Fire station loaned money for renovation
The South Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. will get $2.5 million in tax-exempt financing to renovate the station at 409 Dix Ave. Glens Falls Bank and Trust Co. will issue the 26-year loan to the company, with town approval. In discussing the matter Monday Dec. 7, the town board of Queensbury reflected on the need for renovation instead of total rebuild. It has been six or seven years of planning, board members said. “It's good to see this coming to fruition in terms of getting this going,” said board member, George Ferone.
After the vote, supervisor John Strough addressed officials of the company in attendance: “Good luck, guys, I’ll give the bank a call and tell them everything’s a go.”
Controversial development withdrawn
Rockhurst LLC has withdrawn the application to subdivide a lot on Lake George’s Assembly Point. The plan put forward by Chris Abele of Rockhurst LLC and Environmental Design Partnership’s Dennis MacElroy took a beating at the Town of Queensbury Board meeting Nov. 16. A dozen or so neighbors, including some who hired attorneys, spoke against the plan since it required a variance that would move a septic system closer to the lakeshore. Most of the people speaking on this referred to the algal bloom that flourished near Assembly Point just weeks before. Read earlier coverage, here.
Building permit fees are rising in Queensbury
Town of Queensbury building permit fees are up. This is the first time they have risen since a vote in late 2017.
“We don’t make money on this, we actually still lose money,” said supervisor, John Strough at the Dec. 7 town board meeting. “Our fee structure is very low compared to other municipalities.”
The minimum fee for a deck is now $140, or $0.25 per square foot, whichever is larger. That’s up from $125 and $0.20 respectively. The permit for a garage on a residential home will run a homeowner $0.35 per square foot or $200, up from $0.30 or $175. See the full schedule here, page 3 (the old rates are on page 6).
Stray animals
Warrensburg and the Town of Bolton received official letters of disconnection from the Glens Falls Animal Hospital. Both municipalities sent whatever stray animals came their way to that animal hospital. Reached for comment, the veterinarian’s office said COVID was forcing a change in how all the work is completed. “We just need to focus on being an animal hospital and not stray dogs,” the office manager said. Warrensburg has contracted with Countryside Veterinary Medical Group for future services.
Schuylerville’s meeting hacked
At 7:42 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 9, Mayor Dan Carpenter of Schuylerville closed the village board meeting abruptly after the zoom meeting was hacked. The screen-sharing attack included a movie scene of a man on a phone and another video of someone cooking beans before the mayor, who approached the meeting room’s camera said: “I’m closing the village meeting.”
Shortly before that happened about eight names had entered the meeting within seconds of each other. A couple had their microphones unmuted.
The issue was an unintended consequence of another issue. The village had moved laptop and camera that records the meeting away from the conference table to allow the entire board to be seen at once. During previous meetings only the mayor could be seen.
However, that meant the meeting had no electronic waiting room so that anyone could join and the board would not need to stand every few minutes, walk to the computer, and admit people. That ease of access was enough for the hackers. The full meeting was recorded, and the issue will be rectified before the next meeting.
Correction, Dec. 11, 2020: We misnamed the Mayor of Schuylerville in the first posting of this story. He is Dan Carpenter. It has been corrected.