There will be a meeting of the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council this evening at the Firehouse

Agenda follows:

I.      Call to Order/Announcements
 

II.     Approval of Minutes from Meetings  of November 13 and December 22 (special)
 

III.     Status Report and Discussion of Events Relating to Comprehensive Plan and Rhinecliff since December 15
 

IV.     Update from Town Board Liaison
 

V.     Proposal for Rescheduled Special Meeting on Traffic Concerns, January 22
 

VI.     Old Business
 
VII.   New Business
 

VIII. Adjournment

Joel Tyner will be co-hosting a meeting with Central Hudson at the Village Hall at 76 East Market Street (in Rhinebeck) January 8th at 7 pm-- titled "Speak Out: Response to Ice and Snow Storms"-- please come out and share concerns and suggestions on how Central Hudson and others might better prepare/respond to ice/snow storms and power outages in particular...

Update-- Central Hudson spokesman John Maserjian has confirmed that Steve Burger, Manager of New Business Services for Central Hudson, will be present and participating as part of the panel tonight...

Town of Rhinebeck Emergency Management Coordinator Henry Campbell will be on the panel tonight, as well as Rhinebeck Town Highway Superintendent Kathy Kinsella.  I've also invited John Murphy (Dutchess County Emergency Response Coordinator) and representatives from Rhinebeck and Clinton town government as well...

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From recent Gazette Advertiser-- "Ice Storm Cripples Region":
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20222825&BRD=1702&PAG=461&dept_id=69079&rfi=6 .

Dec. 12th Pok. Journal-- "60,000 Without Power; Ice, Fallen Trees Close Taconic: Shelters Open"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20081212/NEWS01/812120350/-1/comm19 ...

Last Tuesday's Daily Freeman-- "Outages Persist in Dutchess"
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2008/12/16/news/doc494714f96a8e6726409733.txt
The issues/suggestions below have already been made by some Northern Dutchess residents:

90% of folks (according to some) hook up generators wrong way dangerously backfeeding into houses:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/1846297.html ;
http://www.portlandgeneral.com/safety_and_outage/outage/generator_safety.aspx ;
http://www.ravallielectric.com/safety_energy/safety/generators.html ;
http://www.tpcg.org/view.php?page=generator ;
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7148585/description.html ;
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7148585.html .

In the summer of 2008 we at rhinecliff.org were very fortunate to have a discussion with Randall Arendt about the proposed comprehensive plan and its impact on our community. Given the recent votes of the Town Board concerning the Rhinecliff extension, use of the Holy Cross site, and other changes to the Comp-Plan, we felt this discussion would help educate the community and the Town Board about the need to adopt a truly "Comprehensive" plan for the community. One that plans for the future, preserves the extremely important historic district, and does not reward a single out-of-town developer at the expense of the community. All of Mr. Arendt's concepts are expressed in alternative "F" of the DGEIS. 

This video discussion is shown for the first time today (January 6th) and is exclusive to rhinecliff.org

Please leave your comments below:

There will be a special Town Board Meeting at 6:30 pm at Town Hall for a Comprehensive Plan discussion with Town consultants. We don't have any further details on this yet. We will post details as soon as they become available. There is no mention of this meeting on the Town web site at this time.

Video invitation to the January 6th meeting from Supervisor Tom Traudt.

Video clips from the December 15th Town Board meeting. While board member Dod Crane explained the significant problems of developing the rhinecliff extension as described in the Comp-Plan, board member Dan Staley expresses his desire to see substantial development in Rhinecliff and the need "to make it worth some developers time and money"

Please leave your comments below:

In an effort to shed light on the controversial Town meeting that took place on December 15th we have extracted two clips of video from the meeting.

Rhinebeck Town Board Comp-Plan and zoning workshop12/15/08 Holy Cross video clip:

Rhinebeck Town Board Comp-Plan and zoning workshop 12/15/08 Rhinecliff extension video clip:

Please leave your comments below:

You can now watch the complete video of the controversial meeting of December 15th and the meeting of December 30th

Please leave your comments below

In perhaps the most well attended Town meeting in recent memory, just a day before new years eve, a hundred or so residents showed up to voice strong opposition to the votes cast by the board on December 15th.

