwoman
Lemmon and carried, the meeting was adjourned at 8:53 PM.
Respectfully
submitted,
Michelle
L. Mosher
Town
Clerk
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