The May Town Board meeting opened with a hearing on amendments to the local law on siting telecommunications towers, changing the rules to encourage the shared use of existing towers. No one spoke on the matter, and eventually it passed 5-0.
During Citizens' Privilege, Peggy Walbridge asked about the upcoming work on Hunt Hill and Genung roads. Highway Superintendent Jack Bush wasn't at this meeting, but engineer Dave Putnam reported that he's done some pencil sketches, and they are assembling the information to share with citizens. Councilman Marty Christofferson asked if they could have it done by the next board meeting, as it was "time to get this thing squared away."
Putnam also discussed plans for extending the highway department garage another 80 feet back from the existing structure. The money is in the highway budget, so the Town Board will only need to approve it if it goes over budget.
Putnam also discussed ongoing work around the F & T Distributing relocation from its current site to Royal Road, which is currently tied up in water and sewer issues. The area where they're building is not in a water or sewer district, and a parcel away from the existing system. There had been discussion of creating a new set of districts there, and surrounding users seemed interested, but actually creating a district will take longer than F & T has.
The current proposal is to have F & T build its own connections, and have the town buy the connections (at a depreciated price) as part of the district when that happens. The previous Town Board had budgeted for a study to determine how to do this and what it would cost. The board was hearing a preliminary report on that, though time is running out.
F & T was wishing that the preliminary survey they had now was more of a comprehensive survey. "From a businessowner's perspective, building water and sewer and having the town buy it at some point, that's somewhat acceptable, though I'd ask for a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement on it because that will hold the town to some sort of schedule. If we don't have some sort of committed timeline, and the town puts it off, and takes over in year 11..." and at this point the town doesn't know how much it will cost.
F & T needs its hookup by July to move, and negotiations and surveys will continue.
Later in the meeting, something that may have an effect on future infrastructure needs, the board appointed Thomas Quinn to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Quinn had applied last year, after Zoning Officer Henry Slater had given him an application. Slater had talked to Quinn over the course of his moving to the community and building a house, and thought he was an excellent candidate. The board approved the appointment 5-0.
Posted by simon at May 24, 2004 7:25 PM in planning and zoning , roads, traffic, and transit , water and sewer