Work Session
Alright. Good evening and welcome to our, thank you, board of trustees work session, for September 16. The first item of business is the approval of vouchers. Okay. Joe, in the absence of the treasurer, will you read the mattress? Yes. Thank you, mayor.
Okay. So for the general fund, $169,168.81. For the water fund, $2,428 and sorry. $26.20. For the sewer fund $17,418.68, capital fund $66,299.69, trust fund $15,552.65, Grand total $270,866.03.
Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachtaler. All in favor? Aye. Alright. Now we proceed to public hearing on local law number 15 of 2026 to amend chapter 31. Manager, village code I just helped you deal for one. Create the position of the assistant village manager. Do you have a motion to open the public hearing? So moved. Do I have a second?
Before we proceed to take any comment, let's let the manager come back and briefly explain it. Here
Alright. Manager, would you like to briefly explain the proposed local law? Thank you, mayor, and thanks for your patience, everyone.
So this local law, as it says, is being or was drafted to create the position of assistant village manager. This is a position that the village had previously from 2008 to 2015. And then in 2015, it was not filled, we had the position of secretary to the manager. And, you know, just based on the increased workload in our office, we're looking to no longer use that position and go back to the assistant village manager position. There's a lot of projects, a lot of research that's needed, a lot of collaboration with our state, local, nonprofit, you know, partners that we work with. And the it's just it it the position that we're looking for needs a higher level of skill. And so, we're not looking to add headcount. Right? We current in in my office, there were there were two people, and they're still looking to have two people. So, it's not a it's not an issue of adding staff. It's just an issue of, reallocating resources to better suit the needs of the village. So and, through the process of creating this position with Westchester County, they brought it to our attention that, you know, it it should be codified Mhmm. Because of the, you know, the responsibilities for the position.
So that's that's why we have are having this public hearing tonight. And this is a true deputy position, so it requires a certain level of confidentiality as well. So in other words, the deputy stands in for you when you're not available or or you're out of town? Yes. Yep. So it's a it's it's not just an assistant too. It's actually a deputy position. So because of that, the title is important for you to have in your books because currently, your law just has the manager
Correct. Position. Yeah. So it's a little bit of an unknown how we had it in the in the past without having it on the books, but You might have eliminated the position When with the vacancy. But it was never in the law. That's what I'm saying. It's it's kind of a mystery how it because, like, the county is not allowing us to create this until we actually have it on the books. So how we had it previously As they say, it was a different time. It was a different time. So but we're we're looking to do everything right this time. I'd like to Yeah. Manager just, you know, congratulate you for the initiative. You mentioned a few of the reasons why this is a
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 that we're trying to get done. Number three, we have a planner and a grant writer that we didn't used to have and that requires some significant oversight. We have, I I might say, an entrepreneurial board of trustees that's got lots of good ideas and and and is bringing new things to to the manager's desk all the time. We have issues that no one even thought of ten or fifteen years ago, like cyber security, which is really something that that the village needs to keep track of every single day. As as you know as everyone knows just from observing us in the last few weeks, we have we have growth in in in our committees over the years, but also we now are are are asking more of our committees and asking our committees to to deliver in in different ways and and be diligent in different ways, and that requires some oversight as well. We're being more vigorous as a village with our business community, and that's gonna require staffing as well. Intergovernmental relations, whether it be the federal government, state government, county government, that that requires some time. Lots of special events and projects in in in Croton, whether they take place in parks or elsewhere. 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 tragedy strike,
god forbid, that that number two person, that deputy, that assistant is ready to to to serve the village. So for all those 10 reasons, I think it's I think it's a great thing that we're doing.
K. Seeing no one else wishing to comment, do I have a motion to close the public hearing?
I would like to discuss it. Yeah. I'm gonna read the resolution first, then it will be discuss it. Yeah. Okay. The first Yes. I thought it was the opposite. Yep. We thank you. No problem. Motion and second, and then discussion.
Okay. Whereas the village board of trustees are desirous of creating the position of assistant village manager and whereas local law introductory number 15 of 2026 has been drafted for such purposes and whereas a public hearing was opened and closed on 09/16/2026. Now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby adopts local law introductory number 15 of twenty twenty six to amend chapter 31 manager village of the village code to create the position of assistant village manager, which upon adoption becomes local law number 12 of 2026.
agree with deputy mayor Simon on, you know, definitely. I know we talked about this role previously in previous meetings. Manager, you have so much on your plate that having a a really strong number two, you know, would would be great for the village. So no question, I feel like this role is is needed, especially from all my experience working in large scale organizations on very complex projects and budgets. You know, I understand what it takes to not only do you need to be helping drive future thinking, but also manage the everyday and a huge team of amazing people in the village. So my question is because now, you know, this is gonna become a new law. So I wanted to ask more around the process for it. So I know that this role, assistant village manager, if you could just remind us or you're saying that this role does not require board approval.
And we're making a law for this role, though. Is it an opportunity to for Croton, is there a a home role opportunity here for, like, Croton to say, you know what? This is such an important role that, you know, this person would backfill you if you're away or out. Huge visibility in this in this role. I personally feel it would be great if it had, you know, board of trustee approval even the opportunity for board of trustees to interview in, you know, for the role.
In the same way the manager is appointed? In that way? Clerk. Okay. Yeah. And the treasurer. Right? I mean, I guess I I would I would just say and
I know you are not meaning it in at in this way, but that's basically an attack on the cornerstone of the council manager form of government. Because the council, the board of trustees, right, is not supposed to be involved in the the hiring and firing of the administrative staff. So that's that's how that's how the council manager government is set up. You hire a manager who is, you know, directly responsible to you. If you don't like the decisions that I make, right, you can take appropriate action. So but the the day to day hiring and firing is done through me. And then so it's there's a distinction with the clerk In the in your state law. State law. Right? You know, basically, in a true council manager form of government, right, it's only the it's only the manager that the board hires, and then he hires or she hires everyone else. But because New York State law makes those distinctions, right, those positions are reserved to you, and then the rest are
for the manager. And New York State law makes those distinctions for the board weighing in on the man village manager, the clerk, and the treasurer Yeah. I believe. And and village attorney. Yeah. There are certain Yeah. There are certain mandatory
public officials that every municipal government needs to have. Yeah. And those mandatory public officials are appointed by the corporate board. So that among them is the clerk and the treasurer and the village attorney and, you know, the the the it's a sort of a a melding of this old repealed village law section and the requirements that are in the code in terms of mandatory officers in the corporation.
Yeah. I guess it for me, it's just it this role because it it's also as you said, it's a deputy position. And if you're not here, right, it's somebody that's acting in your capacity. So that's why I wouldn't be even having this conversation if it was like somebody else on your team that,
wouldn't be, you know, really filling your stepping into your your shoes for, you know, if you went away for two weeks or something.
It's in the purview of the board of trustees if they would like to make the appointment themselves. Although, as it's written now, it's it's the manager has been assigned the role of adopting the deputy position because you're adding it to your administration of village affairs chapter. So I don't know if there's consensus along these lines or whether point taken, you know, from there. So it's really
Well, I I think it's worth remembering that 99.9 something percent of the time, you know, this position will be acting as the manager's subordinate, not as the manager's replacement. And I think that having the board having them ultimately be responsible to the board kind of complicates that. I mean, we would have to think about, like, kind of a you know, could the manager discipline and remove them? I get I think probably not if they were,
you know, a board appointment. Yeah. And that's and that's a good point. Oh, that's a good okay. Yeah. That's because because the clerk and treasurer, you appoint to define terms. Right? So you appoint the clerk and treasurer to a two year term, and absent, like, constitutional offense, basically, they cannot be removed from office. So once you appoint them to those terms, they're they're in for those two years. Okay. You know, so this is I see. Yeah. It's not it's not the same because the assistant like, just like me, I don't have it. I don't have a term. You know, I serve at the pleasure of the board. So to say this employee is also not going to have a term, they'll they serve at my pleasure and, you know, with the with the protections of the civil service law. Mhmm.
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 important that that it's the manager because of that relationship who has to make the the the judgment with respect to both abilities and compatibility and looking exactly for for for the the role that you wanna see filled and and and and what particular abilities you want that that person to bring. And so I'm I'm comfortable leaving that to the judgment of of of the manager. Ultimately, what we're talking about is the office of the village manager. It happens to just have a few people in it. But within that office, I think it's it's important that that that the board permit the manager to make the the Mhmm. The personnel choices within that office.
Well, I think it would be helpful for the public to understand that, yeah, I personally wasn't involved at all in the recruitment or, you know, the job description or anything like that.
Yeah. Mhmm. At at the county, but it also leaves an opening for such other duties as may be assigned. Yeah. And and and that They did hire a search firm for this. I was gonna say, yeah, just that's a good it's a good point to remind the the public that we you know, the board did approve hiring the recruitment firm to help with to help with the search.
So could you because I know we've talked a lot about the hiring of the search firm at the time, but I don't I think it would be helpful for the public also to because we didn't really talk too much along the way about what the process was. Sure. So could you spend a little time talking about reminding us what the timing was Yeah. And what that process looked like and Yeah. Without I mean, obviously, without going into, like, specific details. But yeah. So we
shortly after the board approved the, recruitment firm, I started working with them as as the attorney mentioned. Right? There's a there is a prewritten job description that, you know, was used from the county as the basis. I recorded a video of, like, sixty or ninety seconds where, the recruiter was asking me questions so that it could be kind of shown to people as, like, a appetizer almost of, you know, what are the most important things, what's great about the village, that sort of thing. And they put together, a recruitment pamphlet that was posted on various websites. It was posted on our website. It was posted on the New York Conference of Mayors website. It was posted on LinkedIn, other other recruitment websites. And so there were a total of I wanna say almost 30 applications that were received through, you know, through reliable sources. Right? That those were the ones that were really looked through. And, you know, we looked at we looked at all the applications. It was paired down to nine that we that were put in, like, the first the higher the higher tier, I guess, of candidates. And then, there was an additional tier of 13 that were, you know, second potential second tier candidates. So we looked through the nine or I looked through the nine and identified five that I felt were you know, that should be interviewed based on their application materials. And the interview panel was myself, trustee Simon, village clerk Paula DiSanto, and, senior office assistant Maria Leda in the in the, clerk's office. So, we met with the five candidates. The first meetings were held on Zoom, so we had, forty five minute Zoom interviews, and, then we had a second round of in person interviews.
There was originally three there were three finalists that we wanted to meet with. One of those finalists, pulled out for personal reasons, And so we met with the two finalists, and then, you know, I'm hoping to be able to bring bring one of them on very soon. So the whole the whole process from start to finish probably took a little more than three months, I would say. Mhmm. So it was it was definitely, at least in in my view, it was a comprehensive process.
So the next steps right now is obviously hope hoping that this law passes this evening. We send this law to New York state, and then they file it. That's what we do with every law. Right? So it gets filed in this office of the secretary of state, and then I have to provide that documentation to the county so that they can approve the creation of this position.
acknowledge it before the position? Yeah. It it it can take anywhere from seven to ten days for them. It's not it's not a very long time. Yeah.
And then how would the public be made aware of who the the new village assistant? You'd have manager. Yeah. I think we would do an announcement.
So wait, can I ask an additional question? Not that's gonna change the outcome of that. But so now if there's gonna be an assistant village manager in your office, there have also there are two vacancies in your office currently?
Yeah. So And so what's the plan for filling those? Since this is a much more robust role than either of those were, what's the plan for Well, so the so the one position the the secretarial position is not gonna be is not gonna be filled, at least not at this time. Right? And then, the part time communications, position is we're gonna it's gonna be a wait and see right now. We'll see exactly because the the new assistant village manager is gonna be in charge of of that aspect. So I'd like to see what her take is on it before we before we make any decisions there.
And then in the budget, you know, if if you needed the additional help, the board would see those details in the budget in terms of salary line. Mhmm.
But although this was sort of a the realization that the assistant village manager position was not currently exist didn't exist in our law was a new it was sort of a recent revelation.
during the budget period. So the budget right now account has space for the assistant bill. Can you can you speak to that? Correct. I mean, good. The board right. We have been we've been discussing this now for a number of months. Right? And so the board allocated funds for this position in contingency. So at some point in the near future, we're gonna have a you'll have a budget resolution before you to move the money from contingency to the to the manager's office salary line. So the funds are accounted for.
Okay. So, there's a there's a draft local law that's included in the backup, that includes some regulations for adult use cannabis dispensaries. This is largely drafted, to conform with the guidance in the state's cannabis law as enacted by the murder, the marijuana regulation and taxation act. So, yeah, we can certainly look at what's existing in the law in case there are any questions. I think that most of this stuff has already been discussed by the board at various points and, is in a and, you know, there's consensus on it. What the feedback we're looking for this evening is this locations and the zoning districts where you would like to permit these activities. Right? Because currently, they are, permitted where retail is. So if you would like to change that or restrict that in any way, you know, this would be the time to to share those thoughts, and then we can move forward with the draft law being updated and circulated.
Because now you are defining adult use cannabis retail dispensary as a use, defined it, separating it from general retail. So you have the ability now to put it in your use tables. Limiting it or not limiting it, it's really you know, right now, it doesn't exist in the use tables. So it's up to you to determine where, if, when, etcetera.
So, attorney, if if you could just, you know, guide us in this regard. We we have the the the distance restrictions for both both state approved definitions of schools, 500, and then houses of worship, 200, and to the entrance door. So taking that into consideration, and manager, you know, feel free to jump in. What then are our options in terms of defining, retail portions of the of the village or other portions of the village as acceptable?
Well, like I said, you you're now specifically taking cannabis, adult use cannabis dispensaries out of general retail, and you're defining it specific as a use to be permitted.
