January 8, 2019 Town of Ballston Town Board Meeting

Town of Ballston Town Board Meeting Notes

Taken by a town resident on January 8, 2019

This meeting was recorded to aid in note taking, blank lines indicate inaudible.

1. Correspondence

The town clerk read the following:
“Correspondence from Saratoga County Planning Dept. regarding proposed changes to Zoning and Sub-Division Law, Town of Ballston. Received by the Town of Ballston on November 15th, reviewed by Saratoga County Planning Board on December 20th. Decision: Approved. Comment: Changes in the town Zoning and Sub-Division Law have been proposed to better reflect priorities of the town’s 2006 Comprehensive Plan. The law has been amended to implement the towns volunteer plans for development rights/ programs, adjust the build-out potential by zone, expand the of uses, provide adequate fire and protection to Ballston Lake’s watershed and require conservation subdivision design to key zones. The major changes to the code are provided for the board. One board member comment that we used for both blue and purple are the TDR sending and receiving areas map may cause confusion among individuals with color vision deficiencies. Additionally, please add the Saratoga County planning board as an interested agency in Section 1.3 of the Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Please contact the department with any questions.  Allison Hargrave Gaddy, Planner, Saratoga County planning department.”

2. Building Inspectors Report:
Brian stated “Last month we had 22 new building permits, 21 CO’s, 77 inspections, 10 fire inspections, 5 storm water inspections, and then Sophia has 2 applications…..or…4 for planning board: 1 sketch plan review, 2 site plans and 1 major subdivision.” Brian continued to talk about Fireman’s Grove and said the new pavilion is completed, it took two days.

3. Absent

Councilman Curtiss is not here tonight due to one of his animals is having emergency surgery. And Councilmember Stewart must leave at 7pm due to a family issue.

4. Carpenters Acres proposed sewer:

The supervisor stated, “The town has begun to discuss an alternative plan that would serve only the residents that need sewers. This so far is only a discussion and a plan that seems feasible. This would involve installing a low-pressure sewer line requiring grinder pumps to the streets, requiring sewer with a gravity system that serves Rt. 50, most likely to the Cornerstone development. Another potential possibility is connecting into Saratoga County sewer. More research is needed on that option also. So, what we want to do here is actually look into this further, we need to get a map showing the homes that would benefit from this smaller system. Again, those folks that are in dire need of the sewer system that we heard loud and clear also. So, we would like to ask those folks again after our meeting here this evening and ask their assistance in identifying those homes cuz what we want to find out is…those folks that are in dire need of a sewer system…we want to see one particular area within the Carpenters Acres project. So really when you look at this here folks, really, it’s a win-win, I’m going to offer a resolution here momentarily. But again, here’s why I say it’s a win-win: number one we heard you loud and clear, we listened to you, and it’s very very costly. A lot of folks are very nervous about that annual cost, they simply can’t afford it. And the other side is the individuals that had a dire need for sewers. We’re going to go ahead and look at these other two alternatives here. We’ll have a mini-workshop here after tonight’s meeting. “The supervisor then posed a Resolution 19-15 and had the town clerk read it.

Resolution 19-15 resolved as follows: “to reject the draft Map Plan and Report and terminate all proceedings to form a sewer district known as Carpenters Acres, and this resolution shall take effect immediately. “Motion passed unanimously.

Roll call;

Goslin- in favor

Stewart- in favor

Antoski- in favor

Szczepaniak-in favor

Motion passes 4-0. Applause.

Supervisor: “For folks that have issues, and obviously everybody’s not here this evening, please stay afterwards for our mini-workshop, and also think about some folks that aren’t here and let us know who they are, so we can go ahead and address that.”

5. Financial Report:

Financial Administrator, Jeanette Borthwick briefly mentioned a preliminary financial report. This is a ‘first pass’ and she expects the ‘second pass’ will be ready by the agenda mtg. at the end of the month. Approved this report unanimously.

6. Supervisors Report:

• He will give a State of the Town address at Town Hall on 1/15/19 at 630pm, it will be livestreamed.
• “Some county news, there’s a new chairman for the board of supervisors this year, Kevin Tollisen from Halfmoon. One of his themes here to share emphasis is ‘the year of the senior’. There’s gonna be some special events here for seniors, more to come on that.”
• He has been placed on 5 committees for 2019:
1. Public safety- one project—“considering the Eastline Rd. recent tragedy, Commissioner Keith Manz, a Saratoga County PW engineer will look at that area and see if anything can be done to eliminate the hazard, will also try to work with the postmaster to move mailboxes to same side as houses to prevent residents from walking across street to get mail.”
2. “The North Firehouse on the corner of Charlton Rd and Hop City Rd is for sale by the Fire Dept. Our new fire dept will open the end of this month. After that, they want to sell the old firehouse. The town board plans to buy it and use it as a Deputy Sheriff sub-station that houses two deputies. Sheriff Zurlo is interested. Next year the 2020 census will come out, we’ll be over that 10,000 threshold, it changes the classification of the town and we’ll have to have law enforcement coverage. That will be up for further discussion here for the board, and hearing from the public on that. So, more to come on the town dialogue on that.”
3. Public Works Committee: He is the chairman. Regarding the Lake Hill Rd. sidewalk…” we need to connect that sidewalk to make it safe for pedestrians. We’re going to have a northern sidewalk committee and a southern sidewalk committee, Marybeth Walsh, Assemblywoman… and Keith Manz have reached out to me, we’re going to form a team, Joe Whalen will be involved, with that, as well as Councilman Antoski …he has the lead for sidewalks with the grant program. We’re coordinating meeting with those individuals and to have that come to fruition here in 2019 is going to be our primary goal.”
4. Economic Development Committee: “In the agricultural arena, the Farmland Protection Board….today’s economic development team is headed by Supervisor Barrett from Clifton Park. This is going to be going to a public hearing at the county in February, for a vote from the County Board of Supervisors….there are 6 parcels, 4 being from Greenfield, 1 from Clifton Park and 1 from Malta that will be recommended for inclusion into the Ag District #2.  It totals the inclusion of 130.6 acres that will be designated as Ag land.
5. Law and Finance Committee
6. I continue on with the water meter program

7. “An email from Sophia, we’re going to have to have a board of health meeting for 45 Zani Lane, that’s for a septic issue, on January 29th at 6pm”

7.Councilmembers Reports:
• Kelly Stewart: Im going to have this put on the website, I have an opening for one chief ____ parking ________. (muffled, spoke very quietly to the supervisor).

• Mr. Antoski: Asked Mr. Whalen about the SAM grant. One question on it is “What control does the town have over that location? “ Do we have any control? I’ve heard from National Grid that the story is that it’s a county issue so they have to contact them, as far as the state of that grant, they want to know if we have control.

Mr. Whalen said no, we have no control and he explained his answer.

• Mr. Goslin: There’s a sewer conference tomorrow at Town Hall, all of the respective contractors will be there with the engineering group to review the bid specs.

8. Privilege of the Floor for items on agenda:

Peter Solberg, 166 Charlton Rd.
1. With regards to Res. 19-9: It says consider approving the purchase of 100 Badger water meters in the amount of $35,091 to replenish supply. My understanding is that anything over $20,000 needs to go to public bid, and anything that requires over 12 months and is over $35,000 needs to go to public bid. Supervisor then asked Joe Whalen to comment on this, and he said “We have a standardization of our water meters , we use Badger meters as our water system, so we don’t have to go out to bid, what we’re doing is replenishing the supply with the supply and control, and ____ from homes.” Mr. Solberg then asked “and the Badger meters cannot be purchased from any other vendor? “ Mr, Whalen stated “No.”
2. Res. 19-11 and 19-03. “So, Lynette has gained double re-appointment? It doesn’t say that she’s chair, it just says that she’s board on both? On 19-03 it says she’s a board member, and on 19-11 it says that she’s on the board. (everyone scrambles to look at paperwork) She’s double affirmed?” The town attorney pointed out the answer that is on the front page.
3. “And I just want to confirm that did I forego my ability to speak at the public forum after on agenda items that are not on this?”

