Vol. 36, No. 45 3 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
3
ONE DOLLAR
the great war
A Salute to Veterans
w w w .W a l l k i l l V a l l e y T i m e s . n e t
Montgomery solar project developers seek relief
By LAURA FITZGERALD
[email protected]
Several residents and solar company representatives
expressed concern and support for a six-month proposed
moratorium on solar projects in the town of Montgomery
at a public hearing on Nov. 1.
Farmhood
Fields faces
another
public
hearing
The proposed law would ban all permitting,
construction and installation of commercial solar power
generating facilities in residential districts within the
town without the approval of the town board, which
approval won’t be considered without proven hardship.
The law will also prevent the acceptance of any
application or grant any approval to any document that
includes the permitting, construction or installation of
solar facilities in residential districts.
Planning Board Secretary Suzanne Hadden said there
are currently three solar projects pending before the
planning board, two that have been approved and one
Continued on page 4
Shawangunk’s
fund balance
grows
S ection 9 C hampions
By TED REMSNYDER
By LAURA FITZGERALD
[email protected]
The Crawford Planning Board held a
public hearing on Oct. 29 for the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
and preliminary subdivision plot of
Farmhood Fields, where several residents
and members of the town board weighed
in on the project.
The approximately 600-acre agricultural
community would incorporate farmland
and forest with 31 single-family homes on
2.5 acre lots. Members of the community
would buy into the farm, selling
agricultural products off-site.
The project is bounded by Crans Mills
Road, NYS Route 302 and County Road 48.
Continued on page 5
Bond Brungard
Members of the Pine Bush Varsity Volleyball Team celebrate after a victory over Kingston in
the Section 9, Class AA finals last weekend. Story on page 44.
The Shawangunk Town Board adopted
a preliminary 2019 budget at its meeting
on Nov. 1 that includes a total tax levy
of $3,986,706 for all town funds while
remaining within the state-mandated
two percent tax cap. The budget came in
at exactly the two percent limit, which
amounts to $94,669 in additional taxes
collected townwide for all funds.
Those additional taxes will be utilized
to fund the Highway Department ($61,054),
the general fund ($21,152), Walker Valley
Fire Department ($7,960), sidewalks
($2,299) and Wallkill Ambulance ($1,614).
When designing the 2019 spending plan,
the council made a point of staying within
the tax cap. “It’s a goal that this board
has set - we’ve never overridden the
cap,” Shawangunk Supervisor John Valk
said. “Also, the municipalities that stay
within the tax cap, the state refunds the
difference of the increase to the property
owners. So we can go up to two percent
and it gets refunded back to the residents
Continued on page 19
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL