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Advisory Boards

ABACA

Town Board, 5/8/2012

The Board decided that it would like to meet the current ABACA members whose terms are expiring before automatically renewing their appointments. Supervisor Grace assured Bill Primavera, the sole ABACA member at the meeting, that they can continue to serve after their terms have expired and until they are either reappointed or someone else is appointed. He asked Mr. Primavera to assure the group’s members that they were appreciated. The board intends to present a proclamation in June to outgoing chairman Anthony Romano who has been on ABACA for 15 years.

Citizens Board for Budget Oversight/Capital Projects & General Ledger

Town Board, 5/8/2012

Explaining that an existing town law provides for the creation of a citizen’s budget/capital projects committee, and that the Town’s outside auditor had recommended that one be established, Supervisor Grace indicated his intention to create a Citizens Board for Budget Oversight/Capital Projects & General Ledger. Because there were only three board members present, he postponed any discussion until a future meeting. He said the auditor had agreed to be present at a work session to discuss the concept.

Planning Board

Town Board, 4/3/2012

The board initially voted 2-2 on a motion by Deputy Supervisor Murphy to delay a vote on the reappointment John Flynn to a new five year term on the Planning Board. Mr. Flynn has been on the board for 10 years. Deputy Supervisor Murphy and Councilman Patel voted yes and Councilmen Bianco and Paganelli against the motion.In response to Deputy Supervisor Murphy’s argument that the vote should be postponed until Supervisor Grace was present, Councilman Bianco stated that there had been enough discussion of the appointment and that the board was ready to vote on it.

Following the failure of Deputy Supervisor Murphy’s motion, Councilman Bianco made a motion to reappointment Mr. Flynn. The resolution passed 3-0 with Deputy Supervisor Murphy abstaining.

Recreation Commission

Town Board, 1/10/2012

The board delayed voting approval for the reappointment of Patricia Caporale until the January 17^th meeting when Ms. Caporale could be present.

1/17/2012: The board voted unanimously to appoint Ms. Caporale.

Cable Committee

Town Board, 1/10/2012

Supervisor Gracer announced two vacanies on the committee.

Town Board, 1/24/2012

The board expects to appoint Ray Arnold to the committee at the February 4th meeting. (update: the appointment was made on the 4th.)

Landmarks Preservation Commission

Town Boad, 5/1/2012

During the Board’s pre-session meeting, Supervisor Grace advised Board members that he has drafted two amendments to the current law. The first one would delete the provision that states that a property could be landmarked without the owner’s consent. The second change would remove the requirement that the Commission include an architect and historian.He said that the proposed changes would be discussed at a future work session.

Town Board, 4/17/2012

During Courtesy of the Floor, Mark Michaels objected to the fact that the proposed appointments to the Landmarks Preservation Commission weren’t on the Board’s tentative agenda released on last Friday but appeared on the final agenda at about 5pm today. He said that if other former members of the Commission had known about the pending appointments, they might have attended tonight’s meeting. While Councilman Bianco agreed with him that items shouldn’t be added to the agenda at the last minute, Supervisor Grace defended the practice explaining that sometimes things come up at the last minute.

Explaining that he was one of the former members of the Commission who resigned in 2007 over the proposed landmarking of the Old Stone Church, Mr. Michaels said he thought it inappropriate for Tom DeChiaro, the church’s owner, to become a member of the Commission as it was Mr. DeChiaro who “scuttled” the Commission’s recommendation to the Town Board that the church building be landmarked when he objected to the landmark status.

Bill Primiavera, one of the proposed new members of the Commission, supported Mr. DeChiaro’s appointment and didn’t understand why Mr. Michaels was opposed to it.

Responding to earlier comments, Mr. DeChiaro explained that the church has already received state landmark status and that it was close to getting national landmark status. Unlike the Town’s law, he said that the state and national programs were not excessively restrictive on the owner.

Supervisor Grace and Councilmen Murphy and Paganelli said that they disagree with a provision in the Town’s current Landmark Preservation Law that permits the Town Board to designate a structure a landmark without the owner’s consent. Supervisor Grace said that private owners are the best custodians of their property. When it was pointed out that without that provision, the Town would not be eligible for grant funds, Councilman Paganelli said that he was willing to forego the funds.

Later in the meeting, after it was pointed out that some of the proposed new members might not want to serve on the Commission if the “owner consent” issue was deleted from the law and the Commission became “toothless,”the Board decided to table the appointments until it resolved how it wanted to proceed on amending the law. Councilman Bianco, however, said he would have had no problem appointing the members that night.

Town Board, 4/10/2012

The board indicated its intent to reconstitute the Landmarks Preservation Commission. According to Nancy Milanese, one of the potential new members, the Town had a Commission from the 1960s through 1980s but somehow not in the 1990s. The Commission was revived in 2002 but its members resigned in 2007 over a dispute to declare the Old St. Georges Church a landmark.

When Ms. Milanese reminded the board that the current Landmark Preservation law permitted the board to designate a structure an historic landmark without the owner’s consent, both Supervisor Grace and Councilman Paganelli said they opposed this provision as an infringement on the rights of the property owner.Mr. Paganelli said he felt strongly that the Town shouldn’t be telling people what they could do with their homes. Supervisor Grace said he would look into the legal issues, while in the meantime, the board would move to make the appointments of the four people whowere present plus some additional residents who had previously expressed interest in joining the Commission.

The supervisor’s assistant, Mary Cappocia, reminded the board that the existing Landmarks Preservation Law required that some of the Commission members have specific backgrounds and/or expertise, including the requirement that one of its members be an architect. None of the four potential members present were architects and the group said it would try to recruit one.

Much of the discussion with the future members focused on what could be done to save the Knapp House across from the BJs Shopping Center that is slated for demolition as part of the Crompond Crossing project that has been approved by the Planning Board. Supervisor Grace asked if the house could be moved to the State Land site and Councilman Paganelli suggested Downing Park in the event that the department’s maintenance facility is relocated to the Hill, a possibility that had been discussed earlier in the evening. Councilman Murphy suggested that signs be posted on the property of historic houses in order to call the public’s attention to the houses.

Town Board, 1-17.2012

Bill Primervera asked the board to reinstate the Commission which has been inactive since the previous members resigned over a landmark designation dispute with a former town board over the St. George’s Church. Supervisor Grace and Councilman Bianco agreed that the Commission should be revived.

Town Board, 1-24-2012

Six residents interested in serving on a revived Landmark Preservation Commission came before the board. In introducing the people, Bill Primavera noted that, including himself, four of the six people lived in historic houses. A seventh person, Tom DeChiaro, indicated that he wanted to serve on the Commission but couldn’t attend the meeting.

Mr. Primavera explained the benefits to the town of having a Commission, including the fact that it enabled the town to qualify as a Certified Local Government which meant that the town was eligible for state funding.

Supervisor Grace expressed his support for preserving the town’s history, noting that historic geographic sites should also be identified in addition to historic houses. (Nancy Milanese, one of the residents interested in being appointed to the Commission said that the geographic inventory had already been done in 2006 with state funding.) While Mr. Grace said he supported preservation, he added that he was also a strong proponent of people’s property rights. He suggested that short of a historic designation for a property, the town could have annual ceremonies commemorating historic houses, and honoring the owner by possibly giving the owner a plaque.

Mr. Primavera said the next step would be for the Town Board to interview the seven interested people but it was unclear whether the board would interview the people first before simply appointing them at a future board meeting.