Tim replied that yes at the end of the meeting he could speak about other issues.
4. I sent an email to all of the town board members on 12/19 with regards to my request to be reaffirmed as an alternate on the Planning Board, so there are openings? “ Tim replied “yes, we’re going to be having interviews for those positions.”

Resolutions 19-03 passed unanimously. Approved Organizational Resolutions and Appointments for 2019. Discussion: Tim said the deputy supervisor will be Joe Whalen, the budget officer/financial administrator will be Jeannette Borthwick, the town committees will be:
• Councilman Curtiss: Buildings and Grounds
• Supervisor and Ms. Stewart: Personnel
• Stewart: Insurance
• Antoski: Library
• Town Board- Audit
• Stewart and Antoski: Parks
• Goslin and Supervisor: Sewer
• Supervisor, Whalen, Borthwick, Kaelin: Water
• Supervisor and Whalen: Collective Bargaining
• Curtiss: Farmland
• Curtiss, Goslin, Marusso: Planning/Zoning
• Beill Roner, TBD: Northern Sidewalk
• TBD: Southern Sidewalk
• TBD: Community Development
• TBD: Emergency Services
• Antoski: Ballston Lake Mgmt. Plan and Protection
• To be determined: IT
• Goslin,VanVorst,Lesniak: Debris
• Stewart,Goslin, Supv: Personnel Policy
• Dave Nuzzi, AJ Signs, Supervisor: Signs
• Supervisor and Joe Whalen are the only ones authorized to sign checks
• Joe Whalen is authorized to make purchases for water main breaks on his own and he will notify the water commissioners within 24 hours
• Holiday schedule, Christmas Eve is Tues. Dec. 24th
• CT Male will be the engineer for the town
• The Supervisor is authorized to make transfers between accounts in the budget

Res. 19-04 Approving 2019 nutrition contract and 2019 transportation contract with Office for Aging. Each is for $2167. Approved unanimously.

Res. 19-05 Approving 2019 junk yard licenses for William Davey (Round Lake Rd), Kyle Dieterle (Eastline Rd), and Mangino Buick GMC (Rt 50). Passed unan.

Res 19-06 Set a public hearing on amending the Katz PUDD proposed Local Law No. 1 of 2019 for Feb. 12 at 6:15pm. Passed unan.

Res 19-07 Approve Atty. Kaelin attend Assoc. of Towns Mtg. In NY City Feb. 17th for $435 plus reasonable costs. Passed unan.

Res. 19-08 Approve Mr. Curtiss to attend Assoc. of Towns Mtg, cost $125 registration, $598 for hotel plus reasonable expenses. Passed unan.

Res. 19-09 Purchase 100 Badger water meters for $35,091 to replenish supply, funds to be allocated from water fund. Passed unan.

Res. 19-10 Approve yearly contract with Command Security at $24/hr. Passed unan.

Res. 19-11 Reappoint Lynnette Ziskin to Jenkins Park Advisory Board for term 2019-2023. Passed unan.

Res. 191-2 Appoint Tom Mazza as member of Ethics Board for term 2019 – 2023. Discussion: there is another opening they will be interviewing for. Passed unan.

Res. 191-4 Approve to retain Financial Advisors & Marketing Inc in amount not to exceed $14,000 to advise on financial and bonding aspects for water meter replacement project. Passed unan. There was some discussion explaining what this company does.

Privilege of the Floor #2:

1. John Pugliese, 9 Sweet Rd. “I want to thank the board for acknowledging the tragic accident that happened on Eastline Rd. and some of the steps that you’re taking. But it’s this board that continues to approve large subdivisions on rural roads, you have a highway that’s just re-paved with permanent ______with no ______. In this day and age, how can that happen? I appreciate the steps you’re taking and can there be more done because it’s crazy that this is the only stretch of highway without a speed limit in the town of Ballston.”
2. Jeremy Male, 64 Middleline Rd: “I understand that on the agenda for next month is re-zoning requiring Senior Living Zoning and it’s going to come up for a vote, could you elaborate on that some, what does that entail?”
Supervisor replied “So our zoning that we’ve been actually been working on here for over a year , so it got approved by the County, so the majority of that will be implemented coming up in February, that is what we’re looking at.” Mr. Male replied “So that’ll come up for a vote by the town then? How does that work?”. Supervisor replied, “by the town board.” Mr. Male “so it went up for revisions already?”. Tim replied, “the revisions have been made, yup. this is based on public input, we already had public inputs on that.”

