Town of Chester passes comprehensive plan, lifts building moratorium

The town of Chester continued its public hearing on its proposed comprehensive plan at the July 8 meeting of the town board. After four persons spoke the board passed the comprehensive plan.

“This plan is not perfect but it does a heck of a lot of good for Chester. It ends the wild west development and protects the rural and suburban character of the community,” Supervisor Brandon Holdridge said.

Holdridge summarized the plan at the June 24 meeting, saying it will ban data centers and large-scale battery energy storage systems, create a special use permit framework, create a land disturbance permit framework, beef up language on religious uses, fast food, day care, bed and breakfasts and solar projects and more.

The longstanding building moratorium on projects more than four units that has been in effect since the comprehensive plan process started has been lifted. The planning board figures to be busy in the upcoming months. The board also ended its temporary moratorium on battery energy storage systems, but the new code includes a permanent ban on such projects.

The 79-page comprehensive plan document can be found online at https://shorturl.at/Xn3fm.

Both Holdridge and Councliman Tom Becker took a moment to remember how much time the late Councilman Larry Dysinger had spent on the comprehensive plan. Becker said he dedicated his “yes” vote to the memory of Dysinger. Holdridge also took a moment to thank the plan’s chairman Matt Woods. He told the Chronicle that all the members of the committee should be eating and drinking for free inside Chester as a thanks for their service.

Dial-A-Bus deal with Monroe in the works

In other news, the topic of Dial-A-Bus was brought to the table by Merryl Newler. It so happened Holdridge had been working on creating a new deal with Monroe for the portion of the town in the Monroe-Woodbury school district. The deal would make Dial-A-Bus available between Chester and Monroe for those parts of town. Currently the town has an agreement with Goshen to connect residents with transportation between Chester and Goshen. Holdridge said that most of the people who use Dial-A-Bus are seniors.

Holdridge announced a $10,000 grant from the office of Senator James Skoufis to fund the annual senior picnic. The picnic used to be held at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center but since that has been sold to the county it will now be held at Carpenter Park.

The board set terms for its Preservation Plan Advisory Board, which was named on June 10. The five members will have terms of one, two, three, four and five years respectively. The board gave Tracy Schuh the five-year term, Michaela Hayes-Hodge the four-year term, Simon Ziegler the three-year term, David Stevenson the two-year term and Ivan Bonet the one-year term.

The board passed an agreement with Orange County for snow and ice control on certain county roads. The county will be paying the town $62,985 for the clearance of the roads during the winter.

The board passed a revision to Local Law 284 to include paving of Johnson Road. This will be paid for by a $115,000 grant from Senator Skoufis the town first attained five years ago.

The board approved a one-day request for filming of the Cabbage Film movie on July 19 from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. at 3424 NY 94 for the fee of $250.