Champlain-Hudson Power Express reps to return to Stony Point

Public hearings set for 2018 budget, tax cap override

BY KATHY KAHN

Three years have passed since the Champlain-Hudson Power Express came to Stony Point with its overview of the underground electric transmission cable it is laying from Montreal to Astoria.

Supervisor Jim Monaghan told residents at its board meeting on September 26 that CHPE has agreed to come back to Stony Point to give the public an update on its plans to change the original route from Waldron Cemetery and the CSX right-of-way to Route 9W.

CHPE said improvements would be made to 9W if the route is accepted by the NYS Public Service Commission. CHPE needs a permit before it can ascertain whether the new proposed route is feasible. No date for the public meeting has been firmed up as yet.

The public debate on the proposed draft law for solar arrays on public property continued at Tuesday night’s meeting. A copy of the draft law with changes can be found on the town’s website, www.townofstonypoint.org. The public comment period has now ended, but residents can send written comments to the Town Board by Wednesday, October 5.

The town is poised to begin a new round of budget hearings for the 2018 budget, scheduling the first of four public meetings beginning Tuesday, October 10 at the RHO Building at 7 p.m. It also plans to hold a public hearing on a draft local law allowing the town to override the property tax cap the same evening.

There was no public comment on the ongoing lawsuit between Rose Library and the town over the Town Clerk’s rejection of its filing for a referendum on the November ballot to raise the library’s current $255,000 annual budget to $972,000 a year. Rose Library plans to use the additional funding to buy the town’s first schoolhouse, built at the turn of the 20^th century and now vacant, for $1.4 million, and plans to renovate it.

“While the proposal has its merits, the paperwork was not properly filed to have the referendum on the November ballot,” Councilman Tom Basile told The Rockland Times.

If the library’s move from its current location to the historic school building ends up on the ballot and is approved, it will raise property taxes from an estimated $30 per year to $90 per year. It’s one of two libraries in the Stony Point—the other is in the hamlet of Tomkins Cove.

  champlain hudson power express, chpe, CHPE stony point, Stony Point