Building Moratorium now in place...Pickleball Court Lights and Reese Park Parking area to come

The March 11 Town Board Meeting began with an Invocation by William FX O'Neil (yes that one, the former Dutchess County Executive) from Calvary Chapel. After explaining that there should be no separation between government & religion (what ?!?!) he led the gathered in a very visual prayer.

The Agenda was adopted and the minutes from the February 29 meeting were acknowledged.

The Public Hearing on Local Law 1 of 2024 was opened. This Local Law basically puts a building moratorium for any development of greater than 3 subdivisions in place for 18 months, with the possibility of being extended. Projects already in the planning process are not covered by the moratorium. Three members of the public spoke at the public hear 2 in favor of the law, 1 - a self-described realtor living outside the town - spoke against the law.

The Public Portion of the meeting was then opened -- and a member of the public rose to compliment the board on the partnership with businesses and the senior center, where 3 businesses were paying for the Seniors St. Patrick's Day Dinner and the resolutions regarding the speed limits in front of two schools. Another resident rose to request that the Martz Pickleball Court schedule be placed on Play Time (a what's app group), and that the bad behavior of a few shouldn't affect everyone. Other residents requested information about the agenda item "presentation by Cedar Hills LLC per stipulation expressing concerns about increased traffic on two lane roads.

Mr. Stenger then came to the podium to explain to everyone the process of making an application for the Arcadia Development by Cedar Hills LLC. Since the same lawyer, engineer and developer are also applying to build homes in the same area -- there was some confusion about the numbers and proposals. So -- this is a different project to Joey Estates (discussed at the last planning board meeting a subject of a suit) -- this is a new project (also the subject of a suit against the town) where there could be 78 homes, 1.7 miles of road with 44.6 acres of open space (the price point of $1.2M) OR 12 standalone homes + 66 town homes ($500K price point) with .28 miles of road with 117 acres of open space. The traffic study explained that the first iteration would result in 2000 car trips/week and the second 1400 car trips/week. The applicant's engineer/lawyer asserted that the property is in the United Wappinger Water district and thus would use town water/and sewer support from the Trimunicipal Sewer Plant in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Mr. Stenger asserted that the Town Board needs to have a resolution to send the project to the Planning Board (and that would be accompanied by a Public Hearing). After some discussion - this topic will be on the agenda for the next town board meeting.

The consent agenda resolutions were as follows - and all were approved.

• Resolution accepting Undertaking Secured by Decommissioning Bond in Connection with Old Myers NY LLC - the new Town engineer reviewed the estimates of a $81K bond required by the owners if the solar panels and associated equipment needs to be removed. There is an agreement to review this amount every 3 years to confirm the amount is still adequate.

• Resolution Accepting Donation to Parks and Recreation Department - Senior Center Division- Ulster Savings Bank, Jan Care Registered Professional Nursing PC and RPH Auto Repair, Inc. donated to the Sr. Center's St. Patrick's Day Dinner.

• Resolution Authorizing Improvements to Pickleball Court Light Towers at Martz Field. $11,100.00 was authorized to install the lights at Martz Field from the B fund. New signs have been installed and currently using the TOW App for scheduling.

• Requesting NYS DOT to Authorize Reduction of Speed Limit on Myers Corners Road. The Town can only petition State Government to change speed limits - the town can't independently change speed limits. This request is in the area of Ketchem High School, where there is a pedestrian walkway. A traffic study was done and 10,000 cars a week pass through this area at an average speed of 40 mph - this request is to reduce the speed limit to 20 mph. Legislature Rob Faust is assisting with this project.

• Requesting NYS DOT to Authorize Reduction of Speed Limit on Middlebush Road. Same as above, but this is in front of Wappingers Middle School (and also the Town Hall)

• Resolution Approving Memorandum of Agreement with CSEA Local 1000. Standardizes paid leave.

• Resolution Clarifying the responsibility of Administering Escrows and Consultant Billing. Moving responsibility of escrow management from building deparment to comptroller's office.

The Non Consent Resolutions

• Resolution Adopting Local Law No 1 of 2024. This passed - so the building moratorium as explained above is now in effect.

• Resolution Adopting Parks and Recreation Fees for the 2024 Calendar Year -these are the fees charged to leagues and organized sports for use of Town Park facilities - passed.

• Resolution Amending Purchase Amount to Purchase Real Property Adjacent to Reese Park. This was required to update the amount to include attorney's fees.. the closing is scheduled on March 12! So parking and new trail head facilities planned on the Route 9D side of Reese Park/Nature Preserve.

Items for special consideration

Council Member Casella - Requested a motion (passed) to replace a culvert at Rockingham to enable the soccer fields to drain more efficiently. He also requested that the Buildings department get a second estimate to have the trees trimmed at Rockingham - before Little League Opening day -to remove branches overhaning the fields and interfering with the lighting.

Supervisor Cavaccini made a motion requesting that $3000 be authorized to cover court ordered verbatim transcripts be provided to the court.

Council Member Beale explained that the Nature Preserve's water system is now connected to town water and he celebrated the fact that the fire hydrant (which was still available as a fire hydrant during the interim) was fully available for emergency services now as a result.

He also asked that Emergency Services be given a tour of the new Bounce facility in Alpine Commons.

And noted that the recent rains further damaged the stone wall in front of the Emergency Services building (it was hit by a car) and that additional beautification and mulching be done at Emergency Services. He is to get two estimates for the town board to consider.

NO EXECUTIVE SESSION!!

and the meeting was adjourned.