RENSSELAERVILLE — Barns in disrepair and development halted — buildings were the center of discussion at last Thursday’s town board meeting.

The town has recently adopted a one-year moratorium on subdivisions of over three lots so it can work on a comprehensive land-use plan. With the departure of Pat Parker from the Land Use Review Committee, due to health reasons, the committee proposed adding two new members to replace him.
"This is the most important committee we have in town," Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg told the board. "It will influence our grandchildren."

Citing the heavy load of information that members are responsible for, the committee proposed replacing Parker’s post with two members so that if another member dropped out there would be somebody already up to speed on the work.
This caused some concern on the board. "We’re not going to keep adding people every month," said Councilman Gary Chase. "Pretty soon, we’re going to end up with 50 people."

Nickelsberg proposed moving Susan Lewis from her position as an alternate to a full committee member and adding Margaret Saddlemire and John Dolce as alternates. Lewis was an alternate for her sister, Becky Lewis, who is still on the committee. She had been attending all the meetings so far, including the agricultural sub-committee, according to Vernon Husek, who chairs the committee.

The number of people on the committee is still 13 and there are now two more alternates in case one of the members should leave. The board voted unanimously in favor of this resolution.

Husek told The Enterprise this week that the committee intends to have the town-wide land-use plan ready for review by the planning board nine months from the day the moratorium was enacted, which was April 27.

The committee is currently reviewing plans from other towns. Rensselaerville will hire a professional land-use consultant to help develop the comprehensive plan.
"The consultant will be useful in advising us in anything we might be overlooking," said Husek. "None of us are professional planners." Also, extra work that the committee can’t get done will fall on the consultant, said Husek.
"We’re about ready to start interviewing," Nickelsberg told The Enterprise this week. He expects to have the plan put into effect as law within the 12-month moratorium period.

Nickelsberg said that the public has been welcome at all of the meetings of the land-use committee so far, and input from the community is welcome.

Husek told The Enterprise that the committee is currently drafting a survey that will be sent out to residents of Rensselaerville in the next few weeks.
"They are absolutely critical," he said of the public. "It is their comments that we’re listening to."

Buildings in disrepair

The town’s attorney, William Ryan, reported to the board last Thursday that Mark Overbaugh, building inspector for Rensselaerville, and G. Jon Chase, the town’s highway superintendent, gave testimony at a May 17 public hearing on the state of Naomi Weiner’s property on Bates Lane, which has a barn and carriage house on it that were found by the board to be in a state of disrepair.
"The barn is unsafe because the walls are leaning, the doorways large and small are just open, it could sometime fall down especially because there is more water damage underneath it, where there aren’t any sills," said Overbaugh, according to minutes taken at the hearing. "Of course, we can have vagrants and kids, what have you enter the barn anytime."
The barn was described as "deteriorating" and the carriage house as a "heap," by Overbaugh.

Weiner brought a lawsuit against the town about a year ago, Ryan told The Enterprise on Tuesday; she alleged that the town was negligent in constructing a culvert near her property. Ryan said that the town’s insurance company is handling the claim; he did not know what stage it was in.
"The barn, house and property sat there [and] were dry until the town started to work on the drainage and then the flooding began and was consistently getting worse," said Eric, who is married to Naomi Weiner, according to the minutes of the hearing.

The Weiners could not be reached for comment this week.
"Someone had poured concrete on the end of the culvert," said Highway Superintendent Chase. "When you have a blockage like that, you are talking about the culvert getting backed up, you get people that are upstream, the water keeps backing up and it starts flooding their houses."
Weiner’s husband said that, about two years ago, flooding made it impossible to live at the property on Bates Lane. He also said, "Other than the debris that has washed in from the floods there is no poured concrete in or next to the culvert at all."

Ryan said that the costs of getting rid of the carriage house and barn can be charged to the owner of the property; the cost of fixing the culvert cannot.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Heard a letter from Richard and Nadia Creamer, who are concerned about a Westerlo snowmobile club being able to use Rensselaerville roads as snowmobile trails. They said that Councilwoman Myra Dorman is planning to propose legislation against using town roads as snowmobile trails;

— Heard a letter from Georgette Keonig who is concerned about the town newsletter. Keonig said that the newsletter is infused with Nickelsberg’s opinions.
Nickelsberg responded that the newsletter-writers are dedicated to fairness. "If anyone feels there are false facts in the newsletter," he said, "they are welcome to come in and get the tape of the meeting";

— Heard a report from Nickelsberg that the town’s account balance was $1.9 million, which is in certificates of deposit and bank accounts;

— Heard from highway superintendent Chase that his department is working on Niles Road and Cheese Hill Road, which will be closed on June 12 and 13;

— Voted unanimously to keep Icon as its copier company;
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— Voted unanimously to choose AirNet, the only bidder, to do its computer networking for $13,000;

— Voted unanimously to accept a bid of $375 for the town’s old mower and a bid of $560 for the town’s 1990 GMC truck;

— Voted unanimously to appoint Garret Platel to assist the water treatment officer;
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— Voted unanimously to appoint Nancy Class as the supervisor’s clerk;
— Heard from Nickelsberg that there is a facility on Route 85 with "some significant land." The board is looking into forming a group from the four Hilltowns to get a grant that will build a community center there, which, Nickelsberg said, is "exactly in the center of the four Hilltowns";

— Heard from Tom Kropp, who suggested that the town start charging people for false fire alarms after the first offense. He said that surrounding towns have adopted similar policies; and
— Heard from Ken Cooke that the baseball field is 90 percent done. There is new dirt, backstops, bleachers, and a sound system – all paid for with private funds. "From Little League to Babe Ruth takes a regulation field," said Cooke, regarding the idea of building a bigger ball field.
"On the newsletter," added Cooke, "good job. But it’s good that people criticize it – that’s what the good old USA is about: freedom of speech."