And now you you can permitted in a specific Well, wherever you can is yeah. Right? I mean, one of the first things that I think there's already consensus on, but we can all just agree at the moment, right, is wherever wherever you're gonna allow this, you want it to be a special permit use. Correct? Yes. Correct. Right. So that's I mean, that's the first thing is it's gonna be a special permit use. So, you know, now, you know, you have different zoning districts. Right? You have your your your C 1, which is the Upper Village, your C 2, which is, you know, the Municipal Place Gateway and the South Riverside area. You have your C 1 R, which is the North Riverside Gateway, and you have the the 02, which is the North End Office District. That's the the North End Gateway. Right? So, I mean, you could you could allow it in any or all of those. I mean, you also have light industrial, which we've talked about. Yeah. You could allow it there, although there's not really a lot of opportunity for that just based on the limited number of parcels that are LI.
So so those are all those are all options for you to to consider.
Can you just remind me about the 02 Office District? Sure. Is that a specific shopping
area? So there there are eight or nine parcels at the north end of the village. So it's it's Albany Post Road north of Warren Road. Right? That's where the Pedro Rustica, right, that tile store
there's there's two other office type buildings there. One house is Conte Electric and I think the I don't know who's in the other one at the moment. So, you know, there's different there's different storefronts there and there's some vacant land there. You know, so there there's property there that has not been has not been built on or has the availability to be a potential location for this if that's what you wanted. Right now, the 02 I I don't believe at least the 02 allows retail. So, like, right now, they wouldn't be allowed to go there. Okay. Yeah. But it you know, you could allow this particular use there if you wanted to. Yeah.
I mean, from my perspective, right, I think the big concern for most people is proximity to schools Right. Or proximity to places where children congregate, which is to say the upper Village during lunchtime. Right. And therefore, I am basically fine, more or less. I mean, let's see if there are any exceptions that I've thought of, but everything except for C 1 in the Municipal Place Gateway because that basically takes out Maple Street in the proximity to the middle school that takes out the Upper Village. And you're at that point, all the remaining places are very far away from any school. And I mean, I would also throw in there the o twos and the allies. And then this is going a little further than necessarily the scope of this discussion, but I am fine with support treating retail of alcohol and tobacco in the same manner, which is to be clear, direct to customer sales, not like a restaurant that's selling beer or even a bar for that matter, but something that's just selling alcohol and there's, you know, there are very few cigar lounges. So I don't think we have to really worry about that scenario.
are you suggesting adding a definition for direct to customer sales of adult beverages?
I mean, that that is my personal suggestion. I don't know if that's the consensus of the board. And I would say direct to customer sales of tobacco as well.
Lori Lee, has there been any update on the legal cases that are happening in Riverhead and No. Kinda challenging the role of
They're in motion practice right now. So after that, they'll go into just the discovery phase of this. They'll do depositions, etcetera, etcetera. So, there's a long road to hoe to hoe in terms of getting to the end of, the supreme court, you know, at the at the trial level right now. So their litigation winds its way very slowly. I am monitoring it. I get notification when documents are uploaded or appearances are scheduled. I'm on the notification. But no, there's been no decision making, just appearances and motion practice right now.
I mean, this is especially in a new area of law, there's always gonna be cases and, you know, developments and our attorney will monitor them, but I don't think that absent a binding judgment with binding authority, I don't, you know, I don't think we have to worry about we'll address that when we have to, but right now Right. It's
you know, we we could be waiting months or years. Yeah. So How much of the well, I I would say a significant portion of the upper village should be protected by houses of the the 200 feet In houses of
theory, but we've been burned on this Okay. On the circle drawing. Yep. Because I I was I was gonna offer that. We Think about where we want it versus trying to imagine all the places that we don't want it. Yep. Right. Yep.
So the the C 1 R, the North Riverside Avenue location, is that restricted to North Riverside Ave? Or
There's there's two. There's the C 1 R A and there's the C 1 R B. So the R A is more of the business and the I'm sorry. No. The R B is more of the business and the R A is more residential.
actually took Okay. If you can just, you know, part articulate beginning and end streets for those. For
some reason, it couldn't send. That's fine. I can get it from the website. I'm yeah. And It's in it's in one of those buttons. This would this would be, an amendment in your, attachment b to your schedule of uses. It is part of your code and obviously I think there's consensus that it's a special permitted use and you'll be adding this new definition into the special permitting use in the particular districts as they're laid out in attachment b.
And it would be restricted to this particular location? Wherever would be where Wherever you determine
So so here's the zoom in on North Riverside. So you have, the C 1 R A is between Brook Street and Farrington. Mhmm. Okay. And then the C 1 R B, there's there's the the portion that is from there's a high street up to, basically, like, Senossewa Exit ramp. Right. Right? And then from Brook Street South to the Hudson Valley Hospital Center, the medical building there on the corner. Mhmm. So so those are the those are the areas.
