The City of Peekskill is considering additional restrictions for its ban on outdoor smoking in selected areas.

The local law amendment would expand current code — which prohibits smoking in city parks — to no smoking within 100 feet of outdoor seating areas in the Peekskill Business Improvement District (BID), and at James Street and Nelson Avenue parking garages.

However, not all were in favor of the proposed ban at a public hearing held on the issue at the April 14 Common Council.

Resident Jen Zawacki spoke against the ban, saying she felt like time was being spent on something that wouldn’t be able to be effectively enforced.

“I don’t smoke, I don’t drink. I don’t do any of those things. I go to bed at 9 p.m.,” Zawacki said. “But I just personally don’t think that this is where enforcement needs to be necessarily. I also don’t see enforcement in the parks because there can’t be eyes everywhere.”

She suggested instead that priority for enforcement should be focused on traffic, double parking, and parking in fire lanes. 

Hever Palicos, owner of Taco District and Iron Vine Tapas Bar and Restaurant, told the Peekskill Herald on April 17 he believes the ban would be a benefit.

Palicos, a recently-elected property owner representative on the BID board, said he has had customers say they did not want to sit outdoors when people were smoking.

“When we close the street in the summer, sometimes people smoke right on the street where people are sitting,” Palicos said. “It’s a little uncomfortable for them. There’s usually a lot of kids there too.”

Asked about the plan for the new smoking ban enforcement, City Manager Matthew Alexander said the city has a quality-of-life patrol and has had walking patrols.

“One other thing that we’re most most concerned about is if somebody complains about smoking near their children while they’re eating,” he said. “Then this gives us the ability to do something. But it’s true that if we’re not there, we won’t be enforcing it. But the intent of this law is to be able to do something when we are there.”

Chief of Police Leo Dylewski said officers will have the ability to write summons if they witness someone smoking in violation.

“If the officers see someone smoking, they will address it,” Dylewski said. “They have to see the violation in order to write the summons. They do have discretion, like any other thing, but they will have the ability to write the summons if they see.”

According to City Attorney Eric Gordon, smoking bans include tobacco, THC (marijuana), vapes and other smoking products.

James Street Parking Garage expansions exempted from zoning prohibitions 

The Common Council unanimously voted to exempt the expansion of the James Street Parking Garage from the prohibition against parking garages in the C-2 Central Commercial Zoning District.

The garage had a pre-existing, non-conforming use that was permitted previously but needed authorization for its current proposed expansion. 

The Planning Commission will act as the lead agency for the expansion under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

That expansion seeks to increase the overall number of parking spaces to 633 from 544. It will include renovations, improvements and expansions to the lighting, signage, stormwater management system, as well as ingress and egress entryways to the parking structure.

The resolution states the project will serve public interest by accommodating the growth of the downtown population; serve art, dining and entertainment uses; have clearer communications regarding parking; and establish more effective parking management to overcome public perception that parking is scarce, in an effort to decrease double-parking in the downtown area.

The parking garage project is part of the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund infrastructure grant, focusing on mixed-use housing and essential infrastructure projects that directly support housing growth in the Mid-Hudson Region. The $10 million grant, matched by the city, calls for $2.2 million to renovate the Nelson Avenue Parking Garage and $350,000 for the James Street Parking Garage.

Resident Zawacki asked the council what effect there was on the garage’s funding if one of the proposed housing developments’ grant proposals fell through.

City Manager Alexander said the city has a responsibility to deliver a certain number of the developments, but not necessarily all of the developments, on the map of proposed mixed-use projects.

Several sites have already dropped out, with other sites coming in, according to Director of Planning Carol Samol, including some owned by the city.

“We do have to deliver the housing,” Samol said. “But it is not exactly every single one of those.”

Zawacki also expressed hope that in addition to the parking garage expansion, there would be a plan for maintaining them, noting that they are currently in disrepair. According to Samol, there is a plan for maintenance.

Floating solar arrays project exempt from zoning requirements

The Common Council voted unanimously to exempt the construction of a floating solar facility from certain city land-use and zoning requirements.

Working Power, a community development and financing platform, proposed the construction of a floating solar array and facility on the City of Peekskill reservoir at 1000 Lindbergh Place, with the goal of providing significant community benefits to the city and residents.

The proposed solar development project is in partnership with the Ecological Citizen’s Project and seeks to bring an approximately 300 kilowatt system to the roof of the Peekskill Wastewater Treatment Plant, in addition to a 1.65 megawatt floating solar array system at the southern Camp Field Reservoir.

Two residents, including Elena Walker, shared concerns about putting floating solar panels at the reservoir. 

“It’s our drinking water,” Walker said. “It’s the water we bathe with.”

Asked what assessment has been made of possible dangers, City Manager Matthew Alexander said the city insisted there be an independent consultant who is familiar with the construction of these types of systems and is able to advise the city on such concerns.

According to Alexander and City Attorney Gordon, such systems have been used in the City of Cohoes and some locations in New Jersey.

In November 2024, Jason Angell, co-director of the Ecological Citizen’s Project, said he and his team agreed to finance an idea from the Department of Water & Sewer that would install a mechanism to isolate the two Camp Field reservoirs from each other in the event that water quality was affected. That solution meant the entire reservoir would not be contaminated, he said.

Council gifted framed resolution affirming commitment to be inclusive

Carla Rae Johnson, a Peekskill Arts Alliance member, presented the Common Council with a framed resolution passed by the council on Dec. 27, 2016, affirming the city’s commitment to be an inclusive community.

The resolution was passed by then-Mayor Frank Catalina, then-Deputy Mayor Drew Claxton, current Councilwoman Kathleen Talbot, and then-Councilmembers Vivian McKenzie, Vincent Vesce, Andre Rainey and Andrew Torres.

“The resolution was one of several grassroots projects initiated at a community brainstorming session convened to confirm our city’s value of equality, diversity and social justice,” Johnson said.

However, that resolution could no longer be found on the city’s website,  according to Johnson. As a result, she requested the city make the resolution prominent and accessible on its website.

“With fundamental rights and values under attack, we believe it is vitally important to affirm that we are a city committed to inclusion, equality, health and well-being of all who live and work here,” she said.

Mayor McKenzie said she would look into why it was taken down from the site and prepare a resolution to accept the framed resolution that was created nine years ago.

That 2016 resolution now appears on the city’s website in the “About Peekskill” section and can be viewed here. 

Council passes 16 resolutions, three local laws

Of 16 resolutions voted on by the Common Council, all were passed unanimously.

One of the resolutions provides street closure for the Peekskill Flea Market on James Street, between Main and Parks Street. There were also street closure resolutions for Mother Yay Market and Cinco de Mayo.

Another resolution that passed authorizes the Department of Public Works to award a $73,500 contract to Manzer’s Landscape Design & Development for the city’s 2025 Landscaping Program. Manzer’s was the lowest bid of two, with the second coming from DJ Tavares Landscaping, at $353,820. 

There also was a resolution to request that the New York State Legislature introduce home rule legislation authorizing the city to create a program that would impose monetary liability on drivers who fail to stop at red lights. The city has identified 12 traffic intersections that require red light cameras.

Other resolutions passed include budget amendments; awarding RMS Cruises the right to run cruises at Fleischmann Pier from April to December; issuing up to $10,400,000 in bonds to finance sewer system improvements;  authorizing bids for developments at three surface parking lots at the waterfront; and authorizing urban design consultant services for waterfront transit-oriented development sites.

A resolution that would adopt the Peekskill Resiliency Action Plan and Climate Vulnerability Assessment Plan (CVAAP) was pulled from the agenda due to the council previously saying it would allow for public comment and later incorporate them before adopting the plans.

Three local laws were unanimously passed, including a battery energy storage system moratorium; amendments to the Water Department city code on water meters; and amendments for graduated fines for quality-of-life offenses.

A full list of resolutions passed can be viewed here.