There will be no Supervisor’s Update today, because there is absolutely no Town news to report.
Just kidding! April Fool’s! It’s been a very busy week, in spite of the fact that the Board did not meet Tuesday. (For those who don’t know, the Town Board holds Work Sessions on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, and Legislative Sessions on the second and fourth. No meetings are scheduled for fifth Tuesdays, if and when they occur.)
The highlight of the week was Wednesday night’s trail walk in Ryder Park, led by the Environmental Advisory Council (EAC)’s high school representatives, Ella Castrillon and Ben Mahood, with some assistance from Craig Stevens, the Town’s arborist and tree warden. I was in attendance along with Town Board Member Angelo Manicchio, Budget Director Victoria Cafarelli, Town EAC members Sr. Anastasia Lott, John Ladd, Mitzi Elkes, and Donna Sharrett, Village EAC member Kate Schlott, OHS Science Research teacher Angelo Piccirillo, Town Planner Valerie Monastra, Patrick Vipperman, chair of the Ossining Parks Habitat Stewards program and his wife, Celine, and Mitzi’s husband, Stephen.
Ella and Ben are working on a proposal for a signage project in the trails at Ryder Park to educate members of the public on the trees and other flora and fauna that comprise the habitat in Ryder Park. Last night was a fact-finding mission to learn more about the trail and brainstorm where there should be “stops” along the trail for visitors to learn more with signage and QR codes. We look forward to hearing their proposal, and exploring how the Town can help bring this exciting project to fruition.
While we were there, we also got to check out the site of a new trail connector that will be constructed this spring by volunteers from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, with the help from our Town Parks Department. The areas of our parks dedicated to “passive recreation” require a bit more care and attention, and we are grateful for the advocacy of our EAC and volunteers for focusing on these areas and helping to get this important work accomplished.
We are also celebrating some very good news this week. Earlier this month, we had our annual site inspection with our Workers Comp carrier, New York Comp Alliance, and we received some great news – the Town had no workers comp claims in 2021! Huge thanks to our entire staff for taking the time to exercise caution and be safe in the workplace, and our Department Heads, especially Highway Superintendent Pete Connolly and Parks Foreman Mario Velardo, for enforcing the Town’s safety protocols on a daily basis. This is good news for the Town’s bottom line, but more importantly because it is so important to us that our staff shows up to work every day happy, healthy, and safe. Keep up the great work! We celebrated with a little pizza party today, joined by Town Board members Liz Feldman and Angelo Manicchio.
April is Earth Month! This year, Sustainable Westchester is marking the occasion by promoting GridRewards and encouraging folks to sign up. We’ll be promoting the program on our social media feeds (@townofossining on Facebook and Instagram) and in the Green Living section of the Update!
Lastly, we will be discussing our Comprehensive Plan again at next Tuesday’s Work Session. For those who are new to the Update, click here to read more about our Comprehensive Plan, called “Sustainable Ossining.” Since our last Public Hearing, we received some input from the Westchester County Planning Board that we are incorporating into the updated draft. We will have some special guests from County Planning joining us on Tuesday evening to discuss their comments, and the Town Board will discuss how we can incorporate their comments into the draft at this stage. Although we had expected to have a draft for public review before this Work Session, the comments from County Planning are significant and touch on important issues relating to affordable housing that we need to consider before developing potential revisions to the plan. You can read the comments from County Planning via the Google Drive folder with all the supporting documents associated with Tuesday’s Work Session.
Our Comprehensive Plan will guide all land use planning and decision-making processes for the next decade. We are extending the public hearing to the April 12 meeting, and at our April 12 meeting, the Town Board will decide whether or not to continue the public hearing. We are definitely getting towards the end of this process, so if you want to have a say, now is the time!. This meeting will be hybrid (Zoom and in person) with Zoom info posted to our website the Friday before. The public hearings are always at the top of our agenda - right at 7:30pm - so if you would like to speak, please be sure to come on time. If that timing is challenging for you, you can always provide written comment as part of the public record in between meetings (or in addition to meetings, if you have more to contribute) by emailing the Town Clerk at . We will share the updated draft ASAP, in advance of the April 12 meeting.
The Comprehensive Plan is quite a document and a lot to take in. Our consultant, Chris Rice from WXY, recommends that if you have 5 minutes…read pages 34-35. If you have 15 minutes…read pages 1-45. Or, if you have an hour, read the whole draft! If you would also prefer to watch and listen instead of read, you should check out our Town Hall meeting from February 15, 2022 on YouTube, Chris gives an excellent presentation on the Comprehensive Plan and we hear from some members of the public as well.
Ramadan Mubarak! Today is the first day of the spring holiday for many and we wish everyone who celebrates blessings, joy and peace. We will see you soon - stay safe and be well!
--Dana
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