Ballston Neighbors United: New Town Supervisor

Ballston's new supervisor has been busy during his first two months as an elected official

A very warm welcome to the Town of Ballston’s new Supervisor Eric Connolly.

Supervisor Connolly has been in office for two months now, and since the swearing in ceremony on January 1, 2020, he has been incredibly busy to say the least. Along with meeting committee chairs, town departments and employees, he has also spoke with dozens of local town, city and state officials. There are at least 15 projects that he and the board are actively working on. Here are a just few projects and recent improvements.

Eric and Chely Connolly - 01/01/2020

The Supervisor’s goal is improving personnel policy, establishing protocol and accountability as he brings Town Hall to a professional, efficiently run government center. The new town employee punch clock is up and running. A ride along with the building department is planned for April so he can learn more about their daily operations.

The Planning Board positions have been filled. Supervisor Connolly as well as planning board members attended the Planning and Zoning Conference in February. Supervisor Connolly, Councilman Curtiss, and Town Attorney Kaelin attended the Association of Towns Annual Meeting and Training in New York City February 17^th thru the 19th. One of the two open Ethics Committee positions has been filled and interviews are in progress for the second. There will be a full five panel Ethics Committee in place soon.

At the first Agenda Meeting of the Town Board in January, Supervisor Connolly stated that the town needs to hire a Town Planner. Interviewing is in progress and the Town Board will be making a hiring decision soon. There are regular planning duties before the Planning Board now, and a possible liaison for TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) may be needed. The town has 27 hours per week currently in the budget for planning and drainage. The Comprehensive Plan needs to be revisited again as well as zoning. Stormwater reports need to be reviewed and filed, enforcement action is needed at times and eventually New York State will mandate stormwater oversite. The amount of questions that come into the Building Department alone regarding planning is substantial and a Town Planner is crucial.

The pending Ballston Lake Sewer Project is the most expensive and largest project in the history of The Town of Ballston. Eric Connolly has addressed the homeowner’s call for more transparency from the Sewer Committee. The committee recently held an informational meeting on January 28th resulting in an update to the ballstonsewers.org website. The next meeting will be March 4th at 4:15pm in the town meeting room. All meetings are open to the public for observation. Any questions can be emailed to Supervisor Connolly at econnolly@townofballstonny.org and will be forwarded to the Sewer Committee Chair. The project was voted on and approved by the residents within the district in 2015. Since that time, the cost has increased from $10,203,729 to $17,754,661.00.

The additional cost will not raise the annual EDU cost to homeowners as funds from two separate grants match the increase. This cost increase would require action by the Town Board. The increase in cost is subject to a permissive referendum. If the town board chooses to increase the cost by resolution, the homeowners within the sewer district have a limited window of opportunity to force a new vote by proper petition under NYS Town Law. You can read our notes from the January Sewer Committee meeting by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.

On the town calendar, there were two zoning workshops and one TDR (transfer of development rights) workshop open to the public in January. In February, they held another public zoning workshop outlining a possible moratorium on large building projects while excluding smaller commercial and residential project permits to keep Ballston moving forward. Residents are encouraged to watch the calendar for any future workshops. The town board has scheduled a Whole Town Public Hearing on March 10, 2020 at 5:45pm on a proposed moratorium. Written comments will be accepted and can be submitted to the Ballston Town Board Attention Carol Gumienny, Town Clerk 323 Charlton Road, Ballston Spa, New York 12020.

Supervisor Connolly presented an idea that brings local youth involvement in government. Ballston’s biggest demographic are children under the age of 18. A long-time goal in Ballston has been to connect Ballston’s Bike and Hike Path to the Zim Smith Trail. Youth in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake and Ballston Spa High Schools will be assisting with a logical path to connect these trails. Student teams from both schools will be working independently this year on how to make a trail connection and then joining in June to collaborate plans. The Town Engineer will also be making a visit to both schools to help students understand how towns and engineers work together with both state and federal agencies to secure funding and get projects completed.

A new town committee has been created called the Ballston Clean Energy Committee.

It is the Town of Ballston’s coordinating group to lead implementation of the DEC/NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities Program. The committee will be working on four high-priority items on the program’s High Impact Action Item List. They are working on energy use of town buildings, converting street lights to money saving energy efficient LED technology, following up on the approved charging station in the town hall parking lot and will help create a unified solar permit which streamlines the approvals process for solar. The committee will also seek out additional information about the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program that other cities and towns are implementing to save residents money on energy. There will be a CCA presentation at the March 10^th Board Meeting.

Another project in motion is addressing pedestrian walkways and student safety around the Ballston Spa schools. Supervisor Connolly is working with the Village of Ballston Spa Mayor, Larry Woolbright, on a plan to install a solar powered LED lighted stop signs and crosswalks at McMaster Street which will greatly slow traffic down. Plans for solar powered LED lighted stop signs and crosswalks at Garrett Road, Thomas Street, and Ballston Avenue in the Town of Ballston are in the works as well as plans for pedestrian sidewalks on Garrett Road. The goal is to dramatically increase safety, lower speeds and diminish cut-thru traffic around the Ballston Spa schools.

Ballston Neighbors United is extremely impressed with this fast pace of progress. Keep up the fantastic work Supervisor Connolly! All town meetings are open to the public. We encourage residents to attend town meetings. Meetings are posted on the Town of Ballston calendar. You can subscribe to the calendar through Google Calendars. There is privilege of the floor on any town subject at the end of the monthly regular Town Board Meetings. There are scheduled public hearings on projects proposed before the Planning Board. BNU’s mission is to build a community of informed residents dedicated to preserving the nature and character of our town.

Recent video messages from Supervisor Connolly: