Workshop Minutes

Beacon City Council

April 25, 2005

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Clara Lou Gould.

Those in attendance were:

Mayor Clara Lou Gould

City Administrator, Joseph Braun

City Attorney, Gerard Pisanelli

David Stolman, AICP, PP President Frederick P. Clark Associates, Inc.

Tim Dexter (In spectator seats)

Council Members:

Deanna Leake

Eleanor Thompson

Sam Way

Lee Kyriacou

Michael Fasano

Parking Requirements – Proposed Local Law Amending Chapter 223 – Zoning of the City of Beacon Code with Respect to New Uses and Parking Standards and Regulations therefore. (See attached correspondence dated 4/18 from J. VanTul.) Tabled at the April 18, 2005 Council Meeting.

Dave Stolman: Council Member Fasano and I had a meeting this afternoon in the conference room at Dia and in attendance were Jennifer Van Tuyl, Sara Pasti, some of the BACA people and others. We discussed parking and think we were able to resolve certain issues and clarify certain things. We talked about the definitions as well as the parking in this proposed law. In looking over this, I was horrified to find that I made an error in the proposed parking requirements for restaurants. Although you defended me fiercely at the Council Meeting, I did make an error. The current parking for restaurants should be one space for three patrons (not one patron for one space) or one space for each 150 square feet of flooring or whichever is greater. I think it is fine to leave it that way. We are going to do a new comprehensive plan and one of the things that I think we are going to be studying fairly early on is parking on Main Street. The zoning that is permitted on Main Street should be reviewed and fine tuned.

Tim Dexter: Whenever we did calculations for restaurants, we never did calculations based on square footage of floor space. The restaurant owner needs to put as many seats as he can in the restaurant.

Mayor Clara Lou Gould: Something that should be considered is that there are a number of people who come by train and do not drive. I can only remember once a year when parking was tight. Other than that, there is plenty of parking.

Dave Stolman: We are going to work with the city on this new comprehensive plan. One of the things that are very important is to analyze the zoning, study the potential development that would be permitted under existing zoning and keeping an inventory of the current parking, We are trying to get new definitions for new uses. We should think about shared parking for different uses along Main Street. We really need a master plan for parking on Main Street.

Council Member Kyriacou: Why can’t we use more general definitions such as eating places rather than these involved definitions?

Dave Stolman: If the definitions are too vague, sometimes it causes problems if I have to go to court. One thing we should consider is to add an establishment when needed.

Tim Dexter: I would not be against doing something that Council Member Kyriacou is suggesting. Years ago, we had different parking requirements. If we had definitions that are easy to understand, I would have no objection to that. There is a huge difference between a restaurant that serves food and one that does not. Example: One developer talked to me about a rock and roll museum then he said something about a church. He only wanted to see what he would be allowed to do. Is it a museum or a church? There are things that are not allowed in certain spaces.

Council Member Kyriacou: I would encourage you to think this through now that you are doing a new master plan. Unless you rename a restaurant when it starts having music at night, you haven’t solved that problem. The way that it is written now, if something is not named, is it not allowed? I am not saying that you are going the wrong way but I am just saying that it should be structured so you do not have a problem in the future.

Dave Stolman: This is a conventional way of doing this. Once it was explained to the people who have objections who were at the meeting, they were satisfied. I do not think these definitions are over-complicated.

Council Member Fasano: How do you work a bar? You go in and have a drink and listen to music until all hours of the night.

Council Member Way: We went through several summers when the people on Mead Avenue were bringing in bands and playing until one o’clock in the morning.

Council Member Thompson: When you go out to dinner and they may have a show later in the evening, does that mean that the restaurant is going to close everything down while the show is going on. When I think of a bar, I think of music. For some reason, I don’t feel comfortable with these definitions. What is the difference between a bar and a nightclub?

Dave Stolman: We want to try to resolve this whole thing We don’t have Cabaret on the table right now. It is a little hard to resolve the music aspect at this time. I am hoping that we can resolve the issue The definition of cabaret has other uses such as Jazz Club, Night Club – other names for similar things. I am hoping that we can resolve the issue that came up at the public hearing last week.

Council Member Way: What you are looking for is to resolve the concerns from the public hearing last week? Is that what you are looking for from the Council - to go forward with these definitions then address the music aspect after? The answer was “yes”.

Tim Dexter: If someone wants to put in a business that requires a lot of parking, they have to go to the zoning board to get relief. Most likely for additional parking you have to go to the Zoning board of appeals.

Council Member Fasano: So can we go on with the definitions now so you have something to work with? The answer was “yes”.

Dave Stolman: If the use comes up, then the city council should give the planning Board some latitiude.

If you would like to do that, I think that would be a good idea.

