This winter season Peekskill pedestrians and vehicles may notice newly installed wayfinding signs in the downtown area.

In February the council authorized the hiring of North Carolina based ACSM, Inc, to design, fabricate, and install wayfinding signage to help visitors navigate the downtown area.

At Monday’s Common Council meeting, City Planner Peter Erwin provided a status update on the Downtown Revitalization Initiative funded project. The project has a budget of $288,975, with nearly forty thousand allocated for design fees and the rest for fabrication and installation.

The city aims to have full wayfinding signage at 21 intersections, with 28 vehicular signs, and 31 pedestrian signs. They are also considering having two gateway signs coming into the downtown from the east and west on Main Street Route 6.

Erwin showcased several vehicular and pedestrian wayfinding sign and kiosk designs that would be at parking facilities, near the train station, and places getting a lot of foot traffic.

“We did a word mapping exercise where the top three words were friendly, arts, and beautiful, and we fed that into a design process,” Erwin said. “So the designers came up with this motif that spoke to some of the architectural historical details in our downtown.”

The city created a list of points of interest developed through data from an advertising company it works with, online searches from consultants, and a survey of stakeholders. Examples include the Post Office, Restaurant Row, City Hall, Waterfront, and Pugsley Park.

The location bands on the signs will be interchangeable if the city needs to swap or remove one. Erwin also tossed out the idea of creating a sponsorship program around boosting foot traffic to new businesses with the signs.

Councilman Ramon Fernandez proposed making the word “Peekskill” on the gateway sign larger than the word “Downtown.” This, he said, would be better branding for the city since people love to take pictures and share on social media where they are. Erwin said designers and staff considered it, but thought doing so would reduce the sign’s effect for vehicle drivers.

Erwin told the Herald on Tuesday pedestrian kiosks will be installed near the train station, in the center of downtown, and near two municipal parking garages, and will display a map of Peekskill with distances labeled. However, pedestrian wayfinding signs will not have those distances.

“After consulting our wayfinding firm and our resident advisory committee, we agreed the pedestrian wayfinding signs would be more attractive and legible with only the Points of Interests listed, especially since almost all Points of Interest are within a one-quarter mile radius,” Erwin wrote in an email.

City Comptroller requests authorization to increase administrative fees

As city expenses increase, fees also need to increase. At least that’s how City Comptroller Toni Tracy explained it at Monday’s Common Council meeting when she requested authorization to update the Master Fee Schedule.

After the city asked the department heads to review their fees, they decided that increases were necessary to offset increasing expenses of equipment, supplies, and administrative duties, Tracy said. The city also conducted three surveys at nearby and similar communities earlier this year in order to verify the recommended fees were reasonable. 

“We have gathered that to find the city is pretty much in line with the surrounding communities,” Tracy said. “But the goal is to just make the necessary increases as we go along so we don’t need to do something all at once for a large percentage.”

The majority of the proposed fees on the 28 page fee schedule had a three percent increase, but several had higher percentage increases. According to Tracy, some of those higher percentages were for small amounts where it made more sense to round to an even dollar amount, such as $1.75 to $2.00.

Parkland and Recreation fees, per dwelling unit, saw a ten percent increase, going from $5,000 to $5,500. Tracy said this increase is less than surrounding communities’ average of $7,000. The Water and Sewer Department fees were also proposed to increase three percent or more due to rising prices of equipment and supplies, said Tracy.

Not all fees saw increases, Tracy explained; the Building Department’s permit fees for commercial and resident heating unit replacements would stay level, as well as tree permits and the Nelson Avenue senior lot. Additionally, anything that falls under a separate MTA agreement is not increased in this cycle because they are in the process of signing an agreement with the city, Tracy said.

Department of Public Works disposal fees saw several increases including automobile tires ($12 to $13), TV’s over 52” ($75 to $85), and signs ($20 to $25). Councilman Brian Fassett said the city should consider having some days where it is free to drop off tires due their high disposal fee.

“A set of tires down in the city of Peekskill is $52 to get rid of,” Fassett said. “So to me, that is promoting the possibility of dumping that somewhere it shouldn’t be dumped.”

Tracy will bring the proposed fee schedule for a resolution vote next week. The City Council voted to adopt the 2025 City of Peekskill budget last week.

Water & Sewer notifies house owners if they have lead in their pipes

The City of Peekskill is creating a database to identify each type of water service pipe material for every household.

Water & Sewer Superintendent David Rambo presented at Monday’s Common Council meeting, saying his department is at the point in the regulation process where it needs to notify by mail any household with a lead, galvanized, or unknown service line. (Galvanized pipes are usually made of steel or iron, but have a protective zinc coating, which could contain lead.)

“We have been going knocking on the doors,” Rambo said. “We’ve been leaving door hangers and we’ve been asking people, can we come in to just see what you have coming into your home?”

Of 4,693 service lines in Peekskill, the department has identified 3,059 to be non-lead. Eight were identified as lead and five as galvanized. Those homes were left with fliers that encouraged owners to call the department for information on how to replace their pipes, Rambo said. Though it is up to the homeowner if they wish to replace their components or not.

Mayor Vivian McKenzie said she received an inspection and door hanger, but was not told whether her pipe had lead in it or not. Rambo said initially they only were notifying people who needed to take action, but going forward they would notify everybody with a letter.

About 1,620 service lines remain unidentified. The Environmental Protection Agency has requested all water suppliers identify unknown pipes within ten years. Rambo said he believed the department could easily comply with this.

City considers effects of fireworks during red flag warning and talks burn ban

While discussing plans for New Year’s Eve fireworks display at the Upper Deck Parking Garage grounds, the council noted the state recently implemented a red flag warning due to very dry conditions.

As a result at Monday’s Common Council meeting City Manager Matt Alexander said they must ensure they have Fire Chief James Seymour looking at the area with that in mind.

Jonathan Zamora, Site Manager, requested the council consider allowing Alexander to enter into a contract with Garden State Fireworks who were also used last year and for Fourth of July.

Interim Corporation Counsel Eric Gordon suggested including a clause in the contract which would give the city the right to cancel the fireworks in the event of a red flag warning. Zamora said he would raise this concern with Garden State Fireworks.

Fire Chief Seymour gave information about a burn ban across the state amid wildfires.

“You can certainly continue to use your barbecue grill or cooking materials to cook,” Seymour said. “But as far as burning leaves, burning construction debris, burning anything else (you shouldn’t). The city code is very specific even without the burn ban, how and where you can and what you can burn on your property.”

During the meeting Chief Seymour  requested retaining the services of Fire Grants Expert Inc. to submit an application to the Federal Emergency Management Associations Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. The department would request about 36 new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus units for a total grant application of about $386,000, requiring a 10 percent city match.