3. Kate Miller, 24 Wakeman Rd.: “we are simple folk who like wide open spaces and the wildlife that those wide open spaces have. I recently heard the sound of a bobcat which I’ve only seen once, we see deer, fox, although not as often as when Wakeman Road used to be a dirt road. “She went on “this is Ag land and it’s a rural community, the proposal by the Spinney group at 60 Middleline Rd. was on the agenda in November 2018, and when they pulled out, I’m assuming it was because they knew there were zoning changes that would cause problems and it wouldn’t go well. It was taken off the agenda and the public hearing was never officially opened. The postcards were mailed out as required, but I’m told that no new mailings will happen when it actually takes place. Maybe you thought that the public wouldn’t follow thru and would get tired of the delays, and that would lessen the number of people coming up to express their public disapproval, if you think that then you underestimate us for sure. We were led to believe initially that no one could petition Ag and Markets for an exception to this land until 2022. Somehow, and I put the responsibility on this town board, this project has been allowed and seems to be welcomed. It got into the process through a loophole called a PUDD, and then when they realized it would not pass because of the public, that the town has not had to work directly with them and others to assure success for their development. They don’t live here, and yet the town has sought consultation and worked with them in changing the zoning laws. How is that protecting the rural nature of our town? And how does that fit in with the Comprehensive Plan? Next, we were told that in the zoning laws, any new lots would have a minimum number of acres. And I saw those changes that obviously now are a done deal, that they took out the 3-acre lot minimum. That entire section was deleted. How is this in any way, shape or form in keeping with our rural nature? If you say you’re keeping lot size development of an existing home, what about the acreage? They’ve changed 5 lots to 12, that was an improvement but it’s certainly not in keeping with the size of the acreage on Wakeman Rd. The corner house has about 9 acres, we have about 3. I quote an article from the Fall of 2017 in the Southern Saratoga Magazine of the Daily Gazette where it says ‘He (meaning Morgan Ruthman) said it appears the plans for the city of Ballston Lake meet with the towns natural plans for this area of ____. These proposed single family lots will have individual septic systems, which will be built on this land that is marked as watershed district on the map, how can this be with keeping with the Comprehensive Plan? Any additional lots will be drilled wells which will be a detriment to the available water we have in our private wells. There are families on Middleline that have their wells run dry at times during the summer, and this will only make that problem worse. There should be no single family lots involved whatsoever in this planned retirement community. It completely changes the quiet nature of Wakeman Rd. and causes more traffic in an already busy ____. I thought the town board was tasked with protecting Ballston Lake proper, and our rural nature in general. As you consider projects that will be proposed, please, with all due respect, ___ more of a green zone and do not include ____. APPLAUSE.

4. Rita Fessoni, 22 Wakeman: “In 1954 my husband and I bought our 3 acres and built our home. We have lived here, paid our taxes for all of those years. I know there are groups who now want to come in change the area with new zoning rules and so forth , to facilitate the almighty dollar and that is not what America is about. We, the people who live here should have something to say about what happens to our community. These groups do not live here, we do.. “

5. Tom Vickerson, 31 Middleline Rd.: Wanted to know what the time line is for the Ballston Lake Sewer project.

Mr. Goslin answered that it will be built this year.

6. Delores Draina, Outlet Rd: Asked for an update on the speed limit reduction request for Outlet Rd.

Supervisor said he has not yet heard from the county.

