Unofficial summary. This is a community summary of the town's official minutes, provided so the record is searchable and readable. It condenses the meeting and may omit detail. Some private individuals’ personal details have been left out. The official signed PDF is the complete record of authority.
A note on the link above: the town’s record of this meeting is a Word document from the Town Clerk’s office, and it is no longer available on the town’s website. The “Official PDF” link is a copy we host, converted to PDF for reading; the content is the town’s, unaltered, and we keep the original Word file alongside it. For a certified copy, ask the Town Clerk.
The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Schaghticoke met at the Town Hall, 290 Northline Drive, Melrose, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. (The meeting was moved from July 4 because of the holiday.)
Regular meeting — 7:00 PM
Roll call took place.
Present: Ed McDonough (Chairman), Rich Geddis, Kristin Griswold, and Jay Shover. Absent: Lettie Saheim. Elizabeth Hale, Clerk, was present.
The Board approved the June 6, 2024 minutes (McDonough · Shover · all).
Inquiry — replacing a trailer on Sliter Road
A couple asked about buying a 1.96-acre lot on Sliter Road that holds a dilapidated trailer, which they hoped to remove and replace with another trailer to live in. Chairman McDonough reviewed the setback and minimum-lot-density rules and the Town’s regulations on trailers and mobile homes.
Recommendation — moratorium on battery-storage facilities
Town Attorney Dave Brennan advised the Board that the Town Board had asked the ZBA for an opinion on proposed solar-power battery-storage facilities in the Town. Board member Rich Geddis, who had attended the Town Board meeting where the proposal was discussed, said the Town’s solar farms are already at maximum capacity for the energy they can send to National Grid, and that several companies have expressed interest in building battery-storage facilities, some adjacent to existing solar farms.
The Board discussed the high risk of fire at battery-storage sites and the difficulty of extinguishing such fires, and concluded that a moratorium is currently appropriate. It voted to send the Town Board a letter stating that the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously supports a moratorium on battery-storage sites (McDonough · Shover · all).
The Board adjourned at 7:31 p.m. (Griswold · Shover · all).
Respectfully submitted by Elizabeth Hale, Clerk.
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