In theory, if that's if that's what you wanna do. At the end of this Right. We'll I'll take down notes of all the places it's listed, and then Valerie and I will produce a table
So RA 40 is that's a residential Yeah. Zoning district. So that that's kind of a unbuildable parcel there. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yep.
I mean, so keep keep in mind, right, that a lot of that C 1 R B next to the medical center. Right. Right. A lot of that is now 25 South Riverside. So so that southern half, with the exception of the animal hospital and the the vacant building on the corner there, is now all 25 South Riverside.
Yeah. Correct. So the so the first right. So the the green parcel that's labeled o two, that's the medical center. Right, the the medical office. And then you have the there's three parcels right here. I don't know if you can see my cursor. Those three parcels are all 25 South Riverside. Would you mind zooming in a little more on North Riverside? Yep. That's as that's as far as I can Oh. Zoom in. Yeah. Sorry. Here's yeah.
Brook Street, you have Bank Street, you have Farington. Yeah. Correct. So I'm talking I'm talking all before Brook Street. Yeah. Yeah. So you have there's three parcels that are now 25 South Riverside and then you have the animal hospital and then you have that that vacant property at the corner of So Brook
3rd Universe near Bank Street? Correct. Yeah. So that's C 1 R A is where the Yes.
boat Used to be yes. Used to be Zoeller's. Yeah. It's not anymore, but, yeah, that's the boat shop. It's the firehouse. There's the Verizon building there. Mhmm.
Yep. When we're done we're not done. But when we're when we're done in the in the future, it might be nice just to have a kind of an overlay map so that we can see these these parcels Yes. And easily identify them.
C 1 R A I mean, I see blue color and orange color. Is that all in The r so the orange color is r b. So that's the two family zone. Right. Okay. Yeah. So whatever is whatever you see orange is is r b.
I mean, to my understanding, there's no school there. There's no house of worship there. The distances would still be
a prohibition. So you still have to meet the setback, but you're Yeah. Talking about the potential locations with with knowing that the they would need to meet the other distances.
I mean, I know they'll there are residents out there that are saying, why aren't we saying just ban them altogether? Can't do that. So right. And, attorney, if you can just Yes. You had an opportunity to opt out. In 2021. In 2021. Yeah.
And and because And I believe you opted out of on-site consumption. Correct. You did not opt out. Yeah.
And there's no going back at at least as of right now. When you know, under the current state law, once you've opted in, you cannot opt out. Correct. Yeah.
If you And the current, ShopRite shopping center area Mhmm. That's part of a a bigger zone area. Oh. That's C 2. Yes. Right. Right there. Which covers
is that where mindset is now? Well, I think and, I mean, I'll pose this question to the attorney. Could you allow it in the C 2 but not allow it in the gateway? Like, could you exclude it as a use in the gateway districts, but allow it in the underlining underlying zoning?
The overlay? Oh, yes. Correct. Yes. You can prohibit it specifically from the properties that Are within the within the overlay area. Yes. So because you because the ShopRite Plaza
is not within the gateway. It is not. So if you wanted, you could allow it potentially. You could allow it in the c two, but say it's prohibited in the because I know the mayor was saying he did not want it in the Municipal Place Gateway, so you could say it's prohibited in the Municipal Place Gateway, and you could say it's prohibited in the Harmon
Gateway. Both of which are are overlay zones, so you can add it as a prohibited use in the overlays.
And, you know, just in in case folks are interested, you know, of course, we have the one that's currently being constructed on the corner of, Riverside and Benedict. Attorney, could you, just articulate the, the minimum distance that any additional one would have to be I think it's the from from that one. Yes. It's the but the state law says the minimum distance is thousand feet. Thousand feet. So that that takes, takes into account
So and just another just another, point of interest here. So, the part the the office building at 75 South Riverside is zoned c two, but that's not within the gateway. So again, if you allowed it in c two but not in the gateways, then you would that would be a potential site as well. Right. So
and the because of the standard is it's not an unreasonable restriction. Mhmm. So in other words, you can't limit it to a zone that has three lots on it.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And the the future restriction in our Van Wyck shopping area, shopping center where there's currently a vape shop, there there's restriction on any any location near that one. Well, we now I mean, we have a law that's
already on the books that would not allow that shop. Right. You know, if that was to close for a year, a a new shop wouldn't be able to open there because it's within 500 feet of the school. So just, you know, just for clarification for again, those who are listening,
Harmon Harmon, South Riverside effectively out because of the existing one, and the Van Wyck Shopping Center effectively out as of the the the vape shop.
Well, no. It it's No. Cannabis in the vape shop doesn't impact the cannabis. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We we have a law a local law that says because we have a cannabis shop Sorry. We have a local law that says no cannabis or tobacco shop can be within 500 feet of a school. Right. But that law was not adopted until after Oh. So this so the current shop is grandfathered. Preexisting nonconforming. Correct. So that's a should it cease to operate A new one would not lose that
Yeah. So, just to recap, right, we've we've agreed that it should be a special permit use.
yes to the C 2 outside of the gateway. We're saying yes to the C 1 R A. We're saying yes
Personally. I mean, did you want did you wanna do the North End? Did you wanna do the North End gateway as well? Which is those areas North Of Warren Road.
Town. Correct. Yeah. I don't see a reason to exclude it from those areas. Yeah. I mean, I think I think it's it's an area that is not, I mean, I don't know I honestly, I don't even know if there's I think that first parcel might have a house and then the rest are are there's not houses. They're just businesses. Yeah. Yep. And it bolsters your case in case anything ever happens where you've added you know, you've given people three separate areas
And there where they could go. And there's some there's some vacancies and for sale signs up there. Yes. So what zone would that be? So
I and, again, attorney, I don't know. So it's it's the it's the o it's the 01. Okay. But we don't want to allow it all in the 01. Okay. It's just the North end gateway. Right? Because we also have 01 in the upper village, so we don't want it there. So
this this building is o one. I could open I could open one here. Yeah. And You could. No. You could. Did you did you That's a joke, everyone. Joke. That is And may your may your thoughts on l I? You can just go to us. No. I no. I think we should include it in LI. And that's where we started. I mean, as the manager said, bolsters the case that we're not trying to, you know
It it's reasonable. When when Greenberg first adopted their regulations, everything was limited to the industrial areas, which really I mean, I don't think way to go about it. But you can certainly, you know, bolster your reasoning Mhmm. You know, rationale. It's a rational way to think about it Right. To include all of the areas of these, commercial, you know Sure.
Well, I that's mean, there's no The first interest we had was in that in that region. Yeah. I mean, there's very few parcels within the LI, so I mean It's LI? Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it I don't think it causes any. Can you just point out the parcels in LI? Yes. So you have so you have lot a. Right? That's in that's in LA. Excuse me. You have, 2242 Dash 4 Coram Point Avenue, which is where the green growler is, that building. I mean, the whole train station property, all of Metro North, all of us, that whole area is within LI. The tire warehouse, 0.5 Moon Bay Drive is in LA. And then the old Croton North Train Station, most recently occupied by FA Berchetta electricians. So so that I mean, that's what I mean. That's it. It's it's it's really four four parcels that are that are in LI. Right. The only thing about that though is
it's kind I I view that as gate part of it is gateway. You know, you're coming off of your Route 9 and entering our village there on on Croton Point Avenue. I I would hate to see another shop open up there. We already have one around the corner. I I view that as as gateway.
Yeah. Well, similarly, I guess, you know, we we would need some measurements on this. I was gonna say I was wondering if though if those would be excluded because of the dink they might. Yeah.
Because if and I'm just, you know, speaking, you know, almost academically. But if you go back to back three years to the to the first interest that we had, it was in the ShopRite
Plaza there, the the My Three Suds location. But I would think that that's within the thousand I think that would be within the thousand feet Yeah. To measure it.
It's just a logical location because of the proximity to the train station. So it would be, attractive to a a potential license holder because of the foot traffic and the yeah. So
I think a lot of residents view that particular area as, you know, your entry into Shop the shop. Right. Croton. So
It's the From the front yeah. From the front door of 370 South Riverside to the front door of the realtor there Uh-huh. On 2 at 2 Croton Point Avenue. It was 983 feet. Yeah. So that so that air those How interesting. Yeah. So that area would be You know excluded anyway based on the The state law. The state law. Yeah. So And it'll be interesting though to see Yep. That that was an easy thing. See how you for something like that, how you define the door. Well, yeah. And that that's true. I mean, I'm going as the crow flies. Right? Because, you know, I don't I don't think that's exactly how it is defined. Is that how the measurement is done? No. That's what I'm saying. I don't I don't know. I just I just drew it from the front door to the front door. Yep. So I think that's how it's done, but I I don't know for certain.
And if the OCM, Office of Cannabis Management, changes the goalposts, right, and changes laws and says, you know what? Now we're gonna make it 500 feet for the second one, You know, could we come back together then and, you know, redo this exercise if
Sure. Would we be precluded from putting 1,000 feet in our own code? No. You wouldn't be at this point because it's no less restrictive
than the New York State law. So, generally, repeating that which you already benefit from is a a good idea. Yeah. I think whether it's distances
or, you know, a future map, I think any kind of specificity that we can have is helpful.
