A special permit for cannabis manufacturing was approved during  Monday’s Common Council meeting. The Art of Flower Farm and Dispensary is looking to locate a cannabis micro business at 1698 Main Street at Hamilton Avenue in the C3 Zoning District. The business would be called “Quality High” and would not be open to the public.

All council members voted in favor except for Mayor Vivian McKenzie who abstained.  The mayor had previously recused herself from the topic during a public hearing on the matter due to owning property where the project is located.

Public hearings on Climate Action Plan and City Manager’s budget

A public hearing on the city government’s operations Climate Action Plan saw no public comments at Monday’s meeting. 

Created by the Climate Smart Task Force in assistance with the Hudson Valley Regional Council, the plan establishes concrete emission reduction goals for the city and pinpoints priority strategies to accomplish those goals.

Janelle Koszarek and Emma Kaminski from the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership presented the specifics of the plan to the council. According to Koszarek, the climate action plan came out of the city’s 2019 gas emissions inventory audit. 

“The Climate Action Plan is a framework for the development and implementation of actions that reduce the City of Peekskill’s government operations GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions,” she said. “The Plan provides guiding objectives and strategies to realize Peekskill’s government operations greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. The Climate Action Plan will also include two additional chapters, the Climate Vulnerability Assessment and the Climate Adaptation Plan.’

The Climate Action Plan seeks a 33 percent reduction in local government greenhouse gas emissions of 2019 levels by 2030. According to their presentation these reduction targets are in line with the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act goal of a 40 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2050.

The ultimate goal, Koszarek said, is to have 78 percent below 2019 levels by 2050. Though they would need to create a new plan after reaching their goal in 2030, she added.

Some of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies include a fleet efficiency policy such as prioritizing electric vehicles or plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles. Other strategies include converting building heating systems to heat pumps, adopting policy allowing for remote work for municipal staff, and passing an environmentally friendly purchasing policy.

“If the Climate Action Plan is implemented and a resolution is passed to implement, then we would go to working on implementing and looking at those strategies… more closely,” Koszarek said. Now they are exploring sourcing to fund heat pumps. That work is already actively happening. “We’re seeking grant funding in collaboration with the planning department and with the city manager’s support we are actively seeking that funding in order to put some of those strategies in place.”

A second public hearing was held on the city manager’s tentative budget which is due Nov. 15. The council decided to hold one hearing on Oct. 28 and another on Nov. 12 so  there is plenty of time for discussion. 

Comptroller Toni Tracy shared adjustments to the city manager’s budget she presented on Oct. 1 that saw a proposed 4.65 percent tax rate increase down to 3.75 percent. The effect of the proposed change would increase the average homeowner’s bill by $107.78 . The average home taxable assessed value on the proposed budget is $9,684.

The explanation for how the adjustments took place included savings from hiring outside counsel, increasing the in-house paralegal hours, adjustments to salaries for experienced police officers, employee benefits, and debt service. Those adjustments totaled $806,696 with the biggest percent going to NYS Retirement at $515,200.

Proposed adjustments to revenue included metered parking, parking fines, code enforcement fines, employee health contributions, and interfund transfers. 

The public hearing only saw one citizen participate, asking about what changes have been made to the parks budget. City Manager Alexander said he did not make any changes based on the comments received from the council. However, the city has looked to consolidate where it is able to, he said. 

“One example of that is by not replacing the recreation leader and by trying to consolidate that under one group – the Community Hub,” Alexander said. “So having one person do two jobs there in terms of management.”

Report on Quality of Life issues 

Alexander highlighted several quality of life issues during his report on Monday. There were 19 quality of life arrests made in October, as well as about 15,800 parking tickets issued for January to October, up about 2,000 parking tickets from the same point last year. 

Another issue the city has been trying to address is overcrowding. Alexander referenced a specific property owner who has been served two nuisance complaints. “In this case the overcrowding was egregious,” Alexander said. “It was over the top and unacceptable and not safe for both the tenants of the building and our emergency service personnel who responded.” 

Mayor Vivan McKenzie asked if it would be possible to have the city’s Code Enforcement and Building Department work with Dora Ochoa, a Peekskill resident and director of the Hanami Foundation in Ossining. to educate the people living in their apartments that there are better housing opportunities.

“A person spending $1,000 a month for a mattress in the room with a pot to go to the bathroom in and no cooking facilities is disgusting,” she said. “And no one should have to live like that. And so while we can fine the landlords, we need to find ways that people can trust, that they can tell us when there’s a situation like this, and that they know there’s some place else, or some way to find other housing.”

McKenzie did not elaborate on where people could find other housing. 

Update on Monday, Nov. 4:   The mayor referenced Dora Ochoa, who was in attendance at Monday’s meeting, not Dinora Pacheco of the Peekskill Hispanic Community Corporation as was reported earlier.