Town Board Meeting - July

CLERMONT TOWN BOARD

JULY 5, 2016

The Clermont Town Board held its regular meeting on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 due to the Independence Day Holiday. Those in attendance were Supervisor Raymond Staats, Councilman Robert Desmond, Councilwoman Dawn Brownson, Councilman Evan Hempel and Councilman Kris Gildersleeve. Others in attendance were Suzette Booy, Columbia County Director of Real Property and three Town residents.

Supervisor Staats opened the meeting with the salute to the flag. Supervisor Staats introduced Suzette Booy, Director of Columbia County Real Property to explain the changes in the STAR Exemption program. The Star exemption is the total amount of star savings on the school tax bill, which is reimbursed to the School Districts by NYS. This is the only exemption that is done this way. In April, the State adopted the budget, which included changes to the STAR Program. These changes affect new homeowners and/or new applicants. They will no longer be receiving the exemption on school tax; rather they will receive a check from NYS. Those that currently have the exemption will not be affected and will be administered through the town assessment. Letters were sent out to anyone who applied after March 1st of 2015. They will not be receiving the exemption but will have to register with the state in order to receive a check from the State. Those that reach the age of 65 and meet the criteria for Enhanced Star or Senior Star and now have basic star will go through the Assessor. If someone purchases a home and is 65 or older and eligible for Enhanced or Senior Star, they will have to go through the state. This does not effect those that have the Enhanced Star presently. In Clermont, the initial impact is twenty-four residents who are effected. Applicants can register on-line or on the phone.

Councilman Gildersleeve asked if there is history that would explain these changes. Ms. Booy believes proper eligibility is a factor.

MINUTES: A motion was made to accept the minutes of the June meeting by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

TOWN CLERK’S REPORT: The Town Clerk presented the Supervisor with a check for the General Fund in the amount of $l,140.76 and for Trust & Agency in the amount of $2,900.00. A motion was made to accept the report by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman Brownson. All in favor. So carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:

  • Received a pamphlet on Educational Programs being offered at Olana State Historic Site.
  • The Town Clerks Office will be closed on Thursday, July 14th and Saturday, July 16th. Other offices will be open.
  • Web Committee- There was nothing to report.

COMMITTEE REPORT:

  • DEC: Councilman Desmond reported that the application for the entrance on Route 9 to the proposed park has been submitted by our engineer to the Department of Transportation and is still under review.
  • PARKS: Councilman Hempel looked into the concerns by the insurance on the use of drones in a park on the Academy of Model Aeronautics website. He reached out to them but has not heard back from them. He said that we could have something, which says that drones would have to flown in compliance with the regulations and has asked for anything else specific.
  • ST. LUKES CHURCH: Councilwoman Brownson met on June 15th hosted 15 members of the Turpin Bannister Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and toured the three town buildings. On June 18th St. Luke’s Church was open for the public and she did have several people come to see the Church. She also received a donation of $100.00 from the Architectural Historians and $50.00 from Matthew and Nancy Kaplan of Elizaville.
  • VILLAGE GREEN COMMUNITY BBQ: Councilwoman Brownson does have tickets available for the August 13th Community Day and they can be purchased from the Town Clerk, Tousey Winery and Chair Tami Connolly. The seatings are 4:00 and 5:30 P.M. with ticket prices at $15.00, $12.00 for seniors, Children 6-12 is $5.00 and children under 5 are free.

The Committee will meet on July 13th at 7: P.M. at the Town Hall.

  • GRANTS: Councilwoman Brownson will be researching a grant through the Columbia County Board of Realtors and working with Councilman Gildersleeve on a grant from Hudson River Bank and Trust, possibly for a backstop and clay for the ballfield.
  • The Supervisor gave the board the Budget and Revenue report for June 30, 2016.

OLD BUSINESS:

  • DEC: Supervisor Staats reported that DEC has told him that the contractors are on schedule with other projects and are expected to start work here around the 1st of August. We will be notifying adjoining landowners of the anticipated start date.

NEW BUSINESS:

  • STORM UPDATE: Clermont was hit with a severe storm on Friday, July 1st, which was extremely damaging to areas on Route 9G from south of Cemetery Road to north of Firehouse Road and Cemetery Road. Trees, powers lines and two houses damaged with tree limbs. Supervisor Staats has spoken with Bill Black, Columbia County Emergency Management Director about available FEMA funds. He was told because this was such a confined area there are no FEMA funding available. It has not been determined whether it was a microburst, straight-line winds or tornado.

Supervisor Staats thanked the Clermont Fire Department, Germantown and Livingston Fire Departments, Town and County Highway Departments, National Grid, G-tel Teleconnections for the work that they did.

  • SOLAR MORATORIUM: We were scheduled to hold a public hearing but it was cancelled on the advice of our Attorney for a three month moratorium on solar energy farms and/or solar energy facilities until the Board could review the proposed Local Law. The Town Clerk read part of the proposed Local Law. The moratorium would not affect building or ground mounted solar for residences which is currently allowed in the Zoning with the proper approvals from the ZBA and Planning Boards. Councilman Desmond said that this would be intended for solar that is to be sold. There was discussion on applications that are in the process as brought up by Mary Howard. The local law exempts any application that has been submitted and has commenced for a period of at least three months at the time of the effective date of this local law. Councilman Desmond explained that currently solar farms are not allowed in the Zoning, however, the Board would like to look at the zoning, as far as setbacks from property lines, screening, which zones to allow or not and preserving prime farmland. Councilman Gildersleeve asked if this is something that the Town Board can discuss with the Planning and ZBA Boards for input. Councilman Desmond would suggest this. Councilman Hempel does not think that we need a local law and public hearing, that we could have used our time working on the zoning changes during the past few months. A motion was made to set the public hearing for Local Law No. 1 of 2016 for August 1, 2016 at 6:45 P.M. by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. Councilman Desmond, aye; Councilman Gildersleeve, aye; Councilwoman Brownson, aye; Supervisor Staats, aye; Councilman Hempel was opposed. Motion passed.

SUPERVISORS REPORT:

  • PINE HAVEN NURSING HOME: Supervisor Staats reported that the transfer of Pine Haven should take place within the next few days.
  • HAZARDOUS COLLECTION DAY: Will be held on September 10th at Greenport Transfer Station.
  • BBQ: Chicken and Roast Beef BBQ on Saturday, August 13th, seating at 4:00 and 5:30 PM
  • BANNER APPROVAL TO NYS DOT: The Supervisor will send for approval to NYS Department of Transportation to hang the banner across Route 9 for Community Day. A check for $25.00 was on this months abstract.

ABSTRACTS:

A motion was made by Councilman Gildersleeve to approve General abstract #7, vouchers #172-199 in the amount of $3,935.22, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Hempel to approve Highway abstract #7, vouchers #74-84 in the amount of $5,537.53, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilwoman Brownson to approve Trust and Agency abstract #6, vouchers 13-15 in the amount of $397.85, seconded by Councilman Desmond. All in favor. So carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Sarah Takacs asked that when talking to companies about the use of drones in the park, that it is important to be specific that this is a mixed-use park/residential/working farm area. Also, to consider the noise factor because there are animals in the area of the park. Councilman Hempel said that they have the right to fly a drone over houses, barns and any law that we make for the park it wouldn’t apply to houses and barns, etc.

Supervisor Staats asked that Councilman Hempel check about the distance to a park or playground for flying drones. Councilman Gildersleeve thinks that some of these issues are addressed in the link that Councilman Hempel provided.

  • Mary Howard said that there are resources with the Department of State planners with draft laws to help answer questions on drones and solar arrays. The website CUNY.EDU has a toolkit that may help. She just attended a seminar on solar farms that was attended by Planning and Zoning Members and was very informative.
  • Supervisor Staats also thanked Supervisor Guzzi of Livingston who offered assistance from his highway department to help out after the storm.

A motion was made to adjourn at 8:00 P.M. by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Helen Shannon, RMC

Town Clerk

　

　

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