Germantown NY Democrats Organization

Board Members Present: Supervisor David Helsley, Deputy Supervisor Austin Sullivan, Council Member Kaare Christian (via Zoom), Council Member John Kukon, Council Member Brittany Dufresne

Staff Present: Town Attorney Corinne Smith; Town Clerk Joyce Vale

Others Present: Chad Dickinson (Twin Ponds Solar), Martin Overington (Waterfront Advisory Committee) via Zoom, Community Members

The September 8 meeting was dominated by another round on the town’s parks law, as Council Member Christian raised a series of legal questions that will send the town attorney back for further revisions. The Board also formally adopted the Main Street school zone resolution, heard a candid update from the Twin Ponds Solar developer about a legal snag that has stalled the four-year-old project, and fielded resident concerns about flooding on lower Main Street tied to the Amtrak rail bed.

Public Hearing: Local Law B of 2026 — Town Parks and Facilities (Continued)

The hearing on the town’s parks law — open since June and continued at both the July and August meetings — was continued again. Town Attorney Smith presented a further-revised draft incorporating comments from Deputy Supervisor Sullivan, continuing the Board’s approach of moving facility-specific rules (hours, smoking, vehicle use) directly into the law itself rather than leaving them to future resolution. The revised vehicle-use section clarifies the existing ban on motorized vehicles in town parks and adds a new e-bike provision.

Council Member Christian raised several concerns that were not previously on the table:

• DEC license agreement: Christian asked the town attorney to confirm that the new park regulations won’t conflict with the town’s existing DEC license agreement covering part of Lasher Park, noting the agreement itself is vague about exactly which area it covers. The town attorney will review the agreement and can contact DEC directly to confirm there’s no conflict.
• Underwater parcels: The town owns two underwater parcels at Lasher Park and one at Ice House Landing, which carry state-imposed rights and restrictions. Christian asked that the law be checked to ensure it doesn’t conflict with or override those. The town attorney will investigate.
• Damage and restitution: Christian asked whether the law’s damage clause should explicitly require restitution, given the town’s significant restitution costs from park damage in recent years. The town attorney confirmed the town can already pursue restitution without an explicit provision.
• Invasive species work: The same clause’s language on damaging plants and trees raised a question about the town’s planned invasive-species removal in the Theodore Robinson Community Forest, which will necessarily damage some vegetation. The attorney clarified that town-sponsored or town-Board-approved work would not run afoul of the law.
• Anchoring near Cheviot and Lasher: The current law’s provisions barring vessels from anchoring off Cheviot and Lasher Parks — carried over from the old law — drew a challenge from Christian, who called them unenforceable as written (no distance is specified, and there’s no allowance for mooring). To avoid conflicting with the Harbor Management Law nearing completion through the LWRP process, the Board agreed to drop the offshore-anchoring language while keeping the existing rule against leaving vessels at the docks. A related provision barring fishing from the docks will stay, for boat-traffic safety reasons.
• Overnight camping at Roe-Jan Kill Park and Ice House Landing: Christian noted that both locations have long allowed overnight camping — Roe-Jan Kill has had Boy Scout-built camping platforms for 10–15 years, and the Ice House Landing water trail designation explicitly included overnight camping. The revised law will carve out an exception to the general dusk closing time for these two sites, while adding a “leave no trace” requirement and quiet hours (along the lines of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., similar to state campsites) to prevent the sites from being used for parties rather than camping. Martin Overington reported that a materials grant for Ice House Landing’s camping platforms and cooking infrastructure is expected to come through in October.

With no further public comment, the hearing was again adjourned without closing. The town attorney expects to finalize the revised draft soon so it can be posted and brought back for adoption next month.

School Zone Resolution Adopted

The Board formally adopted a resolution requesting that the Columbia County Superintendent of Highways and the New York State Department of Transportation establish a school speed zone on Main Street along the Germantown Central School District’s property line, from Palatine Park Road to NY-9G, at 20 mph or such lower limit as safety requires. The resolution cites the district’s enrollment of 452 students, pre-K through grade 12, at least a dozen of whom bike or walk to school daily past an unsupervised crosswalk. The request now goes to the county and state for evaluation and approval — the next steps in a process the Board has been advancing since last spring.

Twin Ponds Solar Project: Developer Update

Developer Chad Dickinson gave the Board an informal update on the Twin Ponds Solar project, which has been in the works for more than four years — he signed the original interconnection application four years ago and the landowner contract in mid-2022. Dickinson said the company remains committed to the project, but a lis pendens — a pending lawsuit affecting the property’s title — has made the project unfinanceable until it is resolved, and the timing is entirely in the hands of the courts. Dickinson is meeting with the Code Enforcement Officer this week regarding the building permit and separately submitted late comments on the town’s potential changes to its solar law, which the Board agreed to factor into its ongoing zoning work.

Zoning and Subdivision Law: Workshop Set for September 22

Comments on the revised zoning and subdivision draft have come back from the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, Town Historian Tom Shannon, and individual members, though not yet from every committee. Martin Overington, speaking for the Waterfront Advisory Committee, asked whether there was a firm deadline given the document’s length and the summer vacation season; the Board clarified the draft is still being circulated informally among committees and hasn’t gone to public hearing or county referral, so there is time — WAC and other committees are still welcome to send comments. The Board set a joint workshop for Tuesday, September 22, at 7 p.m. to work through the comments received before deciding on revisions and referring the draft to the county.

