Stephentown Developing A Comprehensive Plan
by David Flint
The Stephentown Comprehensive Plan Committee is moving ahead with developing a master plan for the Town. At the Town Board meeting on July 20 Councilman PJ Roder reported that over 1,500 copies of a survey had been sent out to residents. Extra copies are available at the Town Clerk’s Office.
Roder noted that there would be a public workshop meeting on July 27 and the Committee is looking for input from residents as to what things are most important and what subcommittees will be needed. One subcommittee will definitely be set up to focus on the issue of emergency services which he said is becoming a major problem everywhere. Assistant Fire Chief Rik McClave will head up that subcommittee.
[private]At the July 27 meeting County Planner Linda von der Heide acted as consultant and moderator. Members of the Committee present were Councilman PJ Roder, Deputy Code Enforcement Officer Owen Cassavaugh, Zoning Board Chairman Roland Barth and Planning and Zoning Board Secretary Laurie Gilliland. Planning Board Chairman Tom Morelli was absent. Town Board Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, an ex-officio member was also present. A dozen community residents also attended this meeting and provided valuable input.
Roder reported that 120 survey forms had already been returned but the Committee had obviously not had time to digest this data yet.
von der Heide, who has guided the towns of Berlin and Poestenkill in developing their comprehensive plans, presented an overview of what a comprehensive plan is and why the Town would want one. It’s a guide to the future, she said, based in the present but cognizant of the past. It’s a publicly available document that identifies community assets and issues, adopted by the Town Board and reviewed regularly, that helps guide governmental decisions at all levels. The comprehensive plan becomes the basis for zoning and other laws. It provides information to the State and County regarding the community’s condition, needs and wants and to companies and individuals looking to locate there. It is also a baseline that enables the community to determined if there has been any forward progress.
It takes about two years to develop a comprehensive plan, von der Heide said. The process of developing Stephentown’s plan is now in what she called the visioning phase. In the coming fall there will be another public workshop to work on determining issues. During the fall and winter the Committee will develop goals and plans. Sometime next spring there will be a third public workshop and a land use plan will be developed over the summer. If all goes well there should be a draft plan by the fall of 2016 and a public hearing. Over that winter there will be a Town Board review and a second public hearing before the plan is adopted.
To get started on the visioning, von der Heide asked those attending to say in one sentence what they would like to see in Stephentown in 20 years. Almost everyone present responded with their ideas. Eckhardt said he would like to see more people who are less than 40 years old and a technologically more advanced town that could accommodate more home-based businesses. Others spoke about protecting the tranquility and natural habitats of the area and balancing this with economic development, more active involvement of residents with town organizations and churches, more things for families to do, a well funded library, public transportation, viable farmland and a reinvigorated downtown core.
Noise On West Road
Barry Volkert spoke to the Board about a year ago about extremely loud live band music blasting constantly from a neighbor’s residence on West Road. Apparently nothing has changed and the noise is continuing into the early hours of the morning. Volkert has called the State Police a number of times but gets no satisfaction. He has now written a letter to the Board again complaining about the noise and suggesting that a noise ordinance be passed
Volkert’s neighbor Paula Dibble agreed that the music is loud, goes on way too late and attracts people that are not respectful of the residential neighborhood. She added that it should be possible for people to have a good time without antagonizing their neighbors.
The Town Board has been wrestling with this problem for some time, especially with regard to large music festivals held in the past few years. They said they will continue to try to work something out but none on the Board seemed inclined to develop a noise ordinance at this time.
Mass Gatherings Law
Considered
While the Board is apparently not interested in a noise ordinance, they will be considering some sort of mass gatherings law to keep festivals such as Bella Terra under control. Eckhardt said the Board does not want to keep such festivals out of Town but wants to ensure they are neighborly and organized properly with a permit process. “We don’t want to keep people from doing things or run businesses out of Town,” he said, but affirmed there has to be some control over issues of loudness and late hours.
Councilman Bill Jennings said that the proposed law is a work in progress. The first task is to define what a mass gathering is. The Board is looking at what other towns are doing, what laws, rules and processes are on the books in other places and how are they working. Stephentown, he said, has found with recent festivals there is a continual problem of too loud and too late. The Board wants to make sure they don’t discourage responsible behavior but they will try to discourage irresponsible behavior.
