stuyvesant zba again

There is an article in the Register Star by John Mason that is a good summary of the issues and what happened.

 I think mediation is the way to go now in the neighbor dispute (Serpico-Palladino), as I recommended to the town more than a year ago.

As to the second issue: Ronald Knott, the deputy supervisor and later town supervisor, is the author of the policy to spend 17% of the 2011 budget on zoning enforcement to close Glencadia Dog Camp. The town spent $150,000 hiring the biggest law firm in the Capital District, Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna in an illegal executive session. Ronald Knott participated, lead the charge and supported all of this.

One of the primary points in that process was whether of not the business qualified as a home occupation if the house and the barn were on separate lots. The law is clear that a home occupation required the business and house to be on the same lot. Meanwhile the town planning board refused my application to put the lots back together, which would solve the problem.

Meanwhile, Knott himself was operating a home occupation with a business and a house of separate lots.

That's the deal.

student-student teacher ratios

Per School Digger.com, here are the student / teacher ratios for local schools:

Hudson 10.3
Taconic Hills 11.8
Chatham 13.4
Ichabod Crane 13.4

Other nearby schools similar in size to Hudson but not in Columbia County:

Red Hook 15.0
Saugerties 19.2


Thanks Hudsonian.