By 7:30pm the board had finished Town business and opened the floor for public comments. First up was Rhinecliff resident John Lyons. He read from a letter that spelled out the adverse impacts on the community and ended by urging the board to reverse their decision. (Click HERE to view letter)

Mr. Lyons was followed by Rhinecliff Advisory Council member Tom Holsapple who read a letter from the Council that spelled out the Council's dismay over the Board's actions. (Click HERE to view letter from the RAC)

Morton Road resident Michael DeCola spoke next and handed the board a petition signed by more than 100 residents requesting additional public hearings given the substantial changes made to the original Comp-Plan. Mr. DeCola was interrupted by Supervisor Traudt’s informing the room that the votes of December 15th were simply to “tell the Town’s planners what to look into.” Essentially the board said the votes of December 15th were not final votes, just a “poll” of the board for the purposes of a working meeting to direct planners to “look at issues”. This explanation did not sit well with anyone in the room. Chants of “read the minutes” (of the last meeting) could be heard for several minutes. Clearly uncomfortable, the board attempted to explain why they had no minutes prepared from the last meeting.

Additional members of the community spoke as well as Jeffrey Anzevino from Scenic Hudson (Click HERE to view letter from Scenic Hudson) The comments were unanimous in their disapproval of the Board’s actions.

During this holiday season the Town Board voted 5-0 to amend the Comp Plan to allow 200+ units of senior housing at the former Holy Cross site.

The addition of 200+ units of allowable density is a substantial change to the original DGEIS document. Proceeding to an EIS at this point would be a mistake, and unlawful.

We urge all residents of the Town to sign this petition to create a supplemental DGEIS document. It is imperative that there be new public hearings to review this significant change.

This is a new concept modeled on the success of Berkshares. 

Rhinebucks are a local currency designed for use in the village and town of Rhinebeck. They are issued by Rhinebucks, Inc., (what will be) a non-profit organization working in collaboration with local businesses and service providers located within the geographical boundaries of the Village and Town of Rhinebeck.

CLICK HERE for more info.

Morton has provided access to free books, entertainment, and cultural events for the past century. Help Morton provide services for the next century and beyond by donating whatever you can afford. Click here for more information.

IMPORTANT MEETING

Where Do We Go From Here?
 
On December 15, the Rhinebeck Town Board voted 3-2 to keep the proposed Rhinecliff Hamlet Extension in the Town Comprehensive Plan – despite years of strong and consistent opposition to the proposal in its various forms from the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council and residents of Rhinecliff.  In addition, the Board voted 5-0 to amend the Comp Plan to allow up to 200 units of senior housing at the former Holy Cross site.
This special meeting has been called to hear from the public about the Board’s actions, and to discuss possible strategies for the Hamlet moving forward.  Please plan to attend if at all possible.
 
Monday, December 22
 
6:30 p.m.
 
Morton Library

Posted December 18th

Last Monday (December 15th) the Town Board voted 3-2 in favor of leaving the 49 unit Rhinecliff extension in the Comp Plan. Members Bruce Washburn, Dan Staley, and Supervisor Tom Tradut voted for the extension while Members Dod Crane and Ellen Silverstein voted against the inclusion of the extension.

For three years the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Committee has recommended against this option and most recently on September 26th, the council voted 7 to 1 in favor of Alternative Plan F, which would not have allowed for such an extension. 

In addition, Randall Arendt, one of the nations leading landscape planners, recently met with the Town Board and members of the community in an effort to explain why such an extension was not practical from a developer's perspective. Mr. Arendt clearly indentified the area for the proposed Rhinecliff extension as having steep slopes, wetlands, and poor drainage, making it completely impractical for small lot development.

The terrible flooding experienced by the Stortini development is the result of poor planning and is exactly what  three members of the Town Board just advocated for Rhinecliff in voting for the inclusion of the Rhinecliff extension.

In voting for the inclusion of the Rhinecliff extension in the Comp Plan, these two board members and the Town Supervisor have completely ignored the wishes of the Rhinecliff community, both large and small land owners, farmers, the recommendations of the Rhinecliff Advisory Council, and the sound advice of the top conservation planner in the country. These actions have placed the Town in a precarious legal limbo with many lawsuits sure to be filed. It is truly astounding that in these economic times the Town should embark on a path that will surely end in a protracted and extremely expensive legal battle.

Rhinecliff.org will be following these developments in the next few weeks and you can look for comprehensive video and reporting in the days to come.

Morton's Accoustic Show Featuring E.C. Lorick, Sean Crimmins, Drum & Banjo Corps, Peter Micos, The Riches. Click here for more information.

While most of Dutchess and Ulster counties can expect to have power restored by tonight, some communities in the central and northern areas of Dutchess may have to wait until Tuesday or even Wednesday for their lights to turn back on.

READ MORE from The Poughkeepsie Journal.