Yeah. But if you didn't put it because the the preemption language from the cannabis control board, again, a non rulemaking board that's making these decisions, the preemption language is all over their decision making. But if you do it now based upon the standard that's already set by the state, then you have a certainly a better you're in a better position to argue.
And, of course, we always quote the municipal home rule law. And, unfortunately, the three municipalities on Long Island also quoted that, but, the CCP came in and sort of cut that right out from under the those communities. So we'll await decisions, and I'm sure it'll go to the second department in three years from now. We're on a beach somewhere, retired. Mhmm. We'll have answers.
Alright. So how do people do we have consensus on putting that thousand foot in the Mhmm. I I would I would hope so. Okay.
And Peekskill did they also have a 500 foot They they're explicit in the 500 foot public youth facility buffer.
We could reiterate that. Facility then a catch all and would include No. It it's a You're defining it. Yeah. It has it has a very specific we don't have any because it has to be a a youth facility. Yeah. That's owned by the government. Right? Right. So it would have to it would have to be like a youth center or something that we so I mean, we we're gonna put the definition in our the day care. You're you're putting it in again because it's already defined in the state. You're putting it here to sort of preserve that. Yeah. But at at present, we don't have anything that qualifies. Okay. So, you know, if we were to get a community center, you know, something like that, you may be able to stretch that to be a youth a youth facility,
but it would really depend. Yeah. And I don't think this will happen, but should the New York State change it where they're increasing the footage from 1,000 to 2,000, then We can say know, if we can No. Less than come
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's good. I mean, we, know, we have to we update our laws as, you know, as as things change. Right? When we when when we first when we first had this discussion in 2021, right, we put a law into effect that had certain distance requirements. Right? And then the state came and made their own rules, and then we had to amend our law to take those out because they weren't enforceable. And, you know, so now we're back again making some more regulations. So it's just the code the code is a living document. It, you know, it gets updated.
Yep. And a question, just to clarify one of the laws that some of the the drafting there, it says, is it my understanding that we're saying you can't smoke cannabis right outside of the store outdoors? I know that's come up like the public has asked. Yeah. It's in there. It's in just there. Want the public to be aware of that. And I think that's a state I think that's a state requirement
as well. I don't think it's right? Is that Yes. It's part of the regulation. Not allowed you're not allowed to smoke the product. On the property. Yeah. On the property. Yeah.
Because, you know, recently, the with the tennis, the player stopped Oh, yeah. I heard that. Yeah. Because she was smelling Oh.
We had which had to have been illegal because I can't imagine that you could smoke regular cigarettes in the stadium. So, you know Yeah. Yeah. Because generally, the rule is where you're allowed to smoke cigarettes, you can smoke cannabis and vice versa. So Mhmm. But I highly doubt that they allow that in the And you are entitled to limit
on public properties and parks, and you can Yeah. We sidewalks and roads, and you can do that. And we've we've we have limited it in our parks. It's no it's not permitted in our parks. Right. Yeah. Either either one, cigarette, tobacco, or or smoke cannabis. Smoking of any kind. Yeah. Exactly. There's no Yeah. It's already covered. Yeah. It's already covered in the parks. Yep. Yeah. Very good. So people can play tennis free of smoke. Yeah.
That's nice. And and pickleball someday. Right. Someday. Yes. Careful what you wish for. A lot. We're defending a cause of action in Briarcliffe right now about pickleball.
Pickleball. So, manager, would you like to repeat back to the board what you think our instruction is? Yes. Okay. Yep. Okay. So Thank you. We're
going to list all dispensaries as special use permits. Got it. They're gonna be allowed as a special permit use in the C 2 outside of the gateway zones Mhmm. In the C 1 R A zone, in the 01 zone, specifically in the North End Gateway. And is that defined? Is the North End gateway defined? Yeah. It's one of our three Got it. Gateways. Perfect. Yep. And and in the ally.
Go. With the 1,000 foot. And I'm gonna add Yeah. And the 1,000 foot is gonna be spelled out. I'm gonna spell it out. Yep. Thank you.
Just like we are spelling out the youth Facility. Yeah. Facility. We'll put this in to make sure it's clear.
Well, that's discussion for the rest of the board. I mean, so just to clarify or or right. I mean, well, you're you're not talking about restaurants. Right? You're not talking about Bars for that matter? Yeah. You're you're talk you're talking about sales of alcohol and tobacco. Do What about, like, a what about a deli?