Jennings said the Board will be discussing this at upcoming workshop meetings and eventually, “reasonably soon”, they expect to hold public hearings and get public input.
Welcome To Stephentown
Kevin Doherty of Montauk Signs has come up with a design for a sign welcoming folks to Stephentown. It will say simply, “WELCOME TO STEPHENTOWN” and “EST. 1784”. The question remaining is whether “New York” should be added or whether people will know they are in the state of New York. Also, the color of the sign and the color of the lettering has not yet been decided. Residents with a preference should contact a Board Member.
There will be a double sided sign at the intersection of Routes 22 and 43. A sign at the north end of Town and another at the South end on Route 22 will be single sided. Eckhardt said the Board will consider for next year adding signs at each end of Route 43.
Kinder Morgan Pipeline
Eckhardt reported that he and Councilman Jennings had attended the public hearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Schodack on July 15. They delivered the Town resolution opposing the pipeline and made additional comments for FERC to consider in scoping the environmental impact study.
Eckhardt said Stephentown is part of a consortium under the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, paid for by Rensselaer County. Stephentown, Nassau and Schodack have been asked to submit a list of roads that would be impacted by the pipeline, along with all their descriptive statistics. Highway Superintendent Aldie Goodermote is preparing that data for Stephentown, he said. FERC is taking comments up to the end of August.
Sales Tax
The Town received a sales tax distribution check from the County in the amount of $63,468, a bit more than expected, Eckhardt said. The amount received so far this year is about $173,000. The amount budgeted as projected income was $310,000, so the Town has received a bit more than half of what they hope to get this year. “The formula for how we get this money is as deep, dark a secret as could possibly be imagined…We get what we get,” Eckhardt said.
School Building
Sale of the old Stephentown Elementary School is in progress but there had been no closing yet, according to Councilman Jennings. He said he understands that the sale will not include the land beyond 25 feet in back of the school nor the land beyond 25 feet to the East of the building. The playground and the basketball court are not part of the sale. Eckhardt said the the Town will continue to pay for mowing the grass in those areas and townspeople can continue to use it. The Town may take possession of the playground equipment as long as it meets current code requirements.
Burn Permits
Burn permits have long been handled by the Stephentown Fire Department but Eckhardt pointed out that the 1981 Town Law that specifies the need for such permits actually places the responsibility with the Town Board, not the Fire Department which is only responsible for approving the form used. Eckhardt said there is an ongoing discussion now about how the permits will be enforced and about making the process more accessible to people especially now that many Fire Department people do not work in town.
Youth Summer Camp
Laurenne Teachout, Director of the Stephentown Memorial Library, thanked the Board for its support of the Youth Summer Camp. The program started on July 6 and continues to the end of this month. Teachout said there had been a huge gathering earlier on the day of the Town Board meeting for the program “Dazzle Dogs” that featured a very talented group of canines including corgis, retrievers and an Australian shepherd.
Teachout said there are about 35 children in the Summer Camp. She said 35 to 45 children are receiving breakfast and lunch every day. The program is going well with 10 to 15 local teenagers hired as counselors. Teachout said she recalls some of these Counselors as “Story Time” kids some years ago.
Councilman PJ Roder pointed out that breakfast and lunch is provided by Rensselaer County from federal funds. It is open to anyone 18 years of age or younger. There are six locations for this throughout the County, the Stephentown Library being one of them.
Congrats On Rail Trail
Eckhardt presented a Certificate of Recognition from State Senator Kathleen Marchione to the Corkscrew Rail Trail Committee. The Certificate expressed, “Congratulations on your Stephentown Trail” on the occasion of the Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening that occurred on June 6. Kevin Carpenter accepted the Certificate on behalf of the Committee.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $919.04 to the Supervisor for the month of June. The distribution from the office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund had not been determined yet. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $6,143.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $18,886.91 from the General Fund and $17,384.88 from the Highway Account.
The Board set its next workshop meeting for Monday, August 10 and their next regular meeting for Monday, August 17, both meetings to start at 7 pm.[/private]