Other Continuing Business

• Salt Shed Solar — Direct Pay: Supervisor Helsley and Council Member Christian plan to finish assembling the IRS Direct Pay application documentation this week.
• Big Towel agreement: The signed counter-agreement has come back, closing out this item; it will not appear on next month’s agenda.
• Parsonage archaeology: Hartgen’s consultant has confirmed availability for the site survey on September 28, the date suggested by the Bard College contact. The town believes the contract has already been executed, with Friends of Historic Germantown expected to cover the cost, though this needs to be confirmed.
• NYSLRS Standard Workday resolution: Remains tabled.
• Solar moratorium: The town is still waiting for comments from the Columbia County Planning Board, which has the referral on its September agenda — comments are expected back well before the October 13 public hearing at 6:45 p.m.

New Business

• Budget process: Worksheets have gone out to department heads, due back September 20. State law requires a special meeting to adopt the tentative budget between September 30 and October 5; the Board set a budget workshop for Thursday, October 1, at 7 p.m.
• Dog warden agreement: The Board approved the county’s updated (redlined) ticket forms and authorized printing them in carbonless duplicate or triplicate.
• Ambulance sale: The town received a single sealed bid of $3,500 for its surplus 2004 Ford ambulance and voted to accept it.
• Road naming at Taconic Bioscience: The Board approved a list of internal road names for the Taconic campus at 273 Hover Avenue, clearing the way for the county to complete its 911 numbering for the site.

Lasher Park: Entrance Circle and Signage

Plans for the entrance at Lasher Park are moving forward. An arborist has confirmed that the mature trees within the driveway circle are beyond their useful life and will be removed and grubbed. Rather than the benches originally proposed, which Board members worried would be vulnerable to flooding, the plan (developed with input from Margie Ruddick) calls for low-maintenance ornamental shrubs and low-growing trees such as aspen or serviceberry, needing only an annual trim.

The Board also confirmed plans for a decorative sign naming the park “Ernest R. Lasher Memorial Park” the park currently has no sign bearing its formal name, though a memorial to Lasher exists separately at the north side of the parking area. Funding and a vendor for the new sign need to be identified.

Lasher Park: Rail-Adjacent Parking Reconfiguration

The Board reviewed DEC’s latest site plan for reconfiguring parking near the railroad tracks at Lasher Park, which appears to convert some grassy areas to parking, including a spot near a resident’s driveway. Because the diagram was difficult to reconcile with the park’s current layout, the Board will ask DEC for a revised site plan showing the parcel boundary and the rail tracks, to clarify whether the new pavement would extend beyond town property. On the positive side, DEC has agreed to let the town landscape and design the central turnaround (a previously proposed toilet there is no longer part of the plan) and has made its own sign single-sided and accessible. Trenching is expected this fall, with paving planned for late spring or early summer 2027, ahead of the summer boating and fishing season.

Supervisor’s Report

Hunters Town Road has reopened following storm repairs. The same contractor is expected to move next to the Lower Main Street repairs, with completion still targeted for the end of September.

Comments from Council

• Solar reimbursement: Matthew Mercier submitted the town’s $40,000 NYSERDA reimbursement application for salt shed solar expenses — a straightforward process that didn’t require Board approval and is now complete.
• Theodore Robinson Community Forest: Parking lot construction is underway; once finished, the only remaining requirement to draw down the project’s final grant funds will be building a second trail, targeted for this fall if the weather permits.

Comments from the Public

Martin Overington thanked Council Member Christian for his work on the Lasher Park dock and shoreline project and asked that the design account for boaters who occasionally need to anchor or tie up along the shoreline when a motor fails.

Several lower Main Street residents raised concerns about logs clogging a drain opening that carries water to the river. The Board noted that installing a grate was discussed at a Public Works meeting but was seen as likely to create a worse maintenance problem, since debris would build up on the grate itself and cause more frequent backups. It was noted that this year’s storms flooded areas that had never flooded before. Martin Overington added that Amtrak raised the height of its rail bed from roughly one foot to three or four feet some years ago, damming natural drainage to the river that previously flowed over the tracks; the culvert beneath the tracks — about three feet wide and over a century old — can no longer handle the volume. He argued Amtrak needs to be part of the solution, and the Board agreed to reach out to Amtrak about installing a larger culvert. (This culvert is distinct from a separate, county-owned culvert nearby that also clogs with logs.) Overington asked whether the county could share its map of local culverts; Council Member Christian noted a fairly complete survey exists and will send him a link.

Overington also asked about erosion on Lasher Park’s north shore — separate from the new-dock project already underway — and thanked Christian for his work on the park generally. Christian explained the next step is a conceptual engineering plan, expected to cost roughly $20,000; the town hopes to fund it through a 90/10 matching grant rather than a 50/50 grant, and several relevant grant programs, including the Hudson River Estuary Program, are expected to be announced in the coming days and weeks. He said grant options are actively being pursued.

Upcoming Meetings

• Zoning/Subdivision Law Committee Workshop: Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 7 p.m. (not a public hearing).
• Budget Workshop / Special Meeting to Adopt Tentative Budget: Thursday, October 1, 2026, 7 p.m.
• Public Hearing on Proposed Solar Moratorium / Regular Town Board Meeting: Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 6:45 p.m.