Dear neighbor, Here is the 575th installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list. 

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas – March 31,  2022 

Work Session of the Village Board

7:00 pm

Georgianna Grant Room

Municipal Building

1.      Review of the Department of Public Works Budget  The Board will review the DPW accts. There are 16 General Fund accounts that include Building Maintenance, Central Garage, Traffic control items, Animal Control, Administration, Street Maintenance, Brush & Weeds, Snow removal, Street lighting, Parks, Celebrations, Recycling, Storm Sewers, Refuse collection, Street cleaning, Community Beautification, and Shade Trees.

The Board will also review the Water Fund and Sewer Fund budgets items that DPW administers.

The proposed budget calls for an overall increase in the DPW budget of  0.08%, 

The tentative budget is available in the back up for this meeting from the Village website.

Dear neighbor, Here is the 574th installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list. 

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas –  March 28, 2022 

 Budget Hearing Meeting of the Village Board

7:00 pm

Georgianna Grant Meeting Room – Stanley H. Kellerhouse Municipal Building

Note: The Board has returned to in-person meetings.

PUBLIC HEARING:   

a.       Public Hearing on the 2022-2023 Tentative Village Budget.  Village Manager Healy has presented his Tentative Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2022/2023.  Treasurer Tucker will present an overview of the proposed budget at the meeting prior to the Board taking comments.  The complete backup documents are available from the Village website. Click on Minutes & Agendas at the top of the page. 

The following excerpt is from Manager Healy’s Budget message:

“The proposed tax rate for the tentative budget is $281.930 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This represents an increase of $9.974 per $1,000 of assessed valuation resulting in a 3.67% increase in the tax rate.  Based upon this proposed increase, the property representing the average assessment in the Village of $15,870 would pay an additional $158 in Village taxes.  The proposed budget for 2022-2023 reflects an increase in the Village’s assessments of $118,804.”

Dear neighbor, Here is the 573rd installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list. 

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas –  March 21, 2022 

 Regular Meeting of the Village Board

7:00 pm

Note: The Board has returned to in-person meetings.

PUBLIC HEARING:

a.       Public Hearing to consider Local Law Introductory No. 4 of 2022 to repeal Chapter 141 of the Village Code, Housing Standards.   The local law that is proposed to be repealed was adopted in 1982 and has been supplanted by the NYS Fire Prevention and Building Code, the International Building Code and the NYS Property Maintenance Code.  This removes a piece of obsolete code from our local laws.

CORRESPONDENCE:

a.      Letter from Devin DiGiacopo, Aquatic Invasive Species Program Coordinator at Teatown, requesting to place a Watercraft Inspection Steward at the Echo Canoe Launch for the 2022 season.   This program is intended to help prevent invasive aquatic species from infesting the waterways.  The proposal would have stewards at the Echo Canoe Launch from May to September.  On a voluntary basis, they would provide information about such invasive species and help remove animal and plant material from watercraft.

b.      Letter from the New York State Department of State requesting a LWRP Consistency Review for a Bridge Painting Project along Route 9.  The bridge in the Village that would be repainted is on Warren Road over route 9.  As the Village has a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), the NYSDOS must request a finding of consistency from the Village.

c.    Notice from the New York State Public Service Commission regarding Virtual Public Statement Hearings on Con Edison proposed rate increase.  The hearings are scheduled for March 22, March 29 and March 31.  Registration is required.  Details are available at www.webex.com.

PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS:

a.       Consider acknowledging receipt of Local Law Introductory 5 of 2022 to amend Chapter 230, Zoning, of the Village Code to adopt provisions regarding cannabis shops, declaring the Village as Lead Agent under SEQRA, issuing the EAF and CAF and referring the draft law and other documentation to the Village Planning Board, Waterfront Advisory Committee and Westchester County Planning Board in accordance with Village and County law.  This begins the process of amending the Zoning Code to specifically add a prohibition of any cannabis retail shop from locating with 500 feet of either Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle school or Croton-Harmon High School or an existing smoke or vape shop.  NYS code already prohibits such shops within 500 feet of any school (including nursery schools) and religious institutions.

Dear neighbor, Here is the 571st installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list. 

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas –  March 7, 2022 

 Regular Meeting of the Village Board

7:00 pm

Note: The Board has returned to in-person meetings.

CORRESPONDENCE:

a.      Memo from Village Manager Bryan Healy regarding the train station parking lot. Manager Healy provides details on the revenues from the permit and daily lots at the station showing significant reductions from the pre-COVID revenue of FY2019.  While Daily Lot revenue is rebounding faster than the Permit lots, both are substantially lower than pre-COVID.  This will be a big factor in developing the upcoming budget process for the FY2022/2023.

b.      Memo from Village Manager Bryan Healy regarding the NYStretch Energy Code.   Manager Healy provides information on NYSERDA’s Stretch Energy Code.  This is a building code that requires stricter standards for new construction as it pertains to energy.  The benefits  would be future savings for homeowners, tenants, operational costs, environmental impacts and several others.  It will be a topic on a Board Session in May.  The Code has been adopted by the Towns of Cortlandt and Ossining.

c.       Letter from Con Edison regarding higher-than-expected electricity bills.   The letter from Kyle Kimbal, VP for Intergovernmental Affairs, breaks down how the Con Ed customer bill is broken down into Supply costs delivery costs and taxes.    This is a generalized letter sent to all its customers.  In Croton, as members of Sustainable Westchester’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, residents’ Supply costs are currently fixed by our contract with SW’s designated ESCO (unless they opted out).  

PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS:

a.      Consider scheduling a Public Hearing on March 21, 2022, at 7 PM in the Georgianna Grant Meeting Room of the Stanley H. Kellerhouse Municipal Building to consider Local Law Introductory No. 4 of 2022 to repeal Chapter 141 of the Village Code, Housing Standards.   This sets a public hearing for the elimination of Chapter 141 of the Village Code which was adopted in 1982 and is currently obsolete.  Chapter 141 has been supplanted by the NYS Fire Prevention Code and Building Code (1984) and the International Code Council codes (2003) which include the NYS Property Maintenance Code.  

b.      Consider scheduling a Public Hearing on March 28, 2022 at 7 PM in the Georgianna Grant Meeting Room of the Stanley H. Kellerhouse Municipal Building to consider the 2022-2023 Tentative Budget.  The Tentative budget will be publishes on or before March 20^th.  A public hearing is required subsequent to its release which is being set by this resolution.

c.       Consider adopting EAF Parts 2 and 3 Determination of Significance attached hereto, and adopting a Negative Declaration in connection with establishing use and bulk/area regulations pertaining to the North End Gateway District and adopting a statement of consistency.     This action pertains to the Gateway district at the north end of the Village comprised of lots on the west side of Albany Post Road from Warren Road to the Village line. The Village Board reviewed the relevant SEQRA documents and LWRP Consistency review documents at a prior meeting.  This resolution formalizes their findings by adopting a Negative Declaration under SEQRA and a finding of Consistency with the Village’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP).

d.      Consider approving the Croton-on-Hudson Fire Department members in the Length   of   Service Award Program for 2021 and authorizing its posting for 30 days.  The program requires that the list of fire department members who earned the service credit, and/or did not earn it or opted out, must be approved by the Board and be posted for 30 days.  This authorizes such posting.

e.       Consider updating the master fee schedule to amend the fees for Day Camp and Tiny Tots Camp for Summer 2022.  This raises the fees  for the summer camps run by the Village’s Recreation Dept.  The proposed fees are available in the backup documents.

f.        Consider authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Sewer Connection Agreement with Ibrahim Jamal to connect the property located at 1216 Albany Post Road to the Village’s sanitary sewer system.     Although, the Village’s Sanitary Sewer system extends along Albany Post Road past this property, this property is not currently connected to it.  The agreement would allow the owner to connect and assume all costs for its construction, maintenance, etc. to meet the Village’s and the Sanitary Sewer District requirements.

g.      Consider authorizing the Village Treasurer to transfer funds in the amount of $5,115.19 from the Contingency Account for fence repairs for the Black Rock Dog Park.  The fencing at this location was damaged during Hurricane Ida.  

Dear neighbor, Here is the 572nd installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list. 

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas – March 14,  2022 

Work Session of the Village Board

7:00 pm

1.   Municipal Bonding Presentation from Beth Ferguson of Fiscal Advisors.

Ms. Ferguson will go over the basic of municipal bonding.

2.      Further discussion regarding the Upper Village Traffic Study and the Dummy Light intersection.   In late 2019, the Village discussed the results of a traffic study by Provident Design that identified 4 possible designs for the area of the Dummy Light in the Upper Village.  The design alternatives ranged from $10,000 to $750,000.  The Board did not reach any decisions at that time.  The Bicycle Pedestrian Committee has asked that the discussion be taken up again and a solution for the intersection be agreed upon and implemented.

3.   Review of potential Gouveia Park uses under New York State Parkland Alienation Clause.  The Village Attorney will advise the Board on how the Parkland Alienation law affects future uses at the Gouveia property.

4.   Discussion regarding the zoning regulations on cannabis retail dispensaries in the Village.   The Board will discuss possible amendments to the Zoning code, to address locations where cannabis retail dispensaries would be permitted.  There are already limitations on distances from schools and religious institutions as well as being limited to commercial zones for smoke shops. In addition to adding cannabis, the Board will discussion whether expanded prohibitions are needed.

Dear Neighbors,

Last Monday night, the Village Board of Trustees of Croton-on-Hudson authorized the Village Manager to execute a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for a grant for the installation of solar panels atop the Washington Engine Company firehouse. The WEC solar array will help avoid the emission of approximately 15 metric tons of CO2 per year and save the Village some $3,600 annually.

A Request For Proposals (RFP) has been circulated with responses expected in April. This puts us on track to have construction begin over the summer with completion possible by the close of the year.

Our Village was awarded this grant as part of NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program. We were eligible for this funding thanks to our previous achievements in promoting renewable energy and climate smart policies.

Once again, the dedicated citizens of our Sustainability Committee, led by Chairman Lindsay Audin, have delivered an important achievement for our Village and the planet.

Sincerely,

Brian Pugh, Mayor.