The 211 Blog

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is once again taking public comment on its draft permit for the planned Valley Energy Center.

The DEC approved the draft permit for Competitive Power Ventures’ proposed 650-megawatt natural gas power plant on July 10, 2012. However, it needs to be re-noticed because the source of nitrogen oxide emission offsets need to be identified in the draft permit, Environmental Protection Agency Permitting Chief Steven Riva wrote in a letter to DEC officials. Also, the draft permit didn’t include the annual potential to emit limits for some pollutants, including carbon dioxide, Riva wrote.

Comments must be submitted to the DEC by June 14.

Here’s is the DEC’s public notice, which was posted Wednesday:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/20130515_reg3.html#333560013600001

And here is a copy of Riva’s letter:

Middletown Police “DARE Day,” which was scheduled for Saturday, May 11 but canceled due to the rainy weather, has been rescheduled for Sept. 21.

It will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Thrall Park. For further information, people can contact Police Officer Jacqueline Welch at 845-346-4013 or jwelch@middletownpolice.com.

The Town of Wallkill is slated to borrow money for both a new parks buildings at Circleville Park and on a new salt barn at the Highway Department property at Thursday night’s town board meeting.

They’re taking out bonds of $1.032 million at the park for a main building and another $408,000 for a building for the town Boys and Girls Club at the park. They’re going to borrow up to $773,000 for the salt barn.

They’re also going to accept bids on the salt barn — $568,075 from CMC Construction for the construction, and $40,865 from Rotolo for the electrical work.

In other business, they plan to borrow $980,000 for construction and maintenance vehicles and equipment, and set a public hearing for May 23 on a proposed law to require generator power in common areas of new apartment and townhouse developments.

To view the agenda and some attached documents, go to the town’s website, www.townofwallkill.com

The public hearing on Middletown’s proposed 2013-2014 school budget will be held at 6:30 p.m. tonight, at the Board of Education office on Wisner Avenue.

The school board meeting will be held right after.

Here’s a story on the budget I wrote after it passed:

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130409/NEWS/304090316&cid=sitesearch

There’s a lot more budget info on the school district website:

http://www.middletowncityschools.org/AboutUs/Budget.aspx

MIDDLETOWN — A federal court has taken the City of Middletown’s side in a suit challenging a law that would phase out multifamily housing in much of the city, the second federal court ruling this week upholding city laws regulating landlords.

The ruling Wednesday morning came fast — lawyers for both sides just made oral arguments Tuesday. The three judges agreed with a lower court decision rejecting the premise that the city should have provided individual notice to the property owners affected by the law. The city posted a newspaper notice before passing the law — the usual procedure with local law in New York.

“I think this decision puts to bed this whole theory that a municipal legislature has to provide individual notice to people before it passes zoning legislation,” said Middletown Assistant Corporation Counsel Alex Smith, who represented the city.

James Sweeney, who represented plaintiff Melyvn Edelhertz, said he thinks the landlords whose properties are going to be “put out of business” should’ve been told so they could make their case to the Council.

“He may not be successful, but he certainly has the right to stand there and make his argument,” he said. “I think this court made a pretty superficial decision in not recognizing that right. It’s pretty raw.”

Sweeney is also representing Jody Moraski, the head of the Middletown Landlords Association, in a suit challenging the law in state Supreme Court. The issues in that case, he said, are broader, such as whether the law is discriminatory. Both sides have already submitted arguments to Judge Robert Onofry and are awaiting a decision.

The law was passed in 2009 and would amortize, by 2014, multifamily homes in areas zoned for one- and two-family houses. There are 142 properties that are to be affected, although some will likely be allowed to stay if the owners get a waiver on the grounds that it would be “structurally unreasonable” to convert them. It affects the bulk of the city’s residential areas, but not commercially zoned areas like downtown. Mayor Joe DeStefano said he expects the law to change the face of some of the city’s streets.

“We are shifting policy from the old railroad town, the boarding houses along the railroad,” he said. “We’re getting into the 21st century here with zoning and use.”