7. Peter Solberg, Charlton Rd.: “So, it said that the zoning changes did go to a public hearing, and I would assume there were workshops”. Supervisor replied, “it was a very transparent process.” Peter continued “My recollection is that the TDR was included late last year. I reviewed all of the zoning changes and speckled throughout the entire document are references to the TDR and scratching out certain aspects. So, what I’m wondering is there a gap between when the TDR was approved and when it was sent to the county, because there was no public hearing after that. And so, someone definitely touched the zoning without a public hearing. There’s no change history on any of the documents so we have no idea when it was updated, who updated it, what was changed, what was added, what was removed, it just shows red lines with additions, indents, cross outs. So some of the things that I looked at, and I looked at it early last year…the senior living district….there is no public benefit clause at all in it and my understanding is, based off of the requirements that a minimum of 20 acres frontage has to be 400 feet…and it has to be in rural highway transit or in the rural area, which means that there’s only 8 lots that qualify (for a senior living district), and one of those is Spinney (Spinneys proposed senior living enclave). There’s no density clauses to either the PUDD or the Senior Living District, however the senior living district…most of it is in the watershed, which specifies that if you wanted higher densities, it would be required for TDR….but senior living district and PUDDs seem to be their own zoning law so you can make whatever density you want. Regarding Farmworker Housing: this has a lot of issues in it. I appreciate that farmworker housing was added, some things that are called out that don’t seem to be right: you can only have farmworker housing if you are in an AG district. We have active farms that are not in the Ag district and so they would not be eligible for farmworker housing. My understanding is that farmworker housing is based on the definition of a farmer farming, and not because they are in the Ag district. So that’s a bit confusing. The difference between a single-wide manufactured and double-wide manufactured stick or modular, there’s rules in there that seem very confusing, so I would hope that the board would try to make this a little more understanding. Also, the Comprehensive Plan calls out the north and south hamlets for Senior Living. As I recall, in 2005 they designated the north and south areas as being locations for senior living. However, the ____ senior living district is smack dab in the middle on Rt. 50, so it doesn’t align with the Comprehensive Plan. Also, the parkland protection and preservation plan is not called out in any of the senior living district or PUDDs as any alignment required, however in the zoning, the preamble states that the farmland protection plan should be included as a caveat to any zoning.”

8. Counselman Bill Goslin remarked:  “I’d like to state that the zoning started two years ago in January and the zoning at the time was a complete mess in the town in that the zoning never did match the Comprehensive Plan. So, what happened is that the Comprehensive Plan has changed. There were a lot of issues with the zoning. The new zoning was an attempt to align that with the Comprehensive Plan. With any zoning change you are going to find areas where you are going to need more work and we certainly have identified those as we move forward. The fact that we’re here two years later and we haven’t put any of those into effect will give you an idea of the complexity that we have, so we certainly appreciate the comments. I think when the zoning is passed it will not be perfect. And I will welcome anybody in this room who’d like to help with the next round of zoning. Now I suggested that in the Fall and everybody kind of looks at me like I got two heads because we haven’t passed the first one yet. But I think the idea is to look at the progress we made in that, and progress is certainly an opinion, and then continue to work on the things that are important to the residents of the town of Ballston. So, it’s not perfect, I think it’s better than what it was, but I think we need to do another round and I think some of the areas that you’re talking about…. the north hamlet, the south hamlet, Rt. 50 PUDD, all need to be addressed. I’m in favor of not 3-acre zoning, I’d vote 5-acre zoning. But that’s just me. “

Supervisor: “ We’ve made tremendous progress but there’s more work to do.

9. Collette Jasinski: “It was 3 years ago this coming March that we asked for a moratorium (on building). The answer was that after we got our zoning fixed, it would be done in a timely manner and I think it’s taken longer than we wanted it to.” She continued to talk about how there are septic systems that are alternatives which have 3 chambers and you end up with drinkable water, they don’t need to be the old septic tank with a leach field. It’s cheaper to have the people in Carpenters Acres put in a new alternative septic system than to help them pay for their sewer connection. “People move here for a reason, then somebody buys the 10-20 lot next to us and the suddenly the reason we moved here is no longer valid. They have the money to buy it and they have the right to sub-divide it? So where does that thinking come from and why is that fair? There has to be a way to balance between what has been there and what people have, we all have growth being shoved down our throats coming in from all around us, the growth shouldn’t just be about commercial building and houses. There are so many other ways to grow that have nothing to do with building buildings, and part of it is understanding that we’re part of a bigger world and we have a lot of other responsibilities.”