Village Board Meeting - February 27, 2006

Minutes of the Public Hearing and Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village/Town of Mt. Kisco held on Monday, February 27, 2006 at 7:15 p.m. in the Frank J. DiMicco Board Room, Village Hall, 104 Main Street, Mount Kisco, New York.

Present: Mayor J. Michael Cindrich

Trustee George L. Griffin, Jr.

Trustee Peter Grunthal

Trustee Anthony Markus

Also Present: James Palmer, Acting Village Manager/Clerk

Absent: Trustee Peter DiChiara

William Williams, Village Manager/Clerk

Whitney Singleton, Village Attorney

Mayor Cindrich opened the Public Hearing at 7:15 pm.

Public Hearing on a Proposed Local Law re: Storm Water Management.

Mayor Cindrich stated that this proposed local law was under the auspices and in agreement with a mandate from Department of Environmental Protection. Mayor Cindrich noted that copies of the affidavits attesting to the publication of the hearing were attached in the Village Board of Trustees agenda packages.

Jim Palmer, Acting Village Manager stated that pursuant to the requirements of the Clean Water Act through the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency and also through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation the Village is mandated to institute a Storm Water Management Program since we operate a municipal separate storm water sewer system. In 2003 the Village initiated a notice of intent to the Department of Environmental Conservation stating how we would fulfill the requirements of the Storm Water Management Plan. The 2003 notice of intent which was submitted to the State explained how the Village would fulfill six measures, a few of which included Public Education, Public Involvement, Elicit Discharge, Detection and Elimination and also pollution, prevention and good housekeeping measures. This law will address two other components of those six measurers and those are Construction Site Storm Water Runoff and Post Construction Storm Water Management. In beginning to have public hearings on this proposed local law it was one of the components of fulfilling our requirements as part of that Notice of Intent.

Mr. Jim Maxwell a Storm Water Consultant from Dolph Rotfeld's Office was introduced to the Board of Trustees.

Mayor Cindrich asked Mr. Maxwell to highlight the points of this proposed local law that will affect the community in both an environmentally conscious way and a financial way, if they are going to develop property or build homes.

Mr. Maxwell stated that the program was designed to ensure that a construction site during a rainy day has proper controls, soil and sediment erosion all of which will denigrate the water quality especially here in the Village of Mount Kisco. The other issue the Village has is that it is part of the New York City Water Supply Watershed. There are issues with phosphorus and other materials, the big concern it to keep the quality of water as pristine as possible because ultimately people use that as a drinking water supply. The program lays out step by step, what a contractor or what a developer is required to do with respect to how he is going to develop that construction site. There is also an element of the program that provides for enforcement on the part of the Village of Mount Kisco (the Building Official). The other element is that the Village is allowed to recover its costs with respect to putting this program together. When a contractor or developer comes in and they are required to put together a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan the Village can put together a schedule of fees designed to cover the Village's costs.

Mayor Cindrich asked how this was different from a SPDES permit.

Mr. Maxwell replied that it is a type of SPDES permit, there are two permits currently out there one has to do with construction, which we are talking about now. The other type of SPDES permit is the one that the Village was issued back in 2003 which covers the six measurers that Mr. Palmer just spoke about. It is a type of permit, currently the permits are regulated by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, but once the Village adopts this legislation the responsibility passes over to the Village.

Mayor Cindrich asked what types of properties this proposed legislation would affect?

Mr. Maxwell replied that currently the properties to be effected by this are one acre or larger, however the New York City Water Supply has some other proposed regulations which may take the size of the property down as low as 5,000 sq. ft. I believe it has been proposed and defined, but I'm not sure where it stands as far as having legislation passed for that purpose by the City of New York.

Mayor Cindrich asked if this was a Federal mandate.

Mr. Maxwell replied yes, this is a Federal mandate from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and they passed along responsibility to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, who in turn requires all the municipalities in the State, which is approximately 400 municipalities, to comply with this mandate.

Mayor Cindrich asked if in the future under New York City and with the DEP will the legislature be more restrictive.

Mr. Maxwell replied yes, right now the way the ordinance reads from the DEC perspective it's a parcel larger than one acre, however, the City of New York in conjunction with the DEC may require that size of property to come down to 5,000 square ft.

Trustee Markus asked once this proposed local legislature was adopted was the issue of enforcement or control of Storm Water Management still under the guise of the DEC or DEP?

Mr. Maxwell replied that they could conceivably still become involved (looking over your shoulder type of thing), if it's a real large project near watershed property they would have some sort of involvement. But essentially the average parcel of property that is going to be developed the one acre, two acres or three acres the oversight is going to be by the Village.

Mayor Cindrich asked if the one acre was not land disturbance but the land in totality.

Mr. Maxwell replied that was correct. Even if you were only disturbing a piece of that property you would still be required to take out the permit.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. asked if the DEP Regulations supersede the local regulations.

Mr. Maxwell replied that he was not quite sure how that was going to work yet. It's still in the development stages.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that the Village is in the Main Street District of the DEP and they over see a majority of our development as far as storm water and storm water retention goes. He felt the DEP Regulations would supersede local regulations.

Trustee Griffin Jr. asked if this in any way would impede the Village in improving upon or adding to its current storm water collection systems.

Mr. Maxwell replied no, you could build on to your system it's not going to be any hindrance. But keep in mind when you add on to the system normally you do it as part of the development project and again the over site on that project will play into the role that the Village does in with respect to increasing their conveyance system.

Trustee Markus asked what would happen if the DEP or the DEC institutes a more stringent requirement and the Village was to pass the law in its present form, would we be in compliance or would we have to amend our law.

Mr. Maxwell replied that the Village of Mount Kisco would have to amend their law.

Mayor Cindrich stated that there are soils in the Village that just aren't conducive for percolation of the storm water run off in a number of areas. In those areas where runoff travels across a piece of property then eventually into the street into the storm water drains. Should the Village be encouraging those particular home owners to channel that water into the storm water drains i.e. curtain drains. The continuous flow of water creates icing conditions in the winter and flooding during heavy rains.

Mr. Maxwell stated that the Village of Mount Kisco has a lot of clay in its soil which creates a lot of run off. There are simple things residents can do to help mitigate some of that run off that comes off roofs and driveways and then out into the street. Residents need to be educated.

Trustee Grunthal stated that the Village is mandated to pass legislation of this type with certain standards in it. So that anybody who wishes to develop any property within Mount Kisco will have to pay attention to two sets of rules. The set of rules the Village passes and the set of rules that are currently in place under DEP legislation. So we have here an even greater burden than there is already on developers for doing what they want to do. I fully feel that it is necessary to take care of storm water we should do so efficiently and not inefficiently. Is there someway that we can pass legislation in which it is perhaps consolidated so that the rules we put in place are consistent with the standards that are required of us and also consistent with the DEP so that only one set of rules have to be followed.

Mr. Maxwell agreed. He thought that the issue was being discussed right now with the DEP.

Trustee Grunthal asked if the Village should hold off on passing legislation until some kind of consolidated set of rules is available.

Mr. Maxwell stated that there was a meeting scheduled for Friday, March 10, 2006 with the DEP and the DEC on this issue. Assistant Village Manager James Palmer will be attending the meeting. Perhaps this will be a good time to discuss with them this exact issue. Many communities are also in their third year of their storm water program and are trying to get legislation passed. Hopefully the DEP and the DEC legislation can come together so that builders and developers don't have to have two separate pieces of papers to look at when they come in for their plans.

Trustee Grunthal added as well as our Planning Board, our Consultants and Officials.

Mr. Maxwell replied that it creates quite a burden on all the volunteer boards as far as having to be familiar with these two separate pieces of legislation. If these could be consolidated into one piece of legislation it would go a long way in making things a lot easier.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. asked if the Village of Mount Kisco's proposed law has been forwarded to DEP for comment.

Mr. Maxwell stated that this proposed local law was actually a model ordinance. This ordinance was down loaded from the New York State DEC web site. It was done this way in order to have some continuity throughout all municipalities. Instead of each municipality having to pull apart its existing ordinance they simply pass this legislation, it supersedes any previous legislation and it is consistent from community to community.

Mr. Maxwell stated that the way the proposed legislation reads from the DEC is if you pass this ordinance the way it is you meet the minimum standards for the storm water act.

Trustee Markus stated but that did not include the DEP.

