CHATHAM – The Village Board discussed new rules for brush clean up at the regular monthly meeting last week, a conversation that took place just before weekend winds blew down trees and limbs all over the region.
Board members also discussed complaints about major road and drainage work just completed on state routes in the village.
At the March 11 meeting Trustee David Chapman proposed an amended brush policy to the board saying, “Springtime is coming, and so is the cleanup.” Mr. Chapman said the state Department of Environmental Conservation new rules that further limit the burning of brush. He said the village is “really getting overloaded with people bringing brush to the highway garage.”
He said that brush will no longer be accepted at the Brookside Avenue DPW Yard, but the village will provide curbside pickup at certain times of the year. He was proposing picking up brush, no larger than six inches in diameter and no more than six feet in length twice a year from April 15 to May 16 and from October 15 to November 15.
Some other board members said there would need to be more pickup times throughout the year. But Mayor Paul Boehme said, “Let’s start with this, and let people know it could change.”
Mr. Chapman reminded the board that the public can dispose of brush at the county solid waste transfer station on Newman Road in Greenport throughout the year. He said he’s hoping the board can adopt the new village policy by the April meeting.
The trustees also discussed the new gazebo planned for the village green. Wooden stakes and plastic tape already indicate the spot on the green, which is at the intersection of Main Street and Park Row, where the village plans to build the gazebo. The work is being paid for by the Lions Club.
The mayor said that there would be future Jazz festivals there. “It should be in before Memorial Day,” he said.
The mayor said that he expected the state to acknowledge on March 23 the completion of major sewer and road work in the village. Work on the two-year project was finished last fall. But some problems remain, and Mr. Boehme said the village will talk to the state about the crumbling sidewalks on Park Row among other issues.
When asked about the metal poles blocking the turnoff built at the intersection of Route 295 and Main Street, which was supposed to permit right turns from Route 295 across the CSX the railroad tracks, Mr. Boehme said that was an issue between the state DOT Design Department and the railroad. And he said those two parties must resolve their differences over the design of the intersection.
“It’s not the poles that bother me as much as the poor placement of the crosswalk,” said Mr. Chapman. Other trustees said they also had have heard complaints about that intersection and crosswalk.
Before the meeting finished Trustee Lael Locke asked whether there was any news about a new Price Chopper supermarket on Route 66 south of the current market. Trustee George Grant said that planning for the new market was on hold until the village resolves sewer and water issues. The developers of the new market want to connect to village water and sewer lines, but the village currently does not comply with state regulations governing use of the system.
The next Village Board meeting will be Thursday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Tracy Memorial.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.
