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Southern Ulster Times, Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Highland moves forward with Capital Projects
By STACIA DONALDSON
After receiving all the necessary approvals, the
Highland Central School District is moving forward with
its Capital Budget Projects.
District voters approved the $8 million dollar project
plan back in 2018. Numerous large projects are scheduled
for all three Highland Central Schools. All Highland
schools will receive upgrades to their exterior and
interior lightings with the installation of energy efficient
LED lighting.
Starting in Fall of 2020, Highland students will be
welcomed to Highland High School by a newly designed
entrance, parking area and sign. Changes to the current
bus loop will provide a safer path for students entering
the high school. Also at Highland High School, the library
will receive a new roof and skylights. Additionally, an
all-terrain practice area will be installed on the site of
the tennis courts. At Highland Elementary, upgrades to
the HVAC system will allow more fresh air to enter the
building, and provide more even heating.
The posting of all bids related to Capital Budget
projects will take place in November. Superintendent
Bongiovi hopes to collect all interested bids by December,
with the winning bids awarded in January 2020. After the
bidding process is complete, the district will evaluate any
remaining funds that can be put towards the completion
alternate projects in the district.
All Capital Budget projects that will not disrupt the
day-to-day operations of the schools will begin in May
2020.
Donation Received for 3D Printers
Thanks to the generous donation of $50,000 from
State Assemblyman Jonathan G. Jacobson, Highland
students will soon be exploring the wonders of 3D
printing. Highland will use the monetary gift to create 3D
printing stations for its STEM classrooms throughout the
district. STEM educators have already started training
so that these printers, allowing for 3D printing to be
added to lesson plans promptly. Superintendent Thomas
Bongiovi publicly thanked Assemblyman Jacobson for
his generous donation and for his continued support of
the Highland Central School District.
Budget Season Starts in Three Months
It’s never too early to start planning for the 2020/21
school budget. The Budget Development Calendar
was presented to the Board of Education, outlining
the important dates and deadlines in the upcoming
school budget process. The first presentation on budget
development will take place at the January 14 2020
Highland Central School District Board of Education
meeting. The 2020/21 school budget vote will take place
on May 19, 2020. A copy of the Budget Development
Calendar can be found on the district website.
The next meeting of the Highland Central School
District Board of Education will take place on October 15,
2019. This meeting will take place at Highland Elementary
School to accommodate the Board of Education district
tour. The regular Board of Education meeting will start
at 7 p.m.
Lloyd Town Board debates a moratorium
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
Macks Lane resident Gordon Hamilton
reminded the Town Board last week that
a petition was submitted to the Planning
and Town Boards from approximately 50
residents in his area, highlighting the fact
that 6 large development projects have
been proposed in their small area in the
southern side of town.
“There is going to be an impact on the
quality of life, natural noise barriers are
being removed, light pollution is going to
increase and traffic is going to become
complicated,” he said. “We are seeing a
degree of sprawl that is going to change
the character of this town.”
Hamilton said these projects should
be looked at, “as a grouping; essentially
being pecked to death by doves is not
necessary better than getting mauled
to death by a bear and this is what’s
happening at this point.”
Hamilton suggested that the Town
Board pass a moratorium, “until such
times as it can be determined what are the
environmental effects, the quality of life
effects, the transportation effects upon
the town and what has to be done in order
to keep this under control.”
Councilman Joe Mazzetti said he
supports smart growth development but
is concerned that by 2025, according to a
recent engineering study, the town will
have to put a second shift on at the Water
Department to meet the rising demand,
more roads will need to be maintained,
paved and plowed in winter and there
will be pressure to hire more police and
dispatchers.
“I believe we need to do something
because as we progress forward and these
plans keep moving...and we keep waiting,
our whole landscape and infrastructure is
going to change and there will be a huge
tax burden upon the taxpayers,” he said.
“We as a board need to be responsible
to our residents and somehow slow this
down or stop it until we can really decide
what way to go. I support a moratorium
if we can get the numbers (board votes)
together.”
Councilwoman Claire Winslow said
she is holding back on approving a
moratorium until she has all of the facts.
She wants the Planning Board to evaluate
if a moratorium is needed.
“I’m very nervous about it and I don’t
want to do anything that’s going to make
this town look ridiculous in years to
come and I certainly don’t want to hurt
neighbors,” she said. “We think about it
and we’re trying to come up with a plan
that will slow things down.”
Councilman Mike Guerriero said traffic
is the first thing that must be addressed in
the southern section of town. He favors
a moratorium to allow time for a proper
traffic study to be conducted.
“It’s going to be a nightmare if it’s not
done properly,” he said. “You can’t just
put one project in and then put another
one. I think they all have got to find a
way to get everybody together and make
that whole thing work instead of Mickey-
Mousing it.”
Supervisor Paul Hansut acknowledged
that the Town Board has the authority to
put a moratorium in place but believes the
matter has remained undecided because
of politics.
“These things should have been looked
at two years ago and decisions should
have been made,” he said. “It takes a
majority of the Town Board to make a
moratorium; it doesn’t take five, it takes
three. So if the moratorium is what we
wanted to do or that was the vision that
was in the political conversations over
the last four years, then it should have
been done.”
Hansut noted that some members of the
Town Board criticized other boards about
how “out of control” development was in
town. He urged his fellow board members
who favor a moratorium to to take the
initiative to have a legal resolution drawn
up, “and move forward, that’s my opinion.
I am not in favor of doing a moratorium
without a vision moving forward; if
you’re going to do it, do it the proper way
and have a plan of action coming to the
end.”
Councilman Lenny Auchmoody said
the Department of Transportation is in
charge of doing a traffic study, “a decision
that is not ours to make.” He believes
that the Planning Board and the Building
Department have the expertise needed to
evaluate these projects and that the Town
Board should listen to them.
“Right at this moment I don’t see a
moratorium but if those guys can
convince me that that’s the thing to do,
then I will follow their lead,” he said.
Attorney Sean Murphy said none of the
recent development projects have “vested
rights” since they are only in the proposal
stage, so a moratorium can be put in place
by the Town Board.
Murphy said the process for a
moratorium would be to have him develop
a resolution ready at the next Town
Board meeting on September 16, with a
public hearing then set for November. He
asked whether the moratorium would be
town-wide or limited in scope to certain
areas of town, a distinction that was left
undecided.
Mazzetti said a moratorium would
allow time for the town to review and
clarify density issues, maximum
height allowed for buildings, perhaps
increase setback buffer zones when a
development is infringing upon a
residential neighborhood and also study
traffic patterns. He asked Fred Pizzuto,
Chairman of the Planning Board, to
discuss this issue with his members. He
responded that the Planning Board does
not legislate but deals with the details of
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