In 2017, citing concern for water usage with big increases is new residential building, Beacon voted in a temporary six-month moratorium on residential development to pause new proposals as it reviewed current water supply plans. This year, the City Council has been discussing a second temporary moratorium to reflect upon current water usage and sources, which it voted unanimously to approve on September 3, 2019.

Beacon gets its water from three reservoirs, two wells, and purchased gallons from Fishkill. In February 2019, Well #2 was taken offline due to “high turbidity from silting.” WSP (Formerly LBG Hydrogeologic & Engineering Services) examined the well and determined that the “excessive silting was entering the well from a fracture about 240 feet down,” according to the notes in the city’s Resolution for the proposed second moratorium.

When reviewing whether Beacon had enough water supply during the current building of new apartments, WSP did indicate that there was enough water. From the Resolution: “WSP performed a Water Supply Adequacy review with Well #2 out of service, incorporating and assessing the water needs of existing developments, and projects in the process of being built, recently approved and pending before the Planning Board. WSP’s review concluded that there is an adequate supply of water and an approximate surplus of 170,000 gpd (gallons per day).”

However, members of the City Council felt the desire to be cautious. The Council has been spending the summer and beyond reviewing zoning laws to consider tightening and refining for future development projects. Noted in the Resolution was this intent from the Council: “In addition, the intent and purpose of this Local Law is to allow the City a measured amount of time to review and revise targeted zoning laws, specifically focusing on amending the City’s use and dimensional tables and establishing new regulations for the Linkage Zoning District. The City Planner is in the process of amending the City’s Schedule of Dimensional Regulations, in its entirety, and Schedