Public comments open for Larkin Drive project, tree law

Councilwoman Maureen Richardson, during the January 21 Monroe Town Board meeting, questioned the approval of a mileage voucher reimbursing Supervisor Anthony Cardone for travel incurred in November. She claimed that Cardone was reimbursed in part for travel to the WTBQ radio station in Warwick, where, according to Richardson, he used some of his time on the program to endorse political candidates.

While Cardone argued that his focus was on town matters for most of the time on the program, Richardson contended that even spending a small portion of time endorsing candidates violated the town’s reimbursement policy. During the meeting, Cardone would not confirm or deny whether he endorsed any political candidates on the radio program, nor would he comment on Richardson’s statements.

Larkin Drive

The board continued its public hearing to review the zone change petition for Larkin Drive requested by an applicant seeking to develop retail businesses in the area. A representative for the applicant explained that the town’s attorney was provided with the names of two prospective tenants, which could not be shared publicly because of proprietary reasons. He reiterated his previous stance that this project is a large-scale development and wouldn’t interfere with local businesses.

The traffic consultants for the proposed project commented on the role of Amazon in reducing parking needs, as more people are shopping online instead of in person. They shared how they examined parking demands in the area, during the holiday shopping season, and found 120 to 140 cars on a weekday and around 200 for the weekend. The consultants recommended that the applicant consider banking land in case it is needed for more parking.

The board discussed concerns raised by the town planning board, which questioned the town’s parking requirements, which haven’t been changed in many years, and don’t reflect the current reality.

The board closed the public hearing and will accept written comments for 15 days as of the time of the meeting.

Tree preservation

The board continued its review of tree preservation law, discussing such issues of enforcement and what burden that will place on the town, as well as the best way to educate residents and contractors about the new regulations. The public hearing on the matter will be kept open until February 24.

School safety

During the meeting, the board voted to apply for a grant through the New York State Department of State Local Government Efficiency. The town is applying for this funding with the town of Woodbury to improve safety in school zones shared between the two towns through such measures as installing speed bumps on roadways leading to schools, installing highly visible school zone signage, and placing radar speed signs near schools. Councilwoman Mary Bingham suggested including the school districts as part of the application.

While expressing her support for improving school safety, Richardson objected to the idea of the town seeking funding for such improvements through this grant. She claimed that the purpose of the grant was to improve government efficiency and reduce redundancies and pointed to successful recipients of funding, such as the county legislature, which used the grant to consolidate municipal code enforcement departments and reduce costs for taxpayers.

State mandates

Prompted by concerns that mandates requiring state municipalities to increase the number of zero-emission construction and maintenance vehicles, the board passed a resolution calling on the governor, the NYS Department of Transportation, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYSERDA, and other legislative leaders to provide financial assistance to the town to achieve that goal. The resolution also called on the state to consider pausing the initiative until it can show that it can finance the effort and that the vehicle manufacturers can effectively supply the New York market.

Speaking about the mandate, Cardone noted that it would be extremely costly to the town and that efforts to accommodate these types of vehicles would likely include having to change the guard rails along roadways within the town due to electric vehicles not meeting the weight specifications. He also noted the costs associated with adding charging stations at the highway department and retraining candidates on how to repair electric vehicles.