On Monday, another federal court also upheld a 2011 city law that Edelhertz was challenging, that requires landlords who don’t live within 10 miles of the city to designate a property manager who does.

A law that adds up to 15 days in jail as a possible sentence for bicycling on the sidewalk just barely passed Middletown’s Common Council Tuesday night.

The Council split 5-4, with aldermen Joe Masi, Kate Ramkissoon, Joel Sierra and Ashok Sabnis voting no.

When the change was first proposed in January, its supporters said the point wasn’t to start sending people to jail for riding on the sidewalk, but to give judges the option of issuing a bench warrant when people skip court, which they can’t without a possible jail sentence. Police started to focus on the issue more last year due to complaints from pedestrians almost getting hit, mostly in the North Street and Wickham Avenue areas.

“It seems like it’s over the top, unless you’re the person walking down the street and a 20-year-old on a bike comes zooming past you and knocks you over,” said Mayor Joe DeStefano.

That it seems over the top is exactly why its opponents voted against it.

“Financial penalties, I have no problems with, but the threat of jail, I thought, was a little overboard,” said Masi.

The Middletown Teachers Association is holding its annual meet the school board candidates night on Tuesday.

John Williams, Andrew Warren, Rose Tobiassen, Louisa Caldwell-Simmons and Victor Melendez are running for three seats, currently held by Warren, Tobiassen and Evelyn Isseks. It will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Monhagen Middle School Library.

Come September, students at the Maple Hill and William Carter elementary schools will start their day at 8:30 a.m., while those at Presidential Park and Truman Moon will start at 9:10 a.m.

This will be a change of start times for Presidential Park and Maple Hill, but not for Carter or Truman Moon. What will also be different next year is all of the district’s elementary schools will be teaching kindergarteners-through-fifth graders, part of the district’s rezoning of its elementary schools now that Presidential Park has replaced the Chorley school.

Elizabeth McKean, the district’s assistant superintendent for business administration, told the school board last week that keeping two tiers of start times would save $220,000 over last year’s busing costs. Having them all start at the same time, she said, would mean spending $180,000 more.

McKean estimated that there would be about 1,600 students, combined, between Maple Hill and Carter, and 1,400 to 1,500 combined between Presidential Park and Truman. She said the runs on the later tier would use three or four fewer buses than the earlier one.

Two companies are expressing interest in the vacant former TD Bank building on South Street.

The Ruby Group, which is based in Goshen, said they might want to buy the city-owned building; the Pike Company, which is based in Rochester, said they would buy the building for $500,000, renovate it and lease it back to the city for 25 years for $162,160 a year. The proposals have been sent to the city’s attorneys and public works commissioner for further review.

City officials said a month ago that they had two tenants who wanted to move into the building after it is renovated. One of them — a governmental entity — has backed out, but the other, a private company, is still interested, Mayor Joe DeStefano said at Tuesday’s Board of Estimate meeting.

The city intends to keep the adjoining parking lots public.

CORRECTION: It’s the Board of Estimate, singular.

A law named after a Middletown woman who was struck and killed by an unlicensed driver last year passed the state Senate Monday.

“Teresita’s Law” would make it a Class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison, when someone whose license is suspended at all causes someone’s death while driving. It is named after Teresita Solano, who who was struck and killed by a truck Feb. 24, 2012 while crossing Grand Avenue in Middletown, by a driver with eight suspensions on his license.

The driver pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to $580 in fines; under current law, unlicensed operation is only a felony if someone has 10 or more suspensions or his or her license has been permanently revoked.

“Those who drive without valid licenses should not be on the road, and when they kill an innocent person they cannot walk away with only a slap on the wrist,” said Sen. John Bonacic, R-C-Mount Hope, the bill’s Senate sponsor.

Bonacic credited Solano’s sister, Evangeline Papp, with getting the law passed. After her sister’s death, Papp made it her mission to change the law, gathering signatures on petitions and lobbying local politicans to support it.

The law passed the Senate unanimously, except for three senators who were absent when it was voted on. It has been sent to the state Assembly, where it is in the Transportation Committee.