Body, Mind & Spirit: St. Patrick’s Day parade is back in East Durham

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

GREENVILLE — The town council voted at its May meeting to adopt modifications to the local law governing commercial solar projects in the town.

The public hearing was held April 18, but the vote on the law was tabled pending approval by the Greene County Planning Board.

“We tabled approving Local Law No. 2, the solar law, at last month’s public hearing because we hadn’t received from the county their blessings,” Town Supervisor Paul Macko said at the May 16 meeting of the town council. “It came after the meeting.”

Town Councilman Joel Rauf made the motion to approve the amended solar law, seconded by Councilman John Bensen. The law was adopted unanimously.

The new solar law amends the existing regulation that was originally adopted in 2018, and was drafted by the planning board in conjunction with input from town attorney Tal Rappleya and several members of the town board.

The changes only apply to commercial properties, not solar energy generated at individual homes.

Greenville and other communities in the county have become increasingly popular sites for commercial solar projects, with several sited or planned in Greenville, Coxsackie and Coeymans in neighboring Albany County.

When planning board chairman Don Teator presented the town board with the proposed changes in April, he said there wasn’t one particular issue that prompted the revisions to the existing law, but rather the changing nature of the solar industry and the community’s attempts to regulate it.

The modified law clarifies several issues that may arise, including clarification on the requirement that commercial solar facilities have “minimal adverse impact” on the natural, environmental and historic resources of the town. The new regulation also mandates that solar projects be designed and constructed to be “as compatible as possible with the character of the surrounding community.”

Changes to the commercial solar law also include the timeframe for a developer to add trees and landscaping to a site, modifications to how toxic and other hazardous materials are handled, and how soil samples are collected for testing, among other regulations.

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

GREENVILLE — Local artists took their trade to the park last weekend for the first-ever Arts in the Park event.

Hosted by Arts Around Greenville, the event showcased local talent at Vanderbilt Town Park. Some of the artists actually created artwork on site for the community to view their creative process.

“We have 32 artists registered and interesting featured artists like Tom, who does chainsaw art, and Andy Golub, who is painting three-dimensional abstract cars, and then we have a variety of art on display, from metal tooling to leather to jewelry to pottery to paintings,” event organizer Natalie Boburka said. “We also have a plein air station where artists are painting on site.”

For the past two years, Arts Around Greenville hosted Studio Tours, where everyone was invited to visit artists in their studios to see their creative process, but this year moved the event outdoors to the park.

“We wanted to try something different,” Boburka said. “The studio tour was great and we had really good responses, but it is a lot of work for the artists and everybody involved. And it meant a lot of artists couldn’t be a part of it because only some of them have studios and we ran out of space.”

No chance of that happening at Vanderbilt Town Park — artists were set up everywhere, showing off their talents.

Kayla Speed of KS Design Studio, from Acra, creates all kinds of creative pieces.

“I do a little bit of everything,” Speed said. “I started with pet portraits, watercolors, acrylics and graphite, and I segued into burning hats. I use a soldering iron to burn them. I also paint them, and I just got into leatherwork as well.”

The mother-daughter team of Jean Loughmiller and Jennifer Cardinal, from Westerlo, operate Drops of Paint together.

“We just joined Arts Around Greenville,” Cardinal said. “This is really nice — it’s great to network with other artists.”

Ellen Blumenthal of The 3 Mudmakers, who creates functional pottery that is designed to be used daily, got into art by happenstance.

“When I was in my mid 40s, my daughter wanted to do something special — one of her friends was a swimmer, one was an ice skater — so we went to take pottery classes for her to be something special,” Blumenthal said. “The teacher at the pottery studio said she could take the class only if I took it with her because they didn’t take kids. We took the class together — she quit but I kept at it. That was about 30 years ago.”

Artist Tom Morrissey of Catskills Carver Chainsaw Carving has a unique artistic medium — he works with wooden logs and a chainsaw.

“I like the fact that you can do this fast —you go from the raw materials to blocking it out, texturing it, coloring it. It’s a big process but you can get it done in a short period of time. I like that.”

Andy Golub repurposes old car parts to create his artwork. He was painting a car door on site during the event.

“My wife had a car that we retired,” Golub said. “Originally, she just wanted a black and white picture but now that the car is retired, I am coloring it in.”

Even the kids got into the act. Volunteer Christine Mickelsen staffed a chalk art station for Greenville’s youngest artists.

“I am encouraging the kids to make pictures out of chalk and be artists themselves,” Mickelsen said. “They just have fun with it, and to equate art with fun — that is perfect.”