TB 4-11-13
TOWN OF DRYDEN
TOWN BOARD MEETING
April 11, 2013
Present:
Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner, Cl Stephen Stelick, Cl Jason
Leifer, Cl Linda Lavine
Absent:
Cl Joseph Solomon
Elected Officials:
Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk
Other Town Staff:
Jennifer Case, Bookkeeper
Dan Kwasnowski, Director of Planning
Supv Sumner opened the meeting at 7:15 p.m.
Planning Dept Fee Schedule
This has been discussed briefly by the board in the past. Supv Sumner said the town
can generate income with this. D Kwasnowski said he and Supv Sumner have revised it
slightly. Many of the fees include a factor for square footage. The schedule should be reviewed
annually. D Kwasnowski will put the schedule in a different format and email it board
members prior to next week’s meeting.
There was discussion about putting the Abstract on unaudited vouchers on the website
prior to the abstract and agenda meeting. It is possible, but won’t likely be complete because
of vouchers that are turned in at the last minute. Supv Sumner said it is reasonable to put
items scheduled for discussion according to the agenda on the website. It may take a few
months.
Records Management software – Will be on the agenda for approval next week. The
program is by Accela and will integrate with what the County is doing. Scanning can be done
under the current grant with the County and pulled into the program. Accela is also the
company the NYS DEC has chosen to take over its automated licensing program. There are
funds available to cover the purchase in the records management budget for this year.
The board discussed the most recent bill from IV4 for computer/network services in the
amount of $5,160.00. Cl Stelick said the bill is strictly IT services, no hardware, and $3,162 is
for new server setup and installation. We are billed by the quarter hour for what appears to be
each call, and he wondered if anything was covered a contract with them. He asked for detail
of the number of calls and how many we are billed for or are we billed for everything. Supv
Sumner will get that detail to the board.
RESOLUTION #63 (2013) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #4
Cl Stelick offered the following resolution and asked for its approval:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #4, as audited, vouchers
#202 through #280, totaling $248,379.59.
2nd Cl Leifer
Roll Call Vote
Cl Stelick
Supv Sumner
Yes
Yes
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TB 4-11-13
Cl Leifer
Cl Lavine
Yes
Yes
Unsafe structures – The board has received a memo from Kevin Ezell, Code
Enforcement Officer, regarding three unsafe structures: The Ross property on Bone Plain Road,
the Cook property on Ferguson Road, and the Avery property on Morris Road. Supv Sumner
said she is looking for some direction from the board.
With respect to the Ross property, the property has been posted against occupancy.
Supv Sumner said she doesn’t know where Ms. Ross is living. Some stuff has been moved from
inside the house to the yard, but the house is still full. The Cook barn continues to deteriorate
and has not been secured in any way. The house on Morris Road was vacant for a long time
and collapsed in on itself. The Planning Department has been unable to contact the property
owner.
Supv Sumner said she is prepared to move ahead with the Ross property. Cl Lavine
would like to wait on the Cook barn. It’s not an attractive nuisance in the middle of a populated
area. It is pretty remote. Supv Sumner said when the public brings to our attention that this
violates our law and we do nothing about it, it doesn’t reflect well on the Town. Atty Perkins
has advised that enough time has elapsed since the public hearings on Ross and Cook and
that the Town should start over should it choose to proceed. No formal proceedings have been
instituted with respect to the Avery property.
Supv Sumner will check with Atty Perkins with respect to the town’s options in each
case.
Internal audit – The Finance Committee will schedule audits with the Town Clerk and
Court offices.
Road use law – Supv Sumner sent a memo to the board on March 27 and reviewed that
with the board. She said if you look at the forms for a permit while reviewing the law, it is
easier to understand. It’s important to remember that concentrated traffic is defined as having
to do with construction. She reviewed the permit process with board members. D Kwasnowski
said he doesn’t see a lot of these projects happening on town roads. Cl Stelick would like to
have a map with the town roads highlighted. That would be helpful when explaining it to the
public. Enforcement and the time involved for the highway superintendent is a concern.
Engineering expenses will be charged back to the applicant, and a fee collected for the permit.
The activity only results from some type of permit. D Kwasnowski said he hopes to have a date
for the presentation by Delta by tomorrow. Depending on the outcome of the current appeal,
there may be no need for the law. Supv Sumner said there are arguments on both sides.
Ad hoc committee structure – With respect to CEAs, Cl Stelick asked whether the board
could legally pull back on what has been approved, then decide whether that is a chosen path.
Cl Stelick said we’ve laid the tracks, but he is not opposed to pulling back, leaving the tracks
down, and really getting to the heart of it. He said we missed something. We need to try to
help people understand. There needs to be a list of the people that have been spoken to about
it. We need to do more. Rescind what we did if it’s legal, pull back and start at a point to move
forward from and help people understand it. The landowners don’t really get it. The fear
mongers only talk about taking away rights. The Conservation Board has done a lot of work on
this, and we don’t want to throw that out. We need to make sure that we speak to every
property owner. The UNAs are being looked at again, and we have an Ag Committee in place
that can do some work on this as well. But there needs to be outreach to every single property
owner. Cl Stelick is optimistic that this process will work.
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D Kwasnowski said the process described is what he proposed three years ago. He will
not move forward with any CEAs until the open space plan is done and it is described as an
alternative to other options for protecting the land. Cl Stelick that will help and we could get
expert help from a contact at DEC. There needs to be small meetings with homeowners. The
Town Board makes the ultimate decision and needs to work with individual stakeholders, in
this case the property owners. It needs to be on a one to one basis. Cl Lavine said this is
worth a try because the effect will carry beyond the CEAs.
Supv Sumner said that there is a definition for CEA, though it’s broad, and if a site
meets the definition, it meets the definition. It isn’t optional. The board could look into the
process of rescinding, but that means saying we were wrong and something didn’t meet the
criteria.
Cl Stelick said looking at it piece by piece may result in a large area to be designated,
but will not have the same effect as just considering a large area. D Kwasnowski said he had
tried to get the Conservation Board to reduce the size of the areas, and they were reduced in
some instances.
Cl Stelick said he doesn’t think we can start on equal ground unless the ones already in
place are rescinded. Each property owner needs to be spoken with individually. Everyone may
not agree, and if that is the case, we need ask ourselves what we are doing fighting with
someone about something they don’t want on their property. We need to do a good job of
explaining it, as clearly as we possibly can. What the Conservation Board has done is great
work, and he doesn’t want anyone to think that is not the case, but the Town Board ultimately
needs to make the decisions. We need to talk to the individual stakeholders on a one-on-one
basis. It is still important, but there isn’t the sense of urgency that there was before. He
doesn’t want to move forward under current circumstances, and doesn’t think an open space
plan will be successful with the CEAs already in place. It will draw the same criticisms.
Cl Stelick suggested there may be a need for an ad hoc committee for this process.
There was some discussion about whether having the CEAs in place will hurt developing an
open space plan. There is no known procedure for removing the CEA designation. Cl Stelick
said the board needs to make a commitment to plan for not moving forward with any more CEA
designations, and decide what to do with the ones that are already in place.
Supv Sumner said she is willing to slow down the process, but there are still some
worth looking at and she is not inclined to rescind the existing ones. The document prepared
by the Conservation Board will be used when necessary. D Kwasnowski will get permission
from the property owners to walk their land, and tell them we’re looking into this and process.
D Kwasnowski said rescinding the current ones would be drastic.
Cl Stelick would like property owners in the currently designated areas to know that the
board is re-evaluating this without rescinding. Supv Sumner said she would like to set aside 1,
2 and 5 while looking into re-evaluating criteria and the process of letting DEC know we’ve
changed our minds. Rescinding those is a separate question of whether or not to consider any
of the others.
D Kwasnowski said we can set it aside, but the property owners aren’t willing to set it
aside. He will take some time with them and make an effort to talk with all the landowners.
He will prioritize the properties and draft a plan for the meeting next week. He will reach out to
some of the landowners before next Thursday. Cl Stelick said we need to send a clear message
to the property owners that we are being proactive about this, and document it. Property
owners need to understand that the process has been stopped, that we are re-evaluating and
proceeding slowly. At the same time we will be moving forward with the Open Space Plan.
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Advisory board goals – Supv Sumner is asking the boards and commissions to clarify
their 2014 goals for budget purposes.
D Kwasnowski will draft a charge to the Planning Board for the Comprehensive Plan.
Sherman farm – D Kwasnowski distributed the project budget. The percentages are
about the same as Stuttle with respect to the town and landowner contributions. We get credit
for in-kind contributions. With the Stuttle contract, we found that it worked out better when
the Town donated some cash toward the purchase price and the landowner still donated a
certain portion. The suggestion is that the Town contributes $95,000 and the landowner
contribution be $56,000.
Everything is pretty much done, and we are waiting for final approval from the state. It
will be about six weeks after that to receive the check. The current contract expires in August,
so we need to request a payment by August. Their payment doesn’t really matter. Closing
itself will depend on how the town wants to do this. Perhaps the town could have an
agreement with the landowner for payment to be made in installments. The Town needs to
decide how much and put it in the budget pending closing. This will be discussed further at
the May agenda meeting.
Varna – D Kwasnowski has been trying to get highway and sidewalks funded through a
federal program that requires a local match. It’s a million dollar project, so that would be a
$200,000 match. There is an option of establishing a special district for these types of
improvements and/or match for grants. It could be used to leverage federal funds. He asked
the board to give this some consideration.
There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried,
the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bambi L. Avery
Town Clerk
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