I mean, there would still be a lot of places where delis that sold alcohol and tobacco and
I mean, there there even be any preexisting nonconforming uses outside the zone at this point? Know that you I don't Well, I mean, you have two you have two delis in the R B. Mhmm. Right? Which, I mean, there I those are already pre those are already nonconforming uses. Right? They don't you know, delis aren't allowed in RB. I mean, I
don't I don't don't know. There's a fine line with preemption issues with, SLA licenses, package stores.
I was gonna say, what about places like I mean That's what I was gonna stop and shop sells. Like mobile. Right. Mobiles in the seat in the Municipal Place Gateway and CVS.
Package package stores. Obviously, if we're preempted, we're preempted, but I would make it as as expansive as possible. You know, if you're a gas station, you're a gas station. Not you know, that's your business. Mhmm. It would be easy for any any enterprise to lose its bottom line by selling an addictive substance in addition to whatever its principle is supposed to Mayor, in addition to the districts, would you would you include the the distance as well? Yeah. I would I would have it mirrored. Exactly.
for a use. I I mean, I I think cannabis. We could get some guidance on this from Nikon. I think I because I do I do believe there's a lot
more preemption with, the state occupies that field. So it could be a a difficult lift unless I could really, you know, look carefully at that level of restriction and definition. So, again, it would be it would be, incumbent upon us to do a general general code search to look to see if there anything
on the Right. Because, I mean, the state issues liquor licenses Correct. Exclusively. Right. For sales. Right? Not it's not just for consumption. Right? They issue them for sales at, like, mobile or, you know, any anywhere. So if I don't think if the state issued somebody a license, I don't how would we be able to Well Well, in the same way that we exclude,
Yeah. But there isn't there the argument being made is that the preemption is is not the same level of preemption that it would be for for adult beverages, that adult use cannabis dispensaries. There's there's a certain level of protection given because the state occupies exclusively occupies the field. And there's not there's not a provision that says like in the cannabis law, there's a provision that says does not it does not prohibit municipalities from making rational and reasonable restrictions that do not, you know, preempt. So That is not that is not there. That is not there in the SLA laws and the adult beverages, and there's a lot of case law that talks about preemption in terms of adult beverages and and what you can restrict, and the license really preempts the, you know, the local nitty gritty. So if it's the consensus of the board for me to look into that, I would like not to just add it willy nilly and then jeopardize this. Yep. That's a yeah. That's a very good point. You know, we can I can certainly do this research, this if if it's something that I wouldn't you feel strongly about? I just would caution against just adding it and make making up a definition without really making sure that you're protected. I I say, let's let's find the answer and then look at the options. Yeah. Sorry. It was pointed out to me that I neglected to
Correct. So just Yeah. In terms of we wanna include all the parcels in the North End Gateway, not just the 01. We wanna also include that that right there. There's that little blue Yep. C 1 parcel, which is vacant. It's vacant land right now. 01 in the North where and Gateway and C 1. And C 1 in the North End Gateway. Okay. Yes.
Yeah. We can get that. We can look at the information and see what comes of it. So Brian, where is that c one? The blue? So that is The blue. Yeah. It's it's vacant it's vacant land right now. It's actually it's behind Fino. You know where Fino is? Yes. Yeah. So it's it's the land behind Fino's Yeah. Parking So that's in the village.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's Does it is the municipal boundary cross the The municipal boundary crosses the party property. Bisects the property. Yeah. So yeah. It's a very it's a very interesting History there. Yeah. Very interesting way because, like, you know, as you can see, it's like it just that's just how they drew it. I don't know why, but that's how they did it.
Makes no sense. Mhmm. I I had a phone call today from somebody who was buying property off of, Furnace Dock Road and so very confused as to who who he was supposed to pay. And he's like, I just need to make sure I don't have any village tax bills. And I'm like, no, you are nowhere near the village. Confused because they have Croton mailing addresses even though they live miles and miles away from us. That's right. Yeah. I'm in Newcastle,
Millwood is three blocks Millwood Post Office. Well, we used to have blocks from A big portion of the of the problem is that we used to have a Krogers post office. Oh, yeah. And they closed that, and all the people in Krogers got Croton mailing addresses. So, you know, all the people that lived there when it was still Kruger's knew where they were, but now new people are moving in and, you know, they don't know. Right. So, anyway, that was a little off topic. That's okay. Did we have anything else on cannabis?
Thank you. Very good. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, attorney and manager.
Okay. So the C 2 outside the gateway overlay zones, C 1 R A, the L I, the 01 North End Gateway, and the C 1 in the North End Gateway. And I'm gonna add a thousand the literally take it verbatim and put in the thousand no less than a thousand feet. And then I'm also gonna make sure that we include it in the column that says special permit. Mhmm.