Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper
by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board held a Special Meeting on Monday, October 27, to discuss re-staffing the Highway Department, which has lost its two most senior members over the last two months. Deputy Superintendent Steven Harrison resigned in late summer, and Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison resigned last week.
[Read more…] about Petersburgh Hires A New Highway Superintendent
by Bea Peterson
Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, and Hoosick voters are very fortunate to have a choice between two well qualified candidates running for Town Council this year. There hasn’t been a women councilperson in Hoosick in 14 years, though Marilyn Douglas was Town Supervisor for 10 of those years.
compiled by Alex Brooks; photos submitted (or not) by the candidates
by Alex Brooks
Petersburgh held a public hearing on its 2015 budget on Monday, October 20. The budget presented will stay under the state imposed tax cap, which this year is about 1.2%. The tax levy will be a little over $9,000 higher than last year.
General Fund appropriations are up by a hefty $34,500 over last year, but that is offset by an increase in General Fund revenues of about $15,000. Highway appropriations are reduced by $21,200 from this year to next.
by Kieron Kramer
There are two ways to bring a tax levy down from a Preliminary Budget. One is to go over the budget, line by line, snipping fat here and there. The other way is to appropriate some revenue from the reserve fund. Grafton Town Supervisor Frank Higgins chose the latter and made a resolution at the end of the Special Meeting on Monday, October 27, to move $12,500 from the reserve fund into the General Fund Unexpended Balance. [Read more…] about Grafton Brings Tax Levy Increase Down To 1.56%
by Kieron Kramer
Due to space considerations in last week’s paper some department reports and announcements made at the Grafton Town Board meeting on Monday, October 20, were not reported. Here is the rest of the story.
[Read more…] about Grafton Town Board Action, Part Two – High Value Land Is Under Assessed
by Kieron Kramer
The Grafton Planning Board met on Monday, October 20, at 6:30 pm instead of the usual meeting time of 7 pm because the Town Board meeting was to meet at 7. The Town Board meeting had been moved from October 13 because of the Columbus Day holiday. According to Planning Board Chairman Tom Withcuskey, all Planning Board members were present, the minutes of the September meeting were approved and there was no old business and no new business.
[Read more…] about Grafton Planning Board Action – A Complaint About Dust
by Bea Peterson
About a dozen people, including members of the committee working to update the Hoosick Falls Zoning regulations, attended a meeting at the HAYC3 armory on October 9. Thaddeus Kolankowski and Robert Murphy of Barton & Loguidice (B&L) gave the overall presentation, noting this was the first of two public hearings.
A complete update of the Village Zoning regulations has not been done since 1977. They reported that some funding for this update has come from a $9,500 grant from the Hudson River Valley Greenway.
The goal of the project is to reduce the current book of regulations from 12 chapters to six. They said the regulations as they stand are antiquated and barriers to development as they are not in an easy format to follow because of all the add-on changes over the years.
They have reviewed Village properties and present guidelines and are working to have district boundaries be the same on both sides of a street, re-establish historic rights of way, enhance walkability throughout the Village and allow mixed use buildings downtown with some light industry and to integrate quality development standards. It was suggested, for example, that there be a pre-submission meeting held with developers prior to the submission of their application to expedite and streamline the zoning process. They also advocate training for members of both the Zoning Board and the Planning Board.
The B&L representatives felt it is important to review the Village street by street to look at potential areas and see what fits into that area and to address the needs and problems of the buildings that are there. The issue of absentee landlords and nonconforming properties was also discussed.
The objective, with whatever changes are made, is to maintain property values and a level of compatibility within neighborhoods. The committee has been meeting monthly all summer and will meet again in November. Another Public Hearing will be held at a later date.
The Carner, Etman, Smith VFW Post 6340 and Petersburgh Boy Scout Troop 222 are collecting American flags and conducting a flag burning ceremony on Saturday, November 8, at 10:30 am at the Grafton VFW – Fire Hall on South Road (County Route 85) in Grafton. The community is invited to join us to dispose of your worn and old American flags. We will have a box at the VFW – Fire Hall for you to drop off your American flags. You can give your flags to any member of the Post or Boy Scout Troop or call Richard Terpening at 279-3746 to make arrangements to have them picked up.
