Village to combat large truck traffic with new local law

The Monroe Village Board discussed the possibility of implementing a new local law that would limit the size of vehicles permitted on certain streets along Stage Road from Orange Turnpike to Route 17M at its April 2 meeting.

The roads of concern include Schunnemunk, Forest, Franklin and North Main/Spring Street, each of which have varying restrictions on vehicle weight limits. During the meeting the board discussed implementing a universal weight limit for these streets.

Monroe Village Mayor Neil Dwyer commented, “We’ve identified all four streets with weight restrictions, but they are inconsistent.” He noted that all the streets are connected in some way, indicating that a truck could be within the legal weight limit on one road, and above one on another.

Dwyer said 11.5 tons, or about 25,000 pounds would be the ideal weight limit.

In addition to discussing vehicle weight limits on streets along Stage Road, the board considered whether an exception should be made for commercial vehicles making deliveries within the village of Monroe.

Monroe Village Board attorney Alyse Terhune commented, “The mayor’s concern is that these commercial vehicles will continue to go through these streets because they’re making deliveries somewhere in the village.” Terhune called on the board to let her know if they wanted to add or modify anything to the proposed law.

The board deliberated over having the wording of the law make exceptions for certain deliveries, notably those that were for local deliveries. The board’s concern was that oversized vehicles would use the smaller village streets to bypass the main roads.

Commenting on the use of the local streets by large commercial vehicles, Trustee Debra Behringer said that the board expects them to use routes 17M and 17.

Trustee Andrew Ferraro echoed those sentiments: “You shouldn’t have a delivery truck that large in the tiny village with tiny roads. They should offload to a box truck or a smaller vehicle for local deliveries,” and said the village should look into limiting larger tractor trailers from accessing local roads.

The board agreed that the language of the law should include an exception for deliveries on the applicable street themselves, and attorney Terhune confirmed that she would draft a proposed local law for introduction at the next village board meeting that incorporated this caveat, as well as the weight requirements.

Geese control

During Tuesday’s meeting, the board also announced that it has reached an agreement with wildlife services for the management of Canadian geese in the area. Dwyer shared that wildlife specialists will search Crane (the Millponds) Park and nearby properties (at consent of the owners) three times during the Canadian goose nesting season. In addition, the village will conduct nest treatments and implement other non-harmful methods to mitigate the geese situation.

“We met with a couple of folks that came up from an advocacy group. The discussion circled around what mitigation techniques we could use. We’re going to be incorporating those mitigations as per their recommendations as well as working with the USDA on this. Hopefully it will make a big difference for the village of Monroe, its residents, and the quality of the park,” said Dwyer.

Other business

At the meeting, Trustee Ferraro brought up the status of eruvs (wire boundaries around an area that enables observant Jews to carry items on the Sabbath and other religious days), noting that legal notices had been put in the paper.

Dwyer confirmed that they should be coming down in two areas.

“What I’ve been working on since last year is working with Orange & Rockland utilities and the local religious community to get permission to create a section for now that would carry the ability to serve as an eruv through a licensing agreement.”

The Monroe Village Board also approved April 16 as the date for the public hearing on the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning on June 1 and ending on May 31, 2025.