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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Shawangunk creates B & B laws
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when a local businessman came to the town with a plan
to create an inn on his property. Shawangunk embraced
the idea as a way to promote tourism in the town. “We’re
working on a lot of zoning updates, because we have outdated zoning, so to speak,” Supervisor John Valk said.
“This is just the beginning of some changes we’re working on. We do have a gentleman who wants to convert
Corey’s Greenhouses into a bed and breakfast. They’re
going to refurbish the existing buildings. It was an interesting project, so the law was kind of crafted to allow
that to happen. When we were looking at it, we thought it
would be nice for all parts of the town, too.”
The Planning Board has yet to make its recommendation to the town regarding the proposed law, so it won’t
be adopted until April at the earliest. The town wants
to make sure that the larger lodgings don’t disrupt the
character of the community, so the law states that the
Bed and Breakfast-Inn establishments must be “compatible and consistent with the appearance of the residences
in its immediate neighborhood.”
Local government workers need to feel safe when
they’re on the job, which is why the New York State
Department of Labor mandates that workplace violence
training must be completed by all public departments.
By May 1st, the town must devise and conduct short
workplace violence sessions on how to avoid physical
confrontations with fellow employees or members of the
public. “All businesses and municipalities are required
to do it,” Valk said. “It’s been in effect for eight or nine
years.” The training is also meant to protect employees
who work alone or in small numbers, so that they don’t
find themselves in a compromised situation.
At the March 3rd meeting, Valk also said that the
town will be applying for state grants to make the workplace more secure, potentially including security cameras to protect the court clerk. “We can apply for grant
money to make the workplace safer,” Valk said. “It has to
be a minimum of $1,000 in work, which won’t be hard to
do, with cameras and things like that. It’s a good avenue
to explore to make the tax dollars go further.” The board
also reviewed a lengthy list of improvements that need to
be made to various town properties. Valk noted that not
all of the repairs or additions will be completed this year,
but the town intends to get to all of them in due time. The
to-do list includes a new roof and security cameras at the
highway garage, new push-bar doors at the police station
and new mulch at Garrison Park.
Bridgework to close portion of Route 52
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and the detour will be put into effect in early May. The
NYSDOT plans to reopen Route 52 by early November.
The NYSDOT will be holding a presentation on the
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project as well as a question and answer session on
Thursday, March 17 at 6 p.m. at the Montgomery Town
Hall, located at 110 Bracken Road. Those who attend will
have the opportunity to speak with representatives of the
contractor and the NYSDOT.
Security cameras for Benedict Farm Park
Over the last few years, the town of Montgomery has
invested thousands of dollars in the Benedict Farm Park,
both tax dollars and donations. During the town board
meeting last week, Supervisor Hayes reminded the board
that criminal activity at the park had prompted them to
consider installing security cameras and Councilwoman
Cindy Voss had been researching the matter for the last
few weeks.
Following Voss’ recommendation, the board agreed
to purchase a system which entails night vision cameras
that will both reco ɐ