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Rezoning the Town of North East
Mar 06, 2024
Town of North East
NORTH EAST — Every first and third Monday of the month, members of the Town of North East Zoning Review Committee (ZRC) meet at 4:30 p.m. to discuss revisions to the town’s zoning code.
The current six-member committee includes Dale Culver, Bill Kish, Julie Schroeder, Ed Downey and Dave Sherman. It is headed by Edie Greenwood and advised by land use consultant William Agresta. North East Town Board members are frequently in attendance at meetings as well. Transparency is key to the process with agendas published in advance and a public Zoom link available.
The group was appointed by the Town Board to update town zoning code in accordance with the comprehensive plan approved in November 2019 and has been meeting since July 2020. The priority is to update the zoning code for the town’s commercial districts including the Boulevard District east of Cumberland Farms on Route 44; the Irondale District, which is north of the village along Route 22; and the Light Industrial District, where Harney Tea is now located.
The committee has now simplified the Boulevard into two districts East and West of Kelsey Brook, and drafted new regulations that will include a provision for residential housing above retail and multifamily apartments. “We are encouraging walkable, affordable residential alternatives adjacent to the village,” commented Greenwood.
The first full draft of the reviewed regulations relating to the commercial districts is now being prepared by Agresta. Next, the draft package of regulations will be sent to the ZRC’s land use attorney Dave Everett of Whitman, Osterman & Hanna for legal review, with a turnaround time estimated by Greenwood to take approximately three weeks.
By June, the ZRC hopes to present a final version to the Town Board. After review by the town’s attorney, the document will be sent on to Dutchess County Planning and Economic Development for its comments, which may take another month. Once all this expertise is combined in a final version, the town will publish the large document for all to see and then set a public hearing date.
The public hearing may send the plan back to the drawing board on specific issues.
“It’s a balancing act of competing interests and views,” Greenwood commented. “This project is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever been involved in — not just the details, but the realization of the impact zoning has on our community.”
Bill Kish, a member of the Planning Board and the ZRC, observed: “Completing and adopting updated commercial zoning is critical to ensure the town’s future economic viability. Our existing zoning regulations are almost 50 years old, which is one of the reasons why our commercial districts have fared so poorly in recent years.”
Completely updating the zoning code from 1977 is a huge undertaking. Two former attempts were not successful, and over the years, the town made changes by enacting specific laws. The result has been zoning regulations that are inconsistent and patched together.
“What we are doing is taking a giant step backward,” said Greenwood in an attempt to connect and update the original zoning laws with the 2019 Comprehensive Plan.
The biggest changes foreseen are permitting residential in commercial districts and being more heedful of environmental issues, Greenwood said.
In preparing the revised code, the ZRC took over a year to review, update and expand the 32 pages of definitions that are the foundation of every zoning code. For example, Greenwood cited the 1977 definition of “family” referenced “family, domestic servants and gratuitous guests” and will now read “family, staff and occasional guests.”
North East Town Supervisor Christopher Kennan, who frequently attends ZRC meetings, understands why the revision is taking so long: “I am deeply grateful to Edie Greenwood and to each of the six members of the ZRC committee. They have worked for three long years, usually meeting twice a month, to complete this gargantuan task. Imagine if you had to take every single item in your house out of the house, inspect it, evaluate it, and record it. Every single item — every single dish, every stick of furniture, each item of clothing, everything. And then think if wasn’t just you, but actually six people, who all had to agree on what it was, what its condition is, and where it should be put back! Think about it. That’s sort of what a zoning review like this involves. It is very, very detailed work. And soon enough, their work will be presented to the Town Board, and it will be in our lap. Thank you, ZRC!”
Once the Town Board officially approves of the commercial portion of the zoning revision, the ZRC will next begin the task of updating the Agricultural, Residential, and Land Conservation zoning code.
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A Hospital’s History
Mar 06, 2024
When Sharon Hospital was founded in 1909, it was an eight-bed, two-nurse hospital in a rented house on Caulkinstown Road. In its first year, it served 88 patients. By the spring of 1916, thanks to the public-spirited generosity of the community that raised the funds for a building, a 16-bed hospital was officially opened.
The following day Dr. Jerome S. Chaffee, a surgical veteran of the Spanish-American War who was the moving force behind the founding of the hospital, performed an appendectomy in its new emergency room.
Over the years, the hospital underwent more expansion. In a 1969 Lakeville Journal article commemorating Sharon Hospital’s 60th anniversary, its history was described as “written by thousands of dedicated people who founded it, planned its development, staffed its facilities, financed expansion programs and, in many cases, became thankful patients. The article further noted: “A special feeling permeates the whole institution. Letters from appreciative patients and relatives emphasize the fine quality of patient care and the friendly, helpful spirit of everyone involved.”