Mr. Maxwell stated that both the DEP and DEC are working together to put the programs together and make the few changes that would be necessary to satisfy both agencies. (one acre down to 5,000 sq. ft. and the other issue of mapping of storm water out falls and catch basins).

Trustee Markus stated that generally this legislation has been drafted and composed in a manner essentially to comply with DEC and DEP. Now the question is to see if there can be further changes made because there maybe some minor changes so that there can be one document that builders and developers can look at.

Mr. Maxwell stated that the model local law for Storm Water Management and Erosion & Sediment Control if the Village of Mount Kisco adopts it you are meeting the minimum DEC requirements. The DEP issues still have not been hammered out and cast in stone.

Mayor Cindrich stated that this model local law is going to be incorporated into the regulations of communities that are not under the auspices of the DEP. Mount Kisco has a unique situation where we are entirely in the watershed area. There are communities that have no relationship with the DEP at all and they may have already adopted this.

Trustee Markus stated that as a practical matter those communities may not have drafted this model law to comply with DEP requirements because there are many communities that are not in the watershed area.

Mayor Cindrich stated that this legislation should have a relationship with DEP regulations, however we maybe concerned with over regulations. Some of the rules and regulations are cumbersome and virtually impossible to enforce on property already developed.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. agreed that our local law should conform more closely to DEP. If not it will create a dual standard. Conforming to DEP regulations will make it much easier for developers, the Planning Board and the Building Inspector.

Mayor Cindrich stated that if the DEP reduces their thresh hold of compliance then their regulations would supersede almost every activity in the Village.

Mr. Maxwell stated that that was correct, if they actually reduce it then anything that is in place now would have been superseded.

Mr. Stanley Bernstein (120 Parkview Place) resident and Planning Board Member stated that the two acre threshold of disturbance is only used for the DEP Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan and thing else they still have jurisdiction as to how the water flows.

James Palmer, Acting Village Manager stated that his initial recommendation would be that the Village continues to keep the public hearing open and hopefully by the March 10^th meeting we will have a better indication of where these changes maybe going. Also at the same token by having the public hearings it shows that we are making progress towards meeting the requirements of the Notice of Intent.

Mayor Cindrich didn't think a decision would be made at the March 10^th, however there maybe an understanding of the direction that the DEP is going. There may not be new regulations from the DEP for quite some time.

Trustee Grunthal stated that two models are needed. A model for municipalities that are not subject to the DEP because they are outside of the NYCDEP jurisdiction, in which case this model might be just fine. The other model is needed for those jurisdictions which are in the watershed areas and subjected to the DEC and simultaneously subjected to the DEP and for those we need a model which takes into account the most stringent of those sets of regulations so that one model suffices. Is somebody working in the direction of coming up with the second model?

Mr. Maxwell replied that he didn't know if they were working on a second model. They are looking at consolidating the existing DEC regulations with the DEP requirements into one model legislation document.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. asked what other municipalities have adopted this local legislation.

Mr. Maxwell replied that he thought Ardsley was holding public hearings but that he would have to check and get back to Jim with the information.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he would like to keep the public hearing open for 30 days for written comments. The proposed legislation should be posted on the Village's website.

The following motion was offered by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Markus to keep the public hearing open for 30 days for written comments, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

REGULAR MEETING

Mayor Cindrich opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and asked everyone to please reflect on why we are here and asked for guidance in the decisions that we make this evening will benefit all the people of Mount Kisco. He also asked that we remember two senior citizens that we lost in the past few weeks. Paul Gatto, a WWII Veteran, a member of the American Legion and Fire Police. We should also remember Grace Ford who was the mother of Donald Ford who is the County Commander of the American Legion.

1) Communications:

A. Letter from New York State Legislature re: Town Forum on March 18, 2006.

Mayor Cindrich announced that Senator Vincent Leibell and Assemblyman Adam Bradley will be hosting a town forum at Village Hall on Saturday, March 18, 2006 from 12:30 pm until 2:00 pm. This forum is an excellent opportunity for residents to discuss any issues of concern with their State Legislators.

2) Petitions: None.

3) Board, Committee and Commission Reports: None.

4) Village Manager's Reports -

A. Level of Byram Lake

Mr. Palmer, Acting Village Manager advised that the level of Byram Lake is at 100.6%.

