From left, on Saturday, May 18, at Bulk Trash Day, Kathleen Spahn, Kathy Chow, Henry Smedley, Supervisor Chris Kennan, Andrew Stayman, Chris Virtuoso. Not pictured are Deborah Maier, Matt Hartzog and Highway Superintendent Bob Stevens.
MILLERTON — Bulk Trash Day and a swap shop were held at the old town highway garage on South Center on Saturday, May 18, bringing in tires, refrigerators, mattresses and air-conditioning units.
The swap shop will be continued in the future.
Highway Supt. Bob Stevens operated a big front end loader for heavy stuff — like a large water heater — into separate containers for “landfill” and “metal recycling.” Stevens smashed it down and topped it with the mattresses for transport to Welsh Sanitation Services in Wingdale.
Last year, Bulk Trash day collected $1,430 in fees and was billed from Welsh $1,315. In 2022, fee collections totaled $454 and, pending current charges, billing was $1,250.
Numbers for this year weren’t available. Organizers reported collecting 11 tires and six items with Freon (fridges and A/Cs that need to be de-gassed).
Kathy Chow with mattresses and an old water heater. Christine Bates
Climate Smart Task Force member Andrew Stayman shows off the homemade pumpkin-launching catapult he built using a heavy-duty metal colander, latex tubing and a custom quick-release rig. Stayman has been engineering the device since September, conducting dozens of test shots using dumbbells. Pleased with the turnout at Eddie Collins Memorial Park Saturday - and the crowd’s enthusiasm - he’s already brainstorming upgrades for next year’s launch.
A homemade pumpkin-launching catapult sends gourds flying during the Pumpkin Smash, held Saturday, Nov. 15, from 2–5 p.m. at Eddie Collins Memorial Park. The event was hosted by the Millerton Climate Smart Task Force in partnership with McEnroe Organic Farm. Photo by Aly Morrissey
AMENIA —Before turning to its regular agenda on Wednesday, Nov. 12, the Planning Board heard a call from one of its members to consider placing a temporary halt on incoming applications.
At the start of the meeting, board member Ken Topolsky — who had just come from a meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee (CPRC), where he also serves — read a prepared statement urging a moratorium on applications until the CPRC finishes updating the town’s 18-year-old comprehensive plan. The CPRC, a subcommittee of the Town Board, has been working on the update for the past two years, he said, and has now compiled results from a town-wide survey.
“No one knows where Amenia will be in 2043,” Topolsky said, referring to the updated plan now being drafted, which will likely trigger revisions to current zoning regulations. “Planning must be done now,” he continued. “The future cannot be realized without change,” he added, saying the process is intended to ensure residents’ wishes are fully considered.
Planning Board member James Walsh expressed support, recalling that a similar pause was enacted the last time the plan was updated. “I was part of the committee that wrote the 2007 plan,” Walsh said, “and we did have a moratorium,” he added.
The Planning Board did not discuss or take further action on Topolsky’s suggestion.
The site of the proposed new location of Red Hook, New York, -based dispensary Upstate Pines in the historic weigh station building on Route 82 south of downtown Pine Plains.
AMENIA — Voters in the Town of Amenia narrowly rejected a proposal to allow retail cannabis sales, choosing instead to keep the town’s 2021 opt-out law in place.
Local Proposition No. 2 — listed on the back of the ballot — asked residents whether to repeal Amenia’s November 2021 decision to prohibit cannabis retail and on-site consumption.
The proposition failed by just 43 votes, with 560 opposed and 515 in favor. The margin was large enough to avoid an automatic recount under New York State law, which only mandates recounts when the margin is fewer than 20 votes or less than 0.5%.
Under the New York State Cannabis Law, local municipalities were required to opt-out of retail sales and on-site consumption of cannabis before Dec. 31, 2021. Amenia’s opt-out law, enacted that year, is part of the Town Code, under “Chapter 48: Cannabis.”
North East, Washington and Stanford town governments all passed opt-out ordinances prior to the December 2021 deadline.
Pine Plains will remain the only town in northeast Dutchess County that allows retail cannabis sales.
The Red Hook–based dispensary Upstate Pines is currently seeking site plan approval from the Pine Plains Planning Board for a proposed dispensary in the site of the historic agricultural weigh station across Route 82 from the Pine Plains Post Office.
Municipalities that opted-out may reverse that policy at any time.
Part of the tax scheme for retail cannabis is a 4% sales tax that goes directly to local governments. Of that 4%, one-quarter goes to county coffers and the other three-quarters goes directly to the town where the dispensary is located. If a dispensary is located in a village then municipalities have the option of creating a tax-split agreement or sharing the revenue equally between town and village governments.
MILLERTON — The Town of North East has scheduled a public hearing for Jan. 8 to gather feedback on long-awaited updates to its commercial zoning code.
The proposal represents the town’s first major zoning revamp in decades and aims to modernize regulations along the commercial corridor from CVS to the Connecticut border.
The recommended amendments are outlined in a 180-page draft that has been four years in the making. Officials say the document brings the code into alignment with its 2019 comprehensive plan, updates permitted uses and development standards, and clarifies key review procedures. Since the changes are extensive, residents and business owners are encouraged to review the proposal and participate in the upcoming public hearing process.
The Town of North East board unanimously approved a resolution on Nov. 13 to begin the local law adoption process – “Local Law B” – which calls for “certain amendments” to the North East zoning code and map.
According to the resolution, the town and its Zoning Review Committee have spent years refining standards that affect“definition of term, supplemental uses, specific standards, site plan requirements, procedural components and aspects specific to residential districts and uses for continuity.”
The recommended amendments were sent by the Zoning Review Committee to the town board in November 2024, and include many recommendations and goals of the town and village comprehensive plan, which was adopted in November 2019.
Due to the “volume of the changes,” the Town Board voted to forward draft documents to the Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development and the Town of North East Planning Board for preliminary review.
The public hearing on Local Law B will begin at 7:05 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2026, at Town Hall, at the start of the board’s regular meeting.
Town attorney Warren Replansky emphasized that the process will take time and there multiple opportunities for public comment.
“We’re actually going to start the public hearing process at a town board meeting where we don’t expect that we’re going to get through it,” Replansky said, calling the proposed amendments a “formidable document” at 180 pages. “I do anticipate we’ll have at least one more, maybe two more, public hearings depending on the input we get from the public.”
Copies of the proposed amendments to the Zoning Code and Part 1 of the full environment assessment form (FEAF) will be available for public inspection at the Town Clerk’s office during regular business hours. A copy will also be available at the NorthEast-Millerton Library and on the town’s website.
Residents can also attend upcoming Planning Board meetings, including one on Wednesday, Dec. 3, where the zoning changes will continue to be reviewed ahead of the January hearing.
“We’ll have a lot of opportunities for the public to familiarize themselves with the local law,” said Replansky.