Dave: We have a provision that relates to DIA DIA was rezoned . Jennifer wanted to make sure this did not change.

Dave: read the definition of museum

This revision will be ready for Monday, May 2, 2005’s agenda. David will modify this definition.

This portion of the workshop ended at 7:45 p.m.

Appraisals – Parking Lots

Property that will be acquired – at a cost of $100,000 - $200,000 and $300,000.

Council Member Kyriacou: We are looking at acquiring 3 - 50 x 100 ‘ lots at a cost of $100,000 - $200,000 and $300,000. These are located directly behind the Library. We are also looking at the driveway measuring 40’ x 150’ appraised for $50,000.00 which is used to get to that other parcel So we will pay someone $50,000 to take their driveway and plow it forever and give them a deed of access to their private parking Maybe we should acquire all the parking on that block. This is just a suggestion.

The other possibility is when you do a comprehensive parking plan do something that would show those parcels that have parking and those that don’t. If you build additional parking, why should those that have parking already pay taxes for parking somewhere else. We should be looking at corrective solutions. Those that do not have parking should pay their $1,500.00.

Dave Stolman: We haven’t gotten that far as yet but we do have to think about that very issue.

City Administrator, Joseph Braun: We met with representatives of the Library last week and they have made offers on these properties. I had a question for Jerry which he has not had a chance to delve into with his attorneys. The Library has offered to buy these properties without an appraisal and are offering $100,000.00 to $150,000.00 more for the property. Since the city and the library are non-profit, are they allowed to offer more than the market value for this property? I did talk to Sue Kelly’s office and they indicated that their funding would not be available until September. If they are going to referendum, the commitment on the part of the city whether or not the federal money is there to buy the property, would change the amount of money for which they bond. In general terms, if the city buys the parking and provides the parking, it would be a nine million dollar bond referendum. If not, it would be a ten million dollar bond referendum. If we were to do that, the city would have to commit whether or not the federal funds were available.

Council Member Way: First of all, what would be the cost of construction? What happens if we commit to purchase those two homes, knocking them down and purchasing the extra lot and the Library referendum is turned down?

City Administrator, Joseph Braun: As was discussed, it is my understanding that it all has to be contingent on the Library Referendum passing

Mayor Clara Lou Gould: Brought up the lots that border DiWindt Street which are in the parking business district. I think that the city would be looking at future parking plans in that area.

Council Member Way: The city paid a lot of money to purchase that property. I don’t want to be caught out on a limb.

This will be contingent on the Library. There will be 44 parking spaces. The parking lot will cost a little over a million dollars.

Council Member Way: That is something we ought to look at. That’s a pretty hefty cost for forty-four parking spaces.

Council Member Fasano: I think it is a hefty price but if the city does grow, you are going to have these parcels secured. We should look to the future. You can always put a parking garage there later on down the road.

Council Member Kyriacou: In general, have we paid $10,000 a spot for other parking that we built? Answer: That is about the ball park figure. The reason that it is expensive is because we are buying property that is already built and we are undoing what is built there.

Council Member Thompson asked if there would be a charge for parking and the answer was “no”.

City Administrator, Joseph Braun: When asked about demolition, City administrator said that the figure he got from the engineer is about a million dollars plus 10%.

Council Member Fasano: Why can’t our guys do the demolition? City Administrator, Joseph Braun answered that, “We are not demolition people”.

This session ended at 8:00 – David Stolman and Tim Dexter left the workshop.

Ski Lodge Property –

Jerry to Confer with Realtor for appropriate price - Jerry spoke to a realtor. The smaller lot will be dropped to about 99,000. The other lot would be dropped to $150,000 to $200,000. That would be up to the council. We need to get some interest where people are bidding against each other. If you start with a low number, you still reserve the right to withdraw. The bank representative was in a position to offer an amount to keep it going.

Eleanor: I don’t want to give the property away.

City Attorney, Gerard Pisanelli: We had them up for sale but no one was interested. We have a 1+acre parcel and a 4+acre parcel.

Council Member Fasano: I think that the price should be lowered to attract more people.

Council Member Thompson: I think that we should save the property for open space.

City Attorney, Gerard Pisanelli: This property had deed restrictions that this property can only be used as a bed and breakfast.

Council Member Thompson: The real estate should do a better job of marketing the property. I do not want to throw the property away.

Council Member Fasano: The reason that the realtors are not pushing this property is because it is going up for auction.

City Administrator, Joseph Braun: I will sit down with the realtor and we will put together a marketing plan.

Council Member Leake: Let’s start the marketing first then go from there.

Council Member Thompson: I do not feel that we should drop the price at this time.