B. Landlord Registry - 2006 Update.

Mr. Palmer, Acting Village Manager gave an update on the Landlord Registry Inspections. The Building Inspector has completed numerous inspections to date and a total of 389 renewal notices have been sent out to property owners, 25 buildings have been inspected along with 71 dwelling units. A few violations have been noted. Mr. Palmer asked that property owners that do own rental dwelling units to submit their renewal applications immediately. Appearance tickets will be issued to those owners that have not recertified their information.

C. Westchester County Bridge Construction Update.

Mr. Palmer, Acting Village Manager stated that the County contractor for the bridge on Lexington Avenue is about to commence. He was out at the site today and he did ask that they improve some of the stripping as well as crosswalks around the site for pedestrian access. They should begin cutting the bridge in the next couple of weeks and be done with one side within about a month and a half, and then will in turn close off the other pedestrian access and rotate the traffic.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that he was at the job site meeting the other day and he felt that they might not be able to maintain the two lane for traffic flow.

Trustee Markus asked if there was going to be traffic flow through out the construction process.

Mr. Palmer replied yes, that was correct. The traffic would be flowing in both directions the easterly side first and then the westerly side.

F. Resolution Scheduling an Executive Session

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. scheduling an Executive Session immediately following this evenings Regular Meeting to discuss pending litigation, personnel and real estate matters, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

5) Mayor's Reports

Trustee Markus had no report at this time.

Trustee Grunthal had no report at this time.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that he has been in tune with the progress of the Green Street Bridge Replacement. The bridge is in and they are back filling. The tentative completion date of March 10^th probably will happen. What's left to do is some back filling, paving and a little retaining wall under the bridge.

Mayor Cindrich reported that he has meet on numerous occasions with Dolph Rotfeld our Consulting Engineer. The Village has submitted an application to use some of the East of Hudson Funds to expand the capacity of the sewer pump station. The first indication was that our application was rejected; our Consulting Engineer is attempting an appeal. Anyone that is interested in tying into the municipal sewer system and has a septic system we can do it if we get a number of people in your geographical area involved and you are willing to expend certain funds out of your own pocket for the lateral to the street. Please contact us for further information.

Mayor Cindrich reported that on March 10^th there will be a Homeland Security meeting concerning the eligibility for grants for disaster relief plans. Mayor Cindrich noted that there were also other grants available from the Governors Office i.e. the Aquatic Evasive Species Ratification Program. We are in dire need of this and if need be a consultant should be hired to put this application in it would be worth our while. Mayor Cindrich noted that there was also another grant application available for child safety seats through Buckle up New York grant monies. He asked Mr. Palmer to review the information and to forward it to the appropriate person in the Police Department.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he has been meeting with a member of the County Board on the Day Labor's Issue. They visited Neighbor's Link on Columbus Avenue and he felt that the sign which was on Columbus and Lexington Avenue needed to be relocated to the westerly side of the street and he also want to come up with a design to make it a two faced design. He also wanted a portable sign installed at Kirby Plaza noting that the area was not a hiring site. In dealing and speaking with representatives of other communities we are extremely fortunate that we have Neighbor's Link. Neighbor's Link is the designated hiring site for the Village and it does work at the present time. If you are a contractor or homeowner, please go to Neighbor's Link and use that facility as a hiring site it will benefit each and every one of us.

Mayor Cindrich stated that the Village has received a number of requests from people that do not actually live in Mount Kisco, but utilize our services or resources. For a number of years there has been an eligible non-resident for the Recreation Department. The people utilizing these facilities live in other communities (Bedford and New Castle) and have paid a significantly higher fee. He didn't know of another alternative, we can't do it as a gift, the Village is not annexing property into the Village, and you do not pay taxes to the Village of Mount Kisco. Unfortunately, we do not have a shared service agreement with any other municipality that we could reduce those fees. It's a fact of life if you don't live in a municipality you are going to have to pay more unless there is an agreement in place and there is reciprocity. If Mount Kisco is giving something to other community residents then we should be getting something of equal or more value back, and that has never been the case, we are the providers for a number of other communities. For us to stay a float and give our tax papers certain relief where we do provide services outside the Village we have to charge more for those services.

