by Denise Wright
After the public hearing on the Greendale Solar Farm located on County Route 32, the January 27 Schodack Town Council meeting passed a few resolutions. Several other topics were also discussed that ranged from personnel contracts to the Town parks.
The Council approved the resolution for the Greendale Solar Farm. They adopted the amendment to the zoning map for the PD2 following the Planning Board Site Plan. The other two resolutions involved minor revisions to a previous resolution approving Frank Curtis as a temporary assessor for the Town and approving a change in financial limits for the Comptroller to pay some bills.
According to Supervisor Peter, the labor agreement for CSEA/Highway Department is all set and hopes to start working on the police union agreement soon. Peter hopes the Council will assist him in cleaning up the wording on several zoning laws and ethics policies. One goal of the Supervisor is to develop a survey and newsletter for residents. He hopes to gauge interest and participation in Town services from residences.
Sewer issues were another topic during the meeting. Schodack Reality’s agreement concerning the Dunkin’ Donuts’ sewer issue is in the process of being resolved through a new system and testing. Supervisor Peter commented that it was good to see this long-standing issue is being rectified. The Supervisor and members of the Council have been directly involved with the County sewer expansion on Route 9. Presently they are exploring which options would be better for the Town, connecting to the village station or the county plant. Issues like capacity and the running of pipes are being analyzed.
A major topic of conversation with the Council involved the parks in the Town. Supervisor Peter is looking into possibly working with the County to procure some financial assistance to get a year-round position to help with maintaining the Schodack Town Park, Papscanee Island Nature Preserve and the Brookview Park near the Castleton Ambulance Building. There was some discussion about using one of the surplus vans the Town has for a park vehicle and updating the events in the Park. Two potential changes might be to expand the Music in the Park series, and the other was movie nights in the Park. The Council plans to explore these options. The installation of a handicap swing in the Park is still in the works. Supply chain issues have impacted the project, but the Board plans to investigate other manufacturers to see if it can be expedited.
The final item discussed was the announcement of a February 15 public hearing led by the Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency on the Schodack I-90 Corridor Generic Environmental Impact Statement. This hearing will allow members of the public to identify specific issues and environmental impacts that should be addressed within the Town. Since there has been an increasing interest in developers coming to Schodack, this agency has created a study area defined by I-90 to the west, Exit 11 to the north and exit 12 to the south, and hopes to evaluate areas of potential impact resulting from future development. The meeting will be at 7 pm at the Schodack Town Hall at 265 Schuurman Road, Castleton.