The Croton Board of Trustees moved an affordable-housing preference proposal through a public hearing and environmental review on April 8, while pressing for further study of school employees and future cannabis dispensary locations. The housing proposal was not adopted that evening. The proposed order of preference was straightforward: income-qualified emergency-service workers first, medical-service workers second and U.S. veterans third. The more difficult questions were how that system would work and whether educators could be included. Village Manager Bryan Healy emphasized that the proposal would apply prospectively. “This doesn't apply to previous affordable housing units. Those will, you know, remain marketed as as they were,” Healy said. Read 3:37▶

How the housing preference would work

Local Law Introductory No. 5 would amend the village's affordable-housing rules for units required in new residential developments. Applicants would still have to meet income requirements. A third-party administrator would handle the lottery and eligibility checks; trustees would not select individual tenants. Village Attorney Joshua Subin explained the order written into the proposal: “emergency service shall have first preference. Medical service shall have second preference. United States veterans shall have third preference.” Read 10:53▶ If no qualified applicant from those groups could be assigned a unit, the remaining eligible pool could rent or purchase it. Proposed law During the discussion, Healy corrected an earlier hypothetical suggesting the board could divide units among professions on a project-by-project basis. The proposal instead established the order of priority in the law itself. Trustee Maria Slippen pressed for a path to adding school employees: “What's the mechanism for us to go back to the recommendation from the planning board to add in people who are in education?” Read 14:09▶ Healy said the Housing Action Council, which had helped with the research at no cost, lacked the staff capacity to do the additional work after leadership and staffing changes. He said the village could look elsewhere for research, but would need data showing the preferences would not be discriminatory. The proposed law's statement of intent encouraged further study of educational employees. Mayor Brian Pugh connected that question to the budget under preparation: “if it's the case that we have to pay to get that information, that's a conversation we can have with also recognizing the possibility that the information, the data might not go our way.” Read 17:16▶ No members of the public spoke at the housing hearing. Trustees reviewed the environmental-assessment questions and waterfront consistency requirements; the manager said the resulting declarations would be prepared for a later meeting.

Cannabis zoning discussion

The separate cannabis discussion concerned both a pending application and future locations. Healy reported that the Engineering Department had received a change-of-use application for a dispensary at 370 South Riverside Avenue, scheduled for Planning Board review on April 14. Trustee Stacey Nachtaler urged the village to examine whether future dispensaries would fit better in the southern portion of the C-2 district, near the ShopRite plaza, where she saw greater parking capacity and access. “But what we can at least have a discussion around is future zoning,” Nachtaler said. Read 65:50▶ Trustee Nora Nicholson supported examining zoning options and raised concerns about preschool and daycare proximity. Healy corrected a distance figure raised during the discussion: he said the state spacing requirement between dispensaries was 2,000 feet in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 residents, rather than 1,000 feet. The discussion moved toward a work session with staff, legal advice and maps of the existing restrictions. No new cannabis zoning rule was adopted at this meeting.

Pressure for a Quaker Bridge update

Trustees also sought a clearer account of the delayed Quaker Bridge replacement. Healy said the county's last report had placed the project beyond its original June 30 completion target while it awaited an Army Corps of Engineers permit. Slippen described the questions reaching village officials: “this is a question that people ask frequently. What's the update?” Read 27:04▶ Healy said both Croton and Cortlandt had asked for information they could share publicly. Trustees discussed seeking a joint letter or other written update from the county. These were the project's reported circumstances on April 8, not a revised completion schedule.

Ticket amnesty and other actions

The board approved a three-phase court amnesty and compliance program covering tickets issued from January 1, 2018, through March 31, 2024. The program was scheduled for June 1 through August 31, with a 50% discount on outstanding fines and penalties during its opening phase. The agreement specified a first 30-day discount period, followed by compliance and collection phases. Fundamental Business Service Inc. would bear its operating costs and receive a collection fee under the existing arrangement; the agreement specified 29% of money collected after 31 days. Program agreement Trustees adopted a separate zoning cleanup measure, introduced as Local Law Introductory No. 3 and numbered Local Law No. 5 upon adoption. Proposed changes concerning domestic or farm animals and their setbacks had been removed for further research and a separate future law and hearing. That measure was distinct from the housing-preference proposal discussed earlier. April 6 update memo Gas-powered leaf blowers remained another issue for further discussion. Resident David Lowell urged stronger restrictions during public comment. Slippen proposed asking a village committee for recommendations, and Nicholson said the Conservation Advisory Council could take up the matter at its April 21 meeting. Pugh supported a work session after completion of the budget. Other approvals included $294,996.64 in vouchers across five funds; $2,185.71 in donated benches for Dobbs Park and Duck Pond Park, as recorded in the minutes; a $1,216 Camp Nabby parking agreement; a $207,381.54 police-overtime budget amendment reflecting reimbursements; $10,250 for Dobbs Park walkway lighting; and a $6,997.50 change order for the Van Cortlandt Manor entrance project. The board also awarded its screened-sportswear contract to Empire Printing, LLC.