While Dr. Chaffee is credited with starting Sharon Hospital, the success of the hospital as a cherished community institution that has provided acclaimed care for patients for all these decades is also due to the support from the people in our community. From the beginning, two years after the first patient was treated, a woman’s auxiliary was started, with 40 charter members who made bed linens, provided free meals for special occasions and pinch hit for staff when there was a shortage. The dream of Dr. Chaffee was realized in his lifetime. He died in 1947, and the hospital has grown and been supported decade after decade by an appreciative community. However, in the last two decades, it has changed hands more than once. In 2002 it became the first for-profit hospital in the state. In a 2016 takeover, it again became a nonprofit. Then in 2019, a merger folded seven hospitals, including Sharon Hospital, into Nuvance Health.
Last week, Northwell Health, the largest nonsectarian, nonprofit health care operation in the United States and the largest health care provider in New York state, announced that Nuvance and Northwell would combine. (See Nuvance Health to join Northwell). Pending state and federal approval, Sharon Hospital will join with Northwell, marking yet another significant milestone in the history of our rural hospital.
We can only hope that the leadership at the top of Northwell will preserve what the people of our community have built and supported and fought for over the past century, including the recent citizen campaign to retain labor and delivery services. In that engagement, the people of the state of Connecticut, represented by the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) and its Executive Director Deirdre Gifford, decided the outcome of a hospital request to terminate those services. The decision was not made by a large health care corporation.
In making the announcement last week, Northwell vowed to make significant investments in Nuvance. It would seem the timing is right. On Feb. 20, a little over a week before Northwell’s announcement and citing three principal factors, Nuvance appealed to OHS to reconsider its Final Decision to deny its request to close labor and delivery. “Good cause exists for addressing the degrading conditions for operation of the L&D service in an orderly fashion…before the Hospital experiences unavoidable service suspensions or safety issues,” Nuvance wrote.
Studies by the American Hospital Association point to hospital acquisitions as a way for hospitals to succeed in reducing costs and improving quality of care. Certainly the trend to hospital mergers is evident, affording scale and more standardization of care. Last year, Sharon Hospital was awarded its fourth consecutive 5-Star rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, based on patient experience and timely and effective care, among others. We imagine that Dr. Chaffee would be proud.
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The following excerpts from The Millerton News were com- piled by Kathleen Spahn, Vivian Sukenik, Nancy Vialpando and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the NorthEast-Millerton Library.
91 years ago: March 9, 1933
‘About Millerton’: Martin Black has recovered from his recent illness and is able to be out again.
Worthy Pulver, Harry Miller, Malcom Hunter and Thomas Flood were in New York City attending a Chevrolet meeting.
‘Lost’: Large foxhound on Mt. Riga. Blue, speckled brown ears, large collar. Louis Lindsay, Millerton
50 years ago: March 14, 1974
‘Residents Favor Odd-Even System’: Most Millerton citizens polled by The News this week reported that they approved of the odd-even gasoline rationing system in New York […] “It does seem to be working,” said Patricia Ambrose of Irondale. “I’ve had much less trouble getting gas than several months previously. There was less waiting in line.” The basic complaints were the hours the area fueling stations were open and the high price of gasoline.
‘Dairy Goat Club Seeks Princess’: The Progressive Dairy Goat Club is sponsoring a Miss Dairy Goat Princess contest. The Dairy Goat Princess must be between the ages 12-20, talented, single, and have an interest in goats. The prize is a $25 savings bond or a purebred kid goat.
25 years ago: March 11, 1999
‘Cub Scouts Display Craft, Sportsmanship’: The Millerton Cub Scout Pack 43 recently completed a family event. The youngsters built their own cars and spaceships, and then raced them […] The winners of the competitions were as follows: Den 1: (Space Derby) Larry Watson, Stephen Bradley and Charlie Porteus. Den 2: (Pinewood Derby) Rich Katan, Dustin Smith and Andrew Watson. Den 3: (Pinewood Derby) Nicholas Carlin, Richard Peek and Patrick McCaffery.
‘Three Plots Proposed for Historic District’: Three properties in the town of North East have been proposed for listing in the New York State Register of Historic Places. They are: The Dakin-Coleman Farm on Coleman Station Road, the Thomas N. Wheeler Farm on Indian Lake Road at Mill Road, and the Oliver Barrett House on Regan Road […] the properties will be considered by the state review board.
‘Residents Decry Lack of Town Support for Rec Programs’: A large contingent of parents appeared at the March 8 joint meeting between the village of Millerton and town of North East to support the formation of a joint recreation commission between the town and village. “The parents feel the board is dragging its feet,” said Joe Matteo, president of the Millerton Minor League. “We request it be done in a more expedited fashion.” […] “Financial sponsorship of the minor and softball teams over the past three years has come solely from the generosity of the merchants of Millerton and North East,” he stated. “No funding whatsoever has come from the village of Millerton or town of North East.”
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