Anthony Macagnone of Amenia shakes hands with Jennifer Buitrago, the housing and financial coach for Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County on Wednesday, July 31 in Millerton. Habitat CEO Maureen Lashlee looks on as the partnership agreement is signed.
MILLERTON — Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County’s (HHDC) board of directors met on July 25 to approve the family elected to the house in the Town of North East.
The Macagnone family of four has been chosen to move into the HHDC house at the end of winter. The Macagnone’s have two children, a 15-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, who attend Webutuck School District.
Jennifer Buitrago, the housing and financial coach for HHDC, said the family was elected by their committee members, and the final step was for the family to be approved by the board of directors.
“He thought ‘Maybe I wasn’t selected,’ and a couple of days went by, weeks progressed, and he said he was going to text me just to thank us for the opportunity,” Buitrago said. “He had a 360 spin.”
The house is approximately 1,400 square feet with three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms on a half-acre plot of land.
Nine families were eligible and being considered while finding new homeowners. Under an affordable housing initiative, the program allowed families to apply for this ranch-style house at 30% of their household income. The Macagnone family has been paying more than 50% of their income for their housing cost.
“They really do reflect exactly what we are doing this for,” Jennifer Radicone, the COO of HHDC said. “From the standpoint of HUD’s recommendation of paying no more than 30% of your income, it is almost flipped for them. Somehow they have been managing to survive and this is going to give them a new lease on life.”
The Macagnone family said they frequently swim in the Rudd pond, and the other day, when their daughter was supposed to swim with friends, they stopped to look at the lot of their future home.
“They are beyond thankful and say God works in many different mysterious ways and are very excited for their next chapter,” Buitrago said.
On Thursday, Aug. 8 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. HHDC will hold a volunteer presentation at the North Eeast Community Center at 51 South Center St.
AMENIA — With the goal of engaging with the Planning Board by describing potential short and long-term changes to the Silo Ridge Master Plan of Development, representatives of Silo Ridge led a workshop session at the regular meeting of the Planning Board on Wednesday, July 23.
An application currently under consideration and public hearing that will continue at the Planning Board’s Aug. 13 meeting would eliminate planning for 13 townhouse units, substituting 10 condominium units located on a single lot within the Silo Ridge development. The workshop session reviewed conceptual drawings showing potential future units and other amenities to enhance the future whole.
“We are seeking to work with the town in a constructive way,” said Silo Ridge President Saul Scherl as the workshop began. His comment echoed a similar statement offered at a September, 2024, Planning Board meeting at which administrative reorganization of Silo Ridge was announced. At that meeting, Scherl had spoken of working together with town officials to achieve goals.
Before introducing Patrick O’Leary, Silo Ridge consultant, to review the master plan, Scherl invited the Planning Board to arrange a visit and tour of the Silo Ridge community in the coming weeks. After the tour, Silo Ridge would continue with a series of workshop sessions with the board.
“We are seeking a method for agreeing to a system of planning units to avoid the need to return for plan modification approvals,” O’Leary explained.
Specificity was seen as key to progressing toward such an approval system in the view of Planning Board member Ken Topolsky.
Topolsky thanked the Silo Ridge administration for last winter’s opening of the skating rink to the community on selected days, for the new Silo Bakery recently opened in the town center, and the active engagement of Silo Ridge residents in the town’s efforts toward community development planning.
“These efforts are not going unnoticed,” Topolsky said.
Planning Board member James Walsh was seeking more representation of aesthetics in the conceptualized drawings, more horizontal views rather than overheads. O’Leary replied that such details would be presented following the workshops.
“We’re not expanding; we’re just moving pieces around,” O’Leary said in response to Walsh’s inquiry about provision for workforce housing. He added that there are no plans to house workers internally on site at Silo Ridge.
Millbrook’s Nine Partners Meeting House at the corner of Church Street and Route 343 was the site of two lectures on the history of Quakers funded by Rev250 grants.
Just in time for the upcoming commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 19 Dutchess County historical societies have been awarded $100,000 in grant money by the Dutchess County Legislature.
Announced by Dutchess County Historian Will Tatum at a December 2024 meeting, all twenty historical societies in the county would have the opportunity to apply for the grant in tandem with the anniversary, known as Rev250. The funds have been allocated to support a wide variety of programs, events and exhibits across the 19 historical societies.
Dyan Wapnick, president of Pine Plains’ Little Nine Partners Historical Society, said the pool of funds was originally $75,000, but was increased to the final amount of $100,000 due to impressive applications and detailed plans.
“Of the 20 historical societies, 19 applied, and out of 27 project proposals, 23 were funded,” Wapnick said.
Robert McHugh, president of the Millbrook Historical Society, described the application process as competitive. “We had to lay out our plans for publicity, for what audience we hoped to attract and what we wanted them to take away from the programs,” he said.
Although there were a wide variety of possible programs, Wapnick said, “the minute the grant was announced I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to write a play about the experience of Pine Plains Revolutionary War widow Mary Ingalls applying for her husband’s pension in 1842.” The story had inspired Wapnick ever since she came across the Ingalls’ records in the National Archives.
Following the themes set by the grant, “The monologue theme chosen is ‘Power of Place’ and the play theme is ‘We the People,’” Wapnick said.
Wapnick took to writing the play herself, “the development and writing of the play has taken the most hours,” she said. “Even though I had much of the research material on hand or available through online websites like Ancestry.com, I still had to tie it all together with a storyline.”
Along with Wapnick’s play, “Widow’s Weeds,” which will take place at 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Stissing Center, there will be a full day of activities from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Graham-Brush House. Events include blacksmith and cooking demonstrations, tours of the house and talks and reenactments of Revolutionary soldiers, all of which are free.
Similarly, the Millbrook Historical Society has added additional programming with the allocated funds from the two grants it received. The first allows for the society to bring in two speakers to the Nine Partners Meeting house for lectures on Quaker history. Professor Sara Gronningsater from the University of Pennsylvania spoke on Quakers, Manumission and Abolition on Sunday, June 29, and Professor Carl Lounsbury from the College of William and Mary spoke on Sunday, July 27, on the architecture of the Nine Partners Meeting House.
The other grant, which includes four different Quaker meeting houses, will allow for tours open to the public on the first Sunday of each month from noon to 4 p.m. until November.
For McHugh and the Millbrook Historical Society, events that centered on Quaker history were “an obvious solution, because the Quaker meeting house that we have in Millbrook is probably the most historically important building. It is from 1780.”
McHugh also noted that Quaker history in Dutchess County is intertwined with the American Revolution, and therefore, a valuable outlet for the funds they received.
Although unrelated to the Rev250 grant, the North East Historical Society plans to explore and discuss the effects of the American Revolution through an exhibit at the NorthEast-Millerton Library during the month of November. They will also host a presentation by historian Anthony Musso on effects of the Revolution in the Hudson Valley on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. in the Library Annex.
Along with Millbrook and Pine Plains, historical societies in Amenia and Stanford also have big plans for events made possible by grant money.
The Amenia Historical Society will host a lecture about the journal of Cadwallader Colden, a Loyalist imprisoned in Amenia during the American Revolution. The event will be presented by researcher Jay Campbell on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. at the Amenia Town Hall Auditorium.
The Stanford Historical Society plans to host two free lectures by Professor Dillon Streifeneder at the Stanford Free Library on Friday, July 18, regarding post-Revolution changes in government, and Friday, Sept. 19, about the town of Stanford as it became an independent town in 1793.
The grant allows smaller towns and historical societies to acknowledge and teach about their rich history and role in the American Revolution. “We are immensely grateful to the county for its generosity and interest in promoting local history programming into its towns,” Wapnick stated. “We are hopeful this continues our efforts to bring local history programming to the community and make the public aware of the events that have shaped small rural towns like Pine Plains.”
McHugh put it simply, the programs “wouldn’t be happening without the funding,” he said.
McHugh noted that this is a way to draw people to Dutchess County and spread its history. “It’s an endorsement,” he said. “This is actually important and the people in power who allocate funds support this kind of effort. I think it’s a good sign.”
The new concrete culvert will carry the Shekomeko Creek under Route 199.
PINE PLAINS — Construction on Route 199 between Chase Road and Schulz Hill Road where crews are replacing a culvert is moving along on schedule.
New York State Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Heather Pillsworth provided an update to the Millerton News over email on Monday, July 28.
Pillsworth said crews have moved the new concrete culvert into place. Construction began on Monday, June 23, and is scheduled to continue until Aug. 31.
Route 199 is closed between Chase Road and Schultz Hill Road while construction takes place. A posted detour routes drivers north to Ancramdale via Route 82 and Bean River Road to avoid the closure.
Pillsworth said the Department of Transportation expects to reopen Route 199 later this summer, weather permitting.
MILLERTON — The Village of Millerton announced two initiatives aimed at improving communication and simplifying utility bill payments for residents.
At a Village Board meeting on June 10, trustees approved a two-year contract with the SMS-based tool TextMyGov, which is now active. The two-way communication system enables the village to send text alerts during emergencies or for timely announcements and allows residents to report issues such as water leaks, potholes, stray animals or code violations. Residents are encouraged to save the village’s texting number, 518-672-6100, and use keywords to stay informed and engaged.
In addition, the village has partnered with Xpress Bill Pay to offer an online utility payment option. Residents can view their bills, make payments via credit or debit card or electronic funds transfer and access their billing history. Quarterly email reminders will notify users when bills are ready. According to a user manual created by the village, it is free to sign up for Xpress Bill Pay service, but some billing organizations charge a transaction convenience fee.
Additional information can be found at www.villageofmillerton-ny.gov.
