Public Hearing Minutes

Call to Order: 7:35PM. Pledge of Allegiance

Members Present: Mayor William Maley, Trustee Alan Higgins and Trustee Michael Trancredi

Also Present: Larry Gardner, Village Attorney, Charles Sweet, Superintendent of Highways, Kathleen M. Hilbert and the following members of The Town of Hunter Board: Daryl Legg, Anthony Coiro, Dolph Semenza, Sr., and Ray Legg

Public Present: William Simon, Esq., Jeff Prince, Paul Slutzky, Carl Giangrande, Harold Goldberg, Rob Corson, and Tom Larison.

Mayor Maley opened the public hearing regarding the annexation of three properties.

Privilege of the Floor:

William Simon – I would like to point out why it is in the best interest of both municipalities to approve this annexation. We have showed you contiguity to the Village and amended the petition to add a parcel of land that is actually owned by the Village and for which I do not believe you even have to have a public hearing to include that, so that there will be some consistency and not confusion with respect to the ownership of that parcel which is I believe a water tower which would also facilitate the delivery of water services to the proposed development. We have a 62.7 acre parcel of land which is highly desirable. It is adjacent to the ski area except for the fact that it does not have water. The Village has conditioned water approval on the annexation. Now on this property there is one house already under construction and I have seen the house. It has access to the ski slopes. It is going to be selling probably in the range of $900,000 to $1,100,000. It is the type of house that is a seasonal house. We have 62.7 acres which is going to ultimately be developed with similar type of housing which will result in a boom for both the Town and the Village as far as their tax rates and what is even more important is that these will be seasonal houses so that they are not going to impose any undue burden on any of the municipal services that are associated with full-time residents where they put people in school. Even if only ten new homes could go up, and I am not limiting it to ten, you can see the tremendous increase in the revenue for both the Town and the Village. Moreover, the parcel already has access, I believe, to the Highlands Pollution Control Plant under previous agreements that I was a party to so that it would not even be a burden on the New York City Sewer Plant which the Village controls which probably has plenty capacity anyway to deal with it if it had to, if that plant is ever abandoned. So I see this basically as a win-win. The Village, free of charge, gets its own piece of land brought back into the Village with a Village facility on it. We get tremendous increase in the rateables. You supply water which you presumably have or you would not have contracted with us to supply it and the Town gets the increase in assessments. So, I think that both Boards should approve it as in the best interest of the people of the Town of Hunter. Thank you.

Larry Gardner – The Town Board should also open this as a public hearing for the Town. Supervisor Daryl Legg – I make a motion to open this Public Hearing for the Town of Hunter. Anthony Coiro – I second the motion. Daryl Leg – All in favor state aye. Daryl Legg – Aye. Anthony Coiro – Aye, Dolph Semenza, Sr. – Aye, Raymond Legg – Aye.

Daryl Legg – One thing in which I am in disagreement with is that if they were full-time that would be good too as we actually need kids in our school.

Anthony Coiro – Asked for clarification of the tax map numbers. Attorney Simon explained that the road (Highlands Drive) has no tax map number. Attorney Gardner explained that this road does not have a tax map number by design – it is not an omission.

Mayor Maley – It is an appropriate time to bring the Town Board up to speed in that one of the problems of the Village when we acquired the water company from Hunter Water was that a lot of the parcels, meaning wells/water towers, etc. were not in The Village of Hunter. The problem happened that the School Board still charges us taxes and there is no way to get around that. Attorney Simon – There is a way to get around that but we would have to have an agreement in lieu of taxes. Mayor Maley – They refuse to do that. Attorney Simon – Now you will end up with a tax exemption. Mayor Maley – I see no issue whatsoever how this is absolutely not in the best interest of the developer, the Town, the School, the County and the Village.

Trustee Tancredi – Any future building would be subject to The Village of Hunter Zoning, Building Codes and Regulations. Anthony Coiro – Larry, does this house, currently under construction, fall under the Town of Hunter’s new site plan review or is that grandfathered in. Attorney Gardner – That will be irrelevant, as if this annexation is approved, it will be in The Village of Hunter.

Dolph Semenza – Jeff, does he have any idea how many homes he would like to see up there? Jeff Prince – Right now we are going to come back to The Village Planning Board and we are going to apply for a minor sub-division. Chazen Engineering is going to see what they come up with. As soon as that happens, we will let you know.

Paul Slutzky – At what point will The Village Board assign this to one of the existing zoning districts. Attorney Simon – The Village can refer it to the Planning Board for a report. The Planning Board would not have the jurisdiction to zone it but could be tasked to make a report as to their recommendation. During that review, if the Village took that route, we would come before the Planning Board probably with a site plan of some sort for you folks to review to see if you concurred with it or make recommendations. Attorney Gardner – This should probably happen as soon as possible. Trustee Higgins – I would also like to hear from the developers on what they would like to see regarding lot sizes, etc. Jeff Prince – We will have more information at the next meeting. Mayor Maley – You have to come up with the size of the lot you are going to give with that first house. I do not foresee that you will have any issue with the size of the individual lots and as Mr. Simon stated, they will most likely be bigger than we would ever require.

Trustee Tancredi – To segue in to the fire service, I have been having some conversations with the Town Supervisor, Daryl Legg, about increasing our allocations from the Town but projects like this obviously you can see there will be a need you know whatever the time frame whether it is a couple of years, five years, depending on absorption rates on new constructions projects and things like that. I just want to illustrate that while we are all here together we would love to have another meeting with you guys and discuss the fire company budget related to what the Town contributes. One of the reasons I mention it now, we had a major construction project years ago and I thought the developers had an obligation to take in terms of contributing to the fire service also. It was one of the impacts on the community. That is something to consider, moving forward. It is flushed out in the EAF, that is what the EAF was for. That was a substantial project of which we are still feeling some of the repercussions as it relates to our fire service. So, I think the point of that is Paul Slutzky, who is our Planning Board Chairman, I think did a great job in bringing all the involved parties to the table right at the beginning of the process which is the right way to do it whether it be DEP, DEC, Board of Health but I think the fire service should be part of that process. So, that would include the Town Board members.

Supervisor Dayrl Legg – Actually, once it is annexed into the Village, your Village taxes should take care of all of that because it is in the Village – not the outside district. Trustee Tancredi – I understand but we already have an existing need. We have not had an increase in our budget. I gave Bill the information and we read it over. You will also get a tax increase in your budget. But that is a conversation for another time.

Mayor Maley – Both Boards and the public have been afforded the opportunity to voice their opinion on this annexation. Thank you, Mr. Simon for your presentation and thank you Jeff for coming as a representative of the owner of the property. I would like to make a motion to adjourn the public hearing.

Adjournment:

A motion was made to adjourn the public hearing at 8:00PM on behalf of The Village of Hunter by Mayor Maley, seconded by Trustee Tancredi.

A motion was made to adjourn the public hearing on behalf of The Town of Hunter by Dolph Semenza, Sr., seconded by Anthony Coiro.

Transcribed by:
_____________________
Kathleen M. Hilbert
Clerk/Treasurer

16-03-14 public hearing tentative minutes