Town of North Castle
Supervisor
Michael J. Schiliro
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Hi Neighbors,
Wishing you all a Happy Independence Day from the Town Board and myself: Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto and Councilmen Barry Reiter, Jose Berra, and Saleem Hussain. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday with family and friends. And please please please do be careful if your day involves fireworks – we do not want to hear of any JPP episodes (Giant fans will understand).
Independence Day is as important as any holiday, as it celebrates the birth of our great nation, and unfortunately many lives were lost in that effort. On Friday, County Executive George Latimer joined Barbara, Barry, and Saleem, along with our County Legislator Margaret Cunzio and State Senator Shelley Mayer and former Assemblyman David Buchwald at the Elijah Miller House – George Washington’s Headquarters (click here). The beautifully restored Miller House is a treasured relic, and was so critical to General George Washington in the war’s effort, especially during the Battle of White Plains.
This email is slightly long, but you can get through it quickly – hopefully you make it to the end with a hot dog in your hand.
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THREE!!
Yup, we now have three Covid positive cases in Town, up from Zero. Sorry to deliver that news. As we’ve said, please don’t throw caution to the wind even though many Covid restrictions have been lifted. It’s still here.
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CANNABIS
Here I go again typing a word that I never thought would be part of a Town-wide email, but the law is the law. Anyway, just to get you all up to speed, and thanks to those of you who provided your input at our Cannabis hearing, the Town Board unanimously voted to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries and on-site cannabis consumption sites in the Town of North Castle that would otherwise be allowed under NYS Cannabis Law Article 4. As we explained at the hearing and prior emails, by opting out now, we still reserve the right to opt in at a future date. I’m not saying we will, but if we do not opt out now, we lose the right opt in going forward. And more importantly, if we did nothing now, we would automatically be opted in, and could NEVER opt out. So we're out.
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TOWN POOL:
Join!! It’s a great deal, as once the Town took over running the Pool several years ago, we dropped the rates by almost 70%! The pool is open and ready for summer. We still have Covid protocols in place so all is safe. Go to our Town website (Rec Department) or call our Rec Department regarding your summer pool pass.
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PAVING
The aggressive paving program continues by the Town and NYS. And by the way, if you live near Route 22 and hear loud construction noises during off hours (overnight, etc), it’s probably the state workers. I’ll remind everyone to please be patient, as we absolutely want this work completed, even though it may cause some short term inconveniences. And as always, our Highway Dept. will continue to advise of their paving schedule via emails and Nixle. If you’re not registered for Nixle alerts, sign up here. With your patience, please be courteous with the Town workers, NYS workers, and the private contractors.
And for those receiving emails from a resident claiming that the Town is irresponsible in how it’s handling the millings and that our math doesn’t add up, here’s the quick equation: Anything that we pay above $0 to have millings removed is an expense and paid by the taxpayers, you. So if we can remove them for $0, we do. If we can’t, we minimize the cost of removal. It’s easy for us to spend your money like that, but a little harder to work to have them removed at no cost to you. We’ll take the harder path.
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WATER – Summit Club (this one is a little long, sorry)
If you live in Windmill, this is for you. Based on simply people stopping me and asking questions (thank you!!!) and being confused as some information has been circulated by residents that was incorrect (and eventually partially corrected I think - thanks), this should clear things up and ease any concerns you may have.
As you may know, the Summit Club (formerly Brynwood) is approved as a Golf Course Community with 73 residential units. Subsequent to their zoning hearing and approval years ago, we held hearings to consider allowing them to join WD2 (the Windmill water district), which we did with the help and support of the Windmill residents via a survey and hearings. (There was a recent resident communication to some of you that the Town Board was considering allowing them to join the district, which was obviously false as they joined over 5 years ago with your help). A condition of their joining the district was to provide a minimum 100 gallon per minute (“gpm”) new well in the existing well field (aka “gravel pit”) as per the approval. They have expended considerable money in this effort, but have only identified a well producing approximately 20 gpm.
They are currently at the point that they may request one or both of the following of the Town: (1) to exit the district and create their own water system or (2) to ask the Town to consider allowing them to use the wells under the golf course (> 100 gpm cumulative) for district use and to satisfy their requirement. As per the existing agreement as mentioned above, they are required to find water in the "well field", defined as the gravel pit. There was also a resident communication to many of you stating that the Town was “poised” to allow them to use the wells under the golf course without consulting with the residents. Again, this was completely false, and in case it wasn’t corrected properly by that sender, here’s some additional info. Anything related to this issue will include public discussions at minimum – we would NEVER consider making a decision like this unilaterally and it’s honestly silly to think we would. Some people are demanding public hearings; please understand that we certainly will hold “hearings” if that’s what the law requires, but we will conduct whatever is commensurate with Summit’s request, which have not received yet. But consider this, as I’ve explained to many including Summit. We conducted that thorough survey several years ago which led to Summit joining the district, on the premise that the additional water would come from the gravel pit. If that same survey used the premise that the additional well(s) would be drilled under the golf course, one could reasonably presume that the survey results would have been different – common sense. Whatever Summit requests will include the participation of the water district members (ie: Windmill community).
One more item: For years the Town has had a dialogue about water use in Windmill, especially in the summer as sprinklers and pools add additional water needs. If ever needed, which it’s not at this point, there is always the option of managing water use through various methods, like limiting usage or tiered charges, which is commonly used elsewhere, so you should not be worried about water from under the golf course or water supply – we’ll work through it all together.
MIDDLE PATENT TOWN YARD:
This one is quick. Again, I’m aware that resident emails have circulated. As we advised prior, we have aggressively removed organic waste stored on site there, despite claims that we actually have been adding material and not removing - this is false. Our goal was to finish removing most of the organic material by the end of June, but some will remain like storm damaged tree parts, and some may still be removed. And we will also remove the remaining millings there that are from our roads, which will occur shortly.
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That’s it. Thanks for your stamina if you made it this far. Continue to enjoy your summer and your holiday weekend. And if you know residents who are not signed up for Town emails (I met a few yesterday), please tell them to simply go to the Town website click on the "Join Email Lists" on the left side of the homepage.
And prayers to the Fang family.
Respectfully,
Mike
Michael J. Schiliro
Supervisor - Town of North Castle
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