Village Wins $353,744 Sidewalk Grant; Trustees Address Committee Minutes Controversy Over the Chronicle

The Village of Croton-on-Hudson will get long-sought sidewalks along Municipal Place and South Riverside Avenue after winning a $353,744 Westchester County complete-streets grant, Village Manager Bryan Healy announced at the July 15 Board of Trustees meeting — one of several money matters on a night the board also loosened its decade-old debt policy and queued up a new round of state grant applications.

The sidewalk project, which Healy called "a long desired project," 7:15▶ will also receive $100,000 secured by Assemblymember Dana Levenberg. Design work begins this year in coordination with the county, with construction targeted for next summer. On the consent agenda, the board adopted a revised debt policy that removes a sentence committing the village to never issue more debt than it pays off in a year. Healy said the clause mattered when the policy was adopted ten years ago, when the village carried almost $40,000,000 in debt, but had become restrictive as major infrastructure projects converged. "It's always been my goal to pay off more debt than we incur," 15:27▶ Healy said. Simon called it impressive that the village has paid down $10,000,000 in debt over the last several years. The revision also corrects the policy's fund-balance range to 17% to 25% and updates its dollar figures. Mayor Brian Pugh tied the change to this year's budget priority survey, in which a plurality of residents favored bonding for major projects over the alternatives of deferring maintenance or preserving reserves at the cost of larger upfront tax increases. The same consent vote authorized a slate of grant submissions: a Consolidated Funding Application for engineering work, an Urban and Community Forestry tree inventory, a Water Quality Improvement Project application, and a Water Infrastructure Improvement application for the Harrison Street water project. Trustee Stacey Nachtaler flagged that the Harrison Street application commits the village to a $370,000 match, a richer local share than the fifty-fifty splits on the other applications; Healy explained that if the application succeeds, the state will provide 70% and the village 30%. Deputy Mayor Len Simon thanked Healy and the village's grant writer for assembling the applications, and Healy in turn credited Superintendent of Public Works Frank Balbi and his team for pulling together much of the supporting information.

In separate resolutions, the board accepted an $8,500 proposal from Princeton Hydro Engineering for a comprehensive water and health assessment of Kaplan's Pond, including an inspection of its earthen berm by certified dam inspectors. Healy said the community surrounding the pond had asked for an outside firm with no connection to it, and that the work could begin as soon as August. The board also re-established the HEART Committee as an ad-hoc body that will honor at least one Croton resident, business or group annually, relieving its volunteers of monthly-meeting obligations; its next ceremony is August 1 at Van Cortlandt Manor. Healy's report carried news beyond the sidewalk grant. Westchester County has officially begun the Quaker Bridge replacement, with demolition of the existing structure scheduled to start Monday, July 20; the bridge's commemorative plaques were removed and are in DPW safekeeping. The engineering department deemed complete a special permit application for a multifamily building at 425 South Riverside Avenue, which goes to the Planning Board on July 28, with application materials posted publicly on July 24. Village Attorney Lori Lee Dickson added that under the new special permit code the application must also be transmitted to the trustees, opening a thirty-day window for the board to comment. Healy also reported 13 leaf blower violations issued since June 1, road milling and paving underway on Cleveland Drive and Old Post Road South, and wildfire-smoke precautions that closed Silver Lake early and postponed a movie night. Public comment returned to familiar debates. Gwen Cianfaglione of Mountain Trail welcomed the Quaker Bridge work but pressed the board to make the dog park more welcoming to non-residents: "A lot of people, some new to Croton, some not so new to Croton, are expressing to me that they don't feel that way about Croton, which kinda breaks my heart," 28:24▶ she said. Ned Rust of Morningside Drive urged a full-time ban on gas leaf blowers, citing Mount Sinai research on harms to yard workers: "In the history of America, there are moments where we stop doing something that, while easy and cheap, is just plain not good for us," 32:38▶ he said. Ed Riely of Truesdale Drive defended utility contractors against criticism from the dais, said it was pathetic for a village committee to attack a newspaper in its minutes — even one he disagrees with half the time — criticized the IDEA Committee as insufficiently diverse, and voiced objections to CVS over abortion medication. The committee theme carried into trustee reports. Nachtaler, responding to recent news coverage of village committees, noted the board only published its committee guidelines in May and called compliance "a little bit of an iterative process," adding that when the Chronicle came up at the committee meeting documented in those minutes, no trustee was in the room — and that had she been there, she would have said it was not an appropriate topic to discuss. "Personally, I'm grateful for the Croton Chronicle," 43:39▶ she said. "While I get criticized from the Chronicle, I still appreciate that it's here." 43:39▶ Pugh defended the volunteer bodies: "I think that our committees should be judged on their work product and not stray remarks or the table talk of a particular committee meeting," 65:03▶ he said, praising the IDEA Committee's pride flag raising and Juneteenth programming. Simon briefed the board on the governor's surprise executive order imposing a one-year moratorium on hyperscale data centers of 50 megawatts or more while the state builds a regulatory framework — including suggested community investment of roughly a million dollars per megawatt — though Healy noted such facilities are not currently allowed anywhere in the village. Pugh closed by confirming that Con Edison was issued a citation after work that went beyond the terms of its permit, quoting President Roosevelt that "the right of the people to own and manage their own utilities may need to be the birch rod to do the work when scolding is insufficient." 66:36▶ Trustee Nora M. Nicholson was absent on medical leave, and Trustee Maria Slippen was expected to join the meeting late. Upcoming village events include the Croton River Community Panel on July 18 and the America 250 reenactment at Van Cortlandt Manor on August 1.