Len Simon

an appropriate initiative on on our part. I just came up with my own list, and you you mentioned a couple of them. But the the massive growth in federal and state regulations, number one. Number two, project delivery. We have more and more projects t…

And and and probably the most important one, I've always, you know, been been told, it's the most important responsibility of the number one person to have a number two person. So that should should he or she need to be away for a while or should tra…

Yeah. And I think that that relationship between the village manager and the assistant village manager is perhaps the most important staff relationship that that we will have in in village government once once it's established. And and I think it's i…

say also there's been a lot of ongoing interaction with some of the stakeholders within the map. Yes. Whether it's nonprofit or individual merchants or businesses along the way, you know, very, very much focused on on treating it like a learning expe…

will be the the real round, the real funding round will be kind of open. And Yep. Yeah. Anyone can. Anyone we will be applying, but so we'll Private. Private. As mayor as mayor Hsu taught us on Thursday night, there's there's no once once we if we we…

feeling when you arrive by train in Croton. Yeah. And I would just expand that to say there might be a way for us to just invite Metro North into the process, you know, with us. And Yeah. With, I I think, what trustee Nicholson said is a very high pr…

over the years, there might have been a courtesy meeting at the very, very early stages, you know, where folks come in and say, hey, we have some interest in a potential project. But when it gets down to the the submission level in terms of the docum…

somebody's trying to get a sense of, you know, how much opposition am I really gonna take if try to do something. Right. Or how does how does this fit with your comprehensive plan? But as you know, chairman, as you know, the these would tend to occur…

Yes, mayor. If I could, I just wanted to make a couple of quick comments. I wanna say, first and foremost, that the Village Board of Trustees has worked hard on local law introductory number 10. The purpose of which is to amend our zoning provisions …

The job of the board of trustees in the weeks ahead is to continue to work hard on this bill, but to do so in a way that bridges that divide. That's hard work, and it must be done seriously and without distractions that would tend to divert this boar…

She advised me that anytime I feel I cannot be objective as we go forward, I should recuse myself. Today, I feel as objective as I've always been on the issues surrounding local law introductory number 10. My goal in this and other legislative endeav…

On July 24, I sat in on the quarterly Zoom that congressman Lawler has for for local elected officials in the district, and he gave us a a quick briefing on the housing bill, the road to housing, which we've talked about briefly here before. Some wor…

Our engineer, our planning staff, and our village attorney are really, really doing a fantastic job in in making sure that we're going step by step and and holding holding the proposed, you know, developer to a very high standard. And the the the abs…

Dwayne Jackson and Joe Serrato are are great reenactors doing that in blistering heat, you know, just wearing wearing these heavy cotton, you know, or whatever they were, burlap colonial uniforms. And it was especially I'm so grateful to the village …

August 19.

But it does have the planning board's eyes on the fact that and their discretion of whether or not that would be an appropriate action. And we of course, the neighbors would, you know, be able to see it in the agenda, etcetera, etcetera. So It by the…

If if we're if we're finished with this segment, I just wanna tell you, Valerie, how remarkable I thought this work was and I really how much I appreciate it. I think we all do. Thank you. Thank the the whole secret thing, of course, is a great unkno…

I'm I'm just for looking at straight up zones and put doing the hard push on all these things. Mhmm. What I call, you know, the regulated substances. I would call them vices. Well, that is that and that's why Yeah. Adult entertainment zones. Right? I…

Okay. Okay. You're very good. Thank you. Just a a couple of small things and then a couple of somewhat larger, but I'll I'll try to be brief. On yesterday, our rotary meeting, we we were honored to host six high school students from around the countr…

So new a new law, it's called the twenty first century road to housing act, and probably it's the most significant federal housing law in the last last thirty years. It's got lots of interesting provisions. Many of them are what's called on the congr…

Now what what I what I did wanna focus on also is a stunning development just just yesterday. As as you may recall from some of our previous meetings, as part of the legislature's work earlier this year, they passed what amounts to a one year morator…

And I I would just say, manager, and thank you for the for the lead in just in terms of some of our discussions. And I I thought the, the draft of local law 10 was was excellent. What I've what I've interested in seeing added in there is is some some…

thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So just a few things here. Our Westchester Municipal Officials Organization met on June 18, the executive committee. It was the first meeting since the legislature had wrapped up in Albany, and we spent a good amount …

And but they gave a report on on their very vigorous participation in in Summerfest, and that'll lead to eventually the doing similar work on our national night out, which I think is August August 2, I think it is. But but certainly a very those firs…

what I said earlier. We have an excellent battery energy storage system regulatory approach. We worked on it as a board with a lot of community input, including the the sustainability committee, but many others as well under the guidance of our engin…

No. Not May, June? No. It's it's the June. It's the June 1. Yeah. Default. Mhmm. No. I think I think she did a I think she did a good job. I like that approach. There's, you know, a couple of things I'd, you know, probably think about enhancing it wi…

but in a less formal way. Yeah. I think it's it's, you know, pretty much functioning that way now. It's, you know, fairly infrequent meetings as as committees go. And, you know, just based on, you know, just as an example, the Coach Dobney event a we…

DRAFT Planning Board Meeting Minutes June 23, 2026 8:00 p.m. PRESENT: Rob Luntz, Chairperson John Ghegan …

So a bunch of stuff. First of all, trustee Nicholson and I as liaisons to the school system are involved in in a task force that's been put together with our our support, the school support on getting the schools involved in our composting program. A…

So congratulations to Favio. On June 6, we had our yacht club commissioning day, and I was honored to participate with the mayor. And congratulations to the club for their really selfless work in restoring all of the infrastructure that was so terrib…

It requires the legislation that passed the legislature requires environmental impact assessments and new rate classes for electricity and water usage and labor protections on the development of data centers. But most specifically, it includes a one …

So moved.

So moved.

Well, mayor, first, going back to, our budget, consideration in the in the spring leading up to adoption of the budget. At the end of April, I'm I'm very grateful that we set aside funding for the future hiring of of an assistant village manager. I t…

And, you know, particularly since I I, for one, would would not look forward to tasking the the manager with with the additional work of having to go through what I I consider to be, you know, one of the most important hires that we've had in the vil…

And I I'd like to just add a couple of things for their consideration. One is that understanding that it's a new chair for the committee, and the committee hasn't addressed this issue for a while with that understanding. But to ask them to give us th…

Valerie, thanks very much, for the memo and and the map. I think it's wonderful. And, you know, we we've talked about some of this before. And and, you know, from my own perspective, I'm I'm just, you know, with you completely on the approach and, yo…

Then Very soon. Resume. Sorry to interrupt Right? And and first of all, it's so great having Valerie here issue after issue. So glad glad you're here. Lined up. Yeah. And I I think you very very good job on this. I got some specific points on that. I…

DRAFT Planning Board Meeting Minutes May 26, 2026 8:00 p.m. PRESENT: John Ghegan Geoffrey Haynes – Acti…

And that's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you, trustee. I'm gonna do this as a lightning round real fast. We had the opportunity, mayor, manager, and I to sit down, I think it was last week, yes, May 7, with the Westchester Alliance for Sustainable S…

So we're looking forward to their comments. We thank them for for for their hard work on that. The trustee Nicholson and I met on the fifteenth with our school liaison count counterparts. So very productive. I wanted to take a minute just to congratu…

She's outstanding when it comes to these ribbon cuttings for our business community that that she's doing more and more of, and she's working great with our with our ABC, which is going on all cylinders. But, also, if folks get a chance, go go and sa…

DRAFT Planning Board Meeting Minutes May 12, 2026 8:00 p.m. PRESENT: Rob Luniz John Ghegan Geoffrey Haynes Steve Krisky Eva Thaddeus ALSO PRESENT: Vincent Salanitro, P.E., Village Engineer Jeannette Koster, Village Attorney (via Zoom) Bill Brady, AIP…

Mayor, ordinarily, I find, you know, one, perhaps two items to mention about, that are on the consent agenda, but I actually have a few a few more because they're they're, in in many cases, just all all such good news. I just wanted to congratulate o…

On the April 27, we had just a wonderful event at Croton Landing with the Open Space Institute, which is now put on a revised and updated sign where there's sort of a fork and the the the walkway splits in two. It's actually very near our Peace Pole.…

She she put together an excellent textile recycling program, and and, I was I was impressed by how much was there and how ambitious her plans were for that. So, thank you to Matt and Dana on the bicycle pedestrian side and to Cheryl on the sustainabi…

Speaking of the heart committee, the heart committee met on April 9. The mayor and I were there. They continue their good work. There'll be an announcement and invitation forthcoming to the community shortly regarding their next great event honoring …

That one, we we learned in in some of the some of the remarks that some of the organizers had made about one in three of our Croton kids participate currently in Little League. So that's that's pretty amazing. On April 14, that last Tuesday, trustee …

On April 15, I was very pleased to, along with the mayor, provide some information to town of Bedford officials who are interested in what we've done in the in the housing area and discussion on some of our projects. And it's I think it's always enco…

VILLAGE OF CROTON-ON-HUDSON ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS DRAFT MINUTES OF TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2026 PRESENT: Doug Olcott, Acting Chairman Bill Goldsmith Matt Berger ABSENT: Jam…