Council Member Kyriacou: You cannot restrict the property for a specific use and expect to get the market price for that property. If you want it to be a Bed and Breakfast then the price has to be dropped. I think that there are people in Beacon who will pay the market price to purchase the land if it did not have the restrictions.

Council Member Leake: If we have the option to refuse, I have no problem.

Mayor took a Consensus vote: Everyone said yes except Eleanor: No,

City Attorney, Gerard Pisanelli: Suggested that we set a new date for six weeks from now. Title insurance is not required at this point.

Absentee Land Owners –

Tim Dexter: I like the idea. It gives me the ability to contact residents for violations such as a broken window, etc. In this law, you have to say the exact properties that you want this to cover. Such as multi families, commercial buildings, etc. The more information I have, the easier my job is. In general I like this law – clarification should be specified. Another thing that needs to be specified is the amount of the penalty. The number of rooms or apartments is important. I can use this information to compare with the original information provided by a past owner to be sure that there are no illegal apartments. Height of building is not necessary.

Council Member Way: I suggest that Tim get together with Jerry regarding the wording and consider Tim’s suggestions.

Tim Dexter: Tell us what do you want us to do? Such as all non-owner occupied residential and non-residential properties.

This session ended at 8:10

Proposed Local Law – to Amend Chapter 211 by adding New Section 211-17 C – Time Limit Parking (Parking – Red Flynn Drive, Riverfront Park Road, Ferry Street and River Street

Parking will go from four hours to 6 hours which is enough.

Council Member Kyriacou: Four hours was originally proposed by me some years ago. I thought that residents would be happy with six and it would also permit some half-day visitors

Council Member Thompson: There should be no parking on River Street. People come and park and drop garbage. I put notes on cars but it does no good. I went to Joe with a couple of incidents where police officers cars are parking there all day and should not be there. We have a lot of traffic that goes through River Street.

Mayor Clara Lou Gould: A lot of this is to keep people away who want to take advantage of the parking

Council Member Fasano: I did not realize that it was bothering the people on River Street

Council Member Kyriacou: Commuters abuse this

City Administrator, Joseph Braun: This should be for Beacon Residents only with a permit from this office.

Council Member Thompson: When Fred goes to the New York City, he has difficult getting a parking space. We should have parking for residents only.

Council Member Fasano: The people on River Street might feel better knowing that these are Beacon Residents.

Council Member Thompson: Some families park second and third family vehicles on the street. This makes it very dangerous to back out of our driveway.

The first reading at public hearing will be Monday, May 2, 2005.

This session ended at 8:35

Waterfront Rediscovery Initiative- Resolution authorizing Mayor to sign amendment to extend agreement City of Beacon Waterfront Rediscovery Initiative for another year – $120,000.00

Will be placed on May 2, 2005 Council Meeting Agenda

Award Bid – Authorize Mayor to accept bid and execute contract with In Line Services, Inc. Flemington, NJ for the Beacon Water Meter Project

City Administrator, Joseph Braun: Background checks have been done. The meters will be read from the road. They recently did Port Jervis and they were very happy with them. The town of Walkill is satisfied as well. These are water meters on the inside of homes. They will have to go into every house to change the meter. In certain instances they only have to replace a part. Most of the meters have to be changed back. That would require getting into the basement of the homes to change the meters.

This will be on the agenda for Monday, May 2, 2005.

Choices for Change – Memo of understanding – dated April 22, 2005 from Dawn Wilkin, CPS, Project Coordinator of Choices for Change, Southern Dutchess Partnership assisting Youth Success:

Beacon will be participating in one of the committees. This requires going to three consecutive meetings in order to have voting privileges This project will help the community.

This will be on the agenda for Monday, May 2, 2005.

Memorandum of Understanding Cablevision – See Attached Documentation dated April 19, 2005 from Roger Connor. Cablevision and Copy of minutes of July 19, 2004 which has Resolution No. 139 of 2004.

The letter mentioned that the first year anniversary is in June and that the rates per resident will be lowered on June 1, 2005 from $ .58 to $.45 per month.

The letter of understanding that was approved for one year expires in July of 2005.

Council Member Way: Should our cable committee be asked to look at this?

Resolution No. 139 states that this ends in July

City Attorney, Gerard Pisanelli: Maybe we should just extend it another year.

Other Business

Council Agenda – May 2, 2005

Community Segment: John Fasulo - See attached Press Release – The Spirit of Beacon : One Week of Photography 2005

Appointments – Board of Ethics

Brother Douglas Soik – See attached applications

Executive Session: 8:53 p.m. – Police – New Officer, Bike Patrol – Vehicular Pursuit

Executive Session ended: 9:40 p.m.

Workshop ended at 9:40 p.m.

Submitted by Lucy M. Cullinan – May 2, 2005