Mayor Cindrich noted that he attended the Grand Opening of Maggie Moo's, a new ice cream emporium on Main Street. It's encouraging to see small businesses like that opening in the Village.

6) Old Business - None.

7) New Business

A. Resolution authorizing the addendum #2 to the 2005 SPCA Contract regarding the shelter procedures concerning feral cats.

The Board asked for clarification of the Trap-Neuter-Return Policy.

The following motion was offered by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Grunthal authorizing the Village Manager to sign the addendum #2 to the 2005 SPCA Contract regarding the shelter procedures concerning feral cats, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

B. Resolution authorizing the Tax Certiorari Settlement in the matter of Haddad vs. Mount Kisco.

The following motion was offered by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the Tax Certiorari Settlement in the matter of Dr. Joseph E. Haddad vs. The Village and Town of Mount Kisco.

Whereas, petitions having been filed by the property owner below, challenging real property tax assessments on the Village and Town assessment rolls with respect to the following parcels:

Property Owner: Address Description Years (s)

Dr. Joseph E. Haddad

n/k/a Gwen Sherman Section 80.64, Block 1 lot 5 2003 Village

2004 Village

2005 Village

Whereas, Petitioner's court challenge is now in the Supreme Court, Westchester County, and

Whereas, the Village and the property owner have reached a mutually agreeable resolution:

Now Therefore Be It Resolved, the Office of the Village Attorney, or the Office of the Village Prosecutor, is authorized to execute a settlement on behalf of the Village and Town for assessments for no less than the following:

Village Proceedings: Lot 5

Proposed Settlement

Assessment Year: Original Assessment: Assessment Reduction:

2003 $100,000 $85,000 $15,000

2004 $100,000 $80,000 $20,000

2005 $100,000 $75,000 $25,000

The Village of Mount Kisco's share of the refund is $4,106.00.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

8) Bills -

Mayor Cindrich had a question regarding the Chamber of Commerce request to purchase Holiday decorations. He noted that at this time the Village could not afford to assist the Chamber of Commerce with its request to purchase decorations. The Village would prefer a more cost effective solution for decorating Village streets, such as purchasing decorations that do not require hiring a licensed electrician and bucket truck to install. The Village is agreeable to work with the Chamber in exploring this option.

Mayor Cindrich noted that there was also a request from the Highway Department to purchase a new vehicle.

Thomas Warren, Treasurer stated that he spoke with the Village Manager about this request and since we are working on next year's budget it wouldn't make any sense to address that issue now, we would rather that request be put into next years budget.

Trustee Grunthal agreed that the Board should look at the whole fleet and look at the total needs rather than the expenditure of something that wasn't spent last year.

Trustee Markus asked where the thirty (30) new parking meters were going.

Thomas Warren, Treasurer replied that the meters were going to be installed throughout the Village at different locations where meters needed to be replaced.

Mayor Cindrich stated that there was another issue with the collection of money from parking meters. Mayor Cindrich asked that Treasurer Thomas Warren be included in tonight's Executive Session to help develop a plan for the maintenance and collection of the receipts of the meters.

Resolution to Approve Bills

The following motion was offered by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee Grunthal to pay the bills.

General Fund $185,861.64

General Fund Claims $163,210.57

Water Fund Claims 15,770.91

Sewer Fund Claims 5,784.86

Library Fund Claims 1,095.30

Senior Nutrition Program 2,183.54

Water and Sewer Fund 87,130.54

Water Fund Claims 71,976.52

Sewer Fund Claims 15,154.02

Library Fund 4,473.14

Capital Projects Fund 89,178.42

Trust in Agency Fund 5,642.21

____________

TOTAL $374,469.49

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

9) Approval of Minutes -

Motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee Markus hereby approving the Regular Meeting Minutes of February 27, 2006, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

10) Non-Local Business - None.

11) Public Comment - None.

There being no further business to come before the Board a motion to close the meeting was made by Trustee Griffin, Jr. and seconded by Trustee Markus, all in favor.

8:30 pm.

______________________________________

James Palmer, Acting Village Manager and Clerk

Public Hearing - Storm Water Management and

Regular Village Board Meeting 2/27/06 4.

Created by pmaiorano. Last modified 2006-03-14 12:25:13.