Ghent not swayed by Chatham's plea to lead

GHENT – The town Planning Board met last week in its regular session and discussed the proposed Price Chopper building and a plan for a surface mine.

The board was supposed to have a public hearing about the proposal for a new Price Chopper supermarket on Route 66 at the July 6 meeting, but Price Chopper postponed the hearing due to issues with the state environmental quality review, or SEQR, application. Representatives from the company told the Columbia Paper they plan to be in front of the board again soon.

The Village of Chatham Planning Board sent a letter to its Ghent counterpart asking for that the village be named lead agency for the review. Ghent Planning Board President Jonathan Walters told the members of his board that they had already asked for lead agency status on the project and were granted it by the village.

“We have a letter from the previous Village Board accepting our request,” Mr. Walters said, referring to a change in make-up of the current Chatham Planning Board. A new chairperson and two other members were named to the village Planning Board after the village elections in March.

“It is an issue that has already been decided,” said Town Lawyer Ted Guterman. He and other members of the board pointed out that the majority of the proposed market would be in the town, not the village. “These are all basic Town of Ghent issues,” Mr. Guterman said of the project.

Bill Better, a local lawyer for the company that owns the plaza in the Village of Chatham that houses the current Price Chopper supermarket, attended the meeting to urge the Ghent board to look at the new plans for the Price Chopper building, saying that the plans have changed since the board received them in April.

Mitchell Khosrova, a lawyer for Price Chopper, said that there were some additions to the plans but that they remain substantially the same.

The board plans to send a letter to Chatham about the lead status for the SEQR review. If the two municipalities cannot come to an agreement on which should be the lead, the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation will decide.

Also at the meeting the board heard from neighbors on Carpenter Road about a landowner’s plans to mine gravel as the landowner builds a pond on the property. The neighbors have been worried about the trucks driving up the road and drainage issues caused by the project. They also worried that the owners would not be home to supervise the project.

The board plans to hold a special meeting in late July to look at more information from the neighbors before making a decision.

The next regular board meeting will be Wednesday, August 3 at 7pm in the Ghent Town Hall.

Ice boaters sail down frosty Hudson River

In News, News - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer

January 29, 2025

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

The Hudson River saw plenty of activity at Sunday’s ice boating event, and the Athens Boat Launch was packed. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

ATHENS — With temperatures hovering around freezing, it’s a great time to head out on the water, right?

That’s what dozens of ice boaters thought as they geared up and hauled their specially equipped ice boats onto the Hudson River on Jan. 26, beginning at the Athens Boat Launch.

Ice boating is a winter sport that involves sailing on ice in a modified sailboat. The vessel is equipped with metal runners, which look like overgrown ice skates, that enable the boat to glide across the ice. Like a regular sailboat, it has a canvas sail and can be steered by the boater.

“It’s a great sport,” said Bart Jenkins, who traveled from New Jersey to watch his friend participate. “The boats go really fast and it’s fun to watch.”

Ice boats can reach high speeds that can potentially be dangerous, according to iceboat.org.

“However, learning to properly sail an ice boat, sailing by the established right-of-way rules, always using common sense, properly maintaining the equipment, and staying off the lake during unsafe conditions can go a long way towards making ice boating a safe sport,” according to the organization.

Ice boaters prepared their vessels to glide across the river. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

Ice boats can reach speeds of up to five times the speed of the wind due to the low friction between the vessel’s runners and the ice, as well as the sail’s shape.

“The sail acts more like a vertical wing rather than a sail,” according to the website.

In fact, depending on the type of ice boat and its structure, some can reach speeds over 100 mph.

With the icy cold temperatures in Greene County in recent weeks, the ice was thick enough to support dozens of ice boats, along with participants and spectators that headed out onto the ice to check it out.

The parking lot at the Athens Boat Launch, in fact, was jam packed. A ramp from the parking lot into the river accommodated anyone who braved the cold and wanted to walk on the Hudson River.

A number of dogs could also be spotted checking out the activities.

Boaters and spectators alike walked on the icy Hudson River for a gathering of ice boaters last Sunday. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

Ice boating happens periodically on the Hudson River and has taken place in Athens in recent years, but not for some time, at least not in such large numbers.

“I wanted to check it out,” said Ruth Simpson. “I happened to be driving by and saw all the cars in the lot and stopped to see what was going on. I’ve never seen ice boating before — it was interesting to watch.”

Ice boating got its start on the Hudson River in the 1790s, and by the mid-19th century, the river was the center of the iceboating trend, according to the Hudson River Maritime Museum. The sport saw another surge of popularity at the turn of the 20th century, according to the organization’s website.

Ghent not swayed by Chatham’s plea to lead

Related Posts