Minutes of the Charlton Environmental Conservation Commission Meeting – March 27, 2006

1.   The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm with members Marv Schorr, Midge Dube, Lane Jastrebski, Doug Ranaletto, Teddi Smith and Bob Killeen in attendance.

2.   Minutes of the February 28, 2006 meeting were approved without change.

3.       Marv reported on the March Town Board meeting. The County may expand the Ag district and some of the change change may be in Charlton. There is a new cell phone tower proposed at the intersection of Rt. 67 and Good Rd. in Milton. The plan for the new Town Hall now targets April 17 to send out the bid package. Tony Ward has been hired as the owner rep on the construction of the new Town Hall. Sunday on the farm this year will be at the Smith farm in Charlton.

4.  Town Board Agenda Meeting: The Town Board discussed changes to the proposed local law to control            outdoor wood burning furnaces. The changes are based on comments received at the public hearing       primarily from the ECC. As per the ECC comments, coal will not be a permitted fuel and the setback to         the nearest         neighbor residence is back to 200 feet. Stack height is still not addressed, but the Board promised to re-examine that in the future if smoke is a problem as the ECC expects it to be. The Board        will       vote on the revised law at its March meeting.  The Board also asked the ECC to look at the local law      on         outdoor open burning. The permit process appears to be a problem. The Town Clerk currently       issues the permit after the Zoning Officer signs off on it. Neither of them is happy with this arrangement.            The ECC discussed the process. The time frame for the permit is also an issue. It currently is issued for    1 or 2 days only. It was agreed by the ECC that it should be issued for the length of a project so that a      rainy     weekend would not require getting a new permit. It should not be issued for an entire season. The             Town Clerk might be authorized to issue the permit without ZO signoff except where an unusual material            (other than the material currently allowed) is being burned. If an unusual material is to be burned, then ZO       signoff should be required before the Town Clerk can issue the permit. There should be a caution on the          permit referencing the DEC caution recommendations on wind conditions, etc., and a statement holding    the        Town harmless in case of accidental damage resulting from the burn. The person burning material is        ultimately responsible.  

5. The tree give-away and roadside cleanup on April 29 was discussed. A waste tire collection sponsored by the ECC was discussed as a possible future project. We will follow up on this with the Town Board and the Highway Superintendent.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

M.M. Schorr, Chairman

cc: ECC members

Town Board members