The Croton Conservation Advisory Council devoted most of its April 21 meeting to finalizing plans for the village's Earth Day celebration, but the briefest presentation may have carried the longest reach. David Lowell of the group Quiet Clean Croton introduced his organization's mission to ban gasoline-powered leaf blowers in the village and expressed hope for future cooperation with the council. Lowell has appeared before the Board of Trustees multiple times this year — most recently on March 25, when he pressed trustees on why a ban hasn't moved forward, and on May 20, when he argued that the machines run for hours in residential neighborhoods with no exhaust controls and no permitting process. Trustee Maria Slippen had asked at an April 8 Board of Trustees meeting what the proper procedure would be to advance the discussion. The CCAC took no formal action on the leaf-blower issue but heard Lowell out as a guest on the agenda.

Earth Day Takes Shape

With the event set for Saturday, May 2 — and a rain date of May 9 — the council worked through a detailed logistics checklist covering vendors, music, publicity, a tree giveaway, and children's activities. Trustee Nora Nicholson, who serves as a council liaison along with Mayor Brian Pugh and Planning Board member Steven Krisky, donated her water spigot to support the Garden Club's tree giveaway. Council member John Ealer agreed to create an online signup system for residents to reserve trees in advance. The live music lineup will feature Rose Cohen, School of Rock Briarcliff, and Mario Giacalone, with School of Rock providing sound equipment for all performers. The Hudson River Music Festival donated a pair of tickets for a raffle, with tickets to be distributed at the CCAC booth. Krisky donated raffle tickets and a bowl for the drawing. Council members divvied up flyer distribution across the village: Sherry Horowitz covering Shoprite Plaza and the Circle School, David Lowell taking the Route 9A corridor and several businesses, Ealer handling South Riverside Avenue from Grand Street to High Street, and Madalyn Bozinski and Shiloh Shea splitting the Upper Village.

CLEAN Collects 750 Pounds

Ealer reported that CLEAN — a council-affiliated volunteer group — collected 750 pounds of trash during a cleanup spanning roughly two miles along Route 9A, a stretch of Batten Road, and the area behind Sav-More Drugstore. The group's next cleanup was scheduled for April 25 at the train station. Members also discussed the challenge of runoff from the Croton train station parking lot, which gets caught in reeds or flows into the river and is difficult to clean properly. No solution was proposed.

Trails and Dark Skies

The council's trails crew reported two cleanups since its last meeting, with another planned for April 15 in conjunction with the Boy Scouts along Spencer's Trail. Further cleanups are scheduled for May 30 and June 14, with locations to be determined. A trails planning meeting was set for May. On dark skies, the minutes note that Jason Mencher — who was absent from the meeting — is assigned to draft a memo based on prior council discussion, with the ultimate goal of producing a letter of recommendation to the Board of Trustees. The draft will be circulated among council members first.

Other Updates

Madalyn Bozinski reported that consultants working on the village's Natural Resources Inventory were still finalizing their project, with no major updates since the previous meeting. The Garden Club held its first meeting of the growing season on April 19, the same day as a screening of "The Extraordinary Caterpillar" attended by about 25 people. At the screening, the council learned of a community and student garden effort at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School. Shiloh Shea had little to report on the Mayor's Monarch Pledge, noting that the plot he intended to use had been over-run with sewage and runoff. The next CCAC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20 at 7:45 p.m. in the Recreation Conference Room.