Town, Village review Comprehensive Plan status

Main Street gets new sidewalks on Monday, June 3, a project identified as a goal of the Comprehensive Plan.
Christine Bates
Main Street gets new sidewalks on Monday, June 3, a project identified as a goal of the Comprehensive Plan.
MILLERTON — Progress made by the Town of North East and the Village of Millerton to achieve the goals of the 2019 Comprehensive Plan was reviewed at a special meeting of the Town Board on Thursday, May 30.
The North East Town Board, Village Mayor Jenn Najdek and members of the Town’s Zoning Review Committee and residents collaborated in a discussion that evaluated actions taken since the Comprehensive Plan was adopted 4 1/2 years ago.
The plan was created with involvement of residents, business leaders and elected and appointed officials as a policy document to guide future decisions about growth, regulations and capital improvements. The overarching goal was to prioritize “economic and environmental resiliency” in a time of climate disruption.
“It’s a good time to look back at the plan, and its contents and goals, and to see what we have done and if it’s consistent or not,” said Town Supervisor Chris Kennan.
The plan lists actions that the Town and the Village could take over a decade or more, and categorized them as short-, medium- and long-term initiatives.
Edie Greenwood, chair of the Town’s Zoning Review Committee, which currently is completing a review of zoning in the Town’s commercial district, said the Comprehensive Plan guided the committee in its work.
The group reviewed the status of certain goals that were considered high priority in 2019.
Community Calendar
The consensus regarding this goal was to collaborate with the Village and the NorthEast-Millerton Library “to see what we can do to create a community calendar,” Kennan said.
Form new committees
One of the Plan’s goal is to form new committees as outlined in the plan. The group endorsed this strategy but also commented on the the challenge finding people who are willing to volunteer.
Town/Village meeting
Mayor Najdek and Supervisor Kennan were fully open to holding a joint public meeting in the future and to make it an interactive event.
“I’m all for it,” Najdek said.
Communication goals
Kennan, noting that no single mode of communication to reach a community can succeed, pointed to updated websites, especially for the Village, and the Town’s newsletter, which is sent to 350 email addresses.
Recreation, events
Mayor Najdek said the Village’s new recreation director will help organize events and activities, including a summer program for children at the park set to start in July.
Townscape also was mentioned, along with the North East Community Center, the library and the Millerton Business Alliance as contributing to meeting the Plan’s goals.
Major strides
Kennan lauded the work completed to date on engineering studies for the wastewater project and said that while financing remains to be achieved, the Village and the Town have made significant progress.
“The engineering work completed already moves us farther than many other communities I’ve talked to,” Kennan said.
The 2019 plan calls for improvements to the downtown sidewalks, and Mayor Najdek noted that with one side of Main Street completed, work was scheduled to begin this week on the north side of Main from Dutchess Avenue to the crosswalk in front of the library.
The Comprehensive Plan calls for ongoing improvements at Eddie Collins Park. Phase I was completed in 2022 after a $2.2 million renovation, and Phase II is designed to include a pool, bathhouse and community room.
“Five years ago we established the goals for Eddie Collins Park, for sewers and for sidewalk upgrades,” Kennan said. “That’s another check mark.”
The Plan is a large document that covers a range to topics from 5G wireless installation to parking-lot planning, along with housing, including affordable housing, zoning, agricultural matters such as “right to farm,” climate matters, and viewsheds, to name a few.
Kennan pointed to the plaque on the wall in the back of the Town Hall meeting room signifying Climate Smart Bronze certification, thanks to the North East/Millerton Climate Smart Communities task force.
One observation from the group was an assumption that many residents probably are unaware of the Comprehensive Plan.
Kathleen Spahn, who recently moved to the Village, told the group, “As a newcomer to town, I have to say that I was doing research on where to land and one of the things that I noticed in Millerton and North East was the existence of both the Comprehensive Plan and the climate task force, so I think that they’re big selling points for the area.”
In New York, the state legislature first enacted statutes that gave definition to Comprehensive Plans. “The comprehensive plan identifies what the community looks like now, what it should look like in the future (goals, objectives, principles), how the community intends to get there (regulatory standards, devices and legal instruments) and why it should be done (protection, preservation, conservation, enhancement, growth and development),” according to a legal memorandum issued by New York’s Department of State.
The Comprehensive Plan can be found at: www.townofnortheastny.gov/comprehensive-plan-2019.
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
AMENIA — After gathering comments from the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as it considers adding alternate members to those boards, the Town Board discussed possible changes to local laws governing those boards at its meeting on Friday, Oct. 3. The meeting date, usually on a Thursday, had been changed to accommodate a holiday.
In recent weeks Town Board attorney Ian Lindars has been compiling comments from the affected boards along with comments from the Town Board. The new laws may bring the appointment of two alternate members to each board. Alternate members are likely to be required to attend all meetings and be prepared to be seated if needed and be familiar with the applications being discussed. They would also need to take training required of all board members.
Lindars will prepare a draft of the new local laws to be reviewed by the Town Board and the affected boards.
As the Town Board begins work on the town’s annual budget negotiation process and anticipating an increase in some budget lines to accommodate major projects, the board unanimously approved three resolutions. The first will override the tax levy limit imposed on municipalities by the state of New York, a limit generally tied to the rate of inflation.
A public hearing on the proposal to override the levy limit was set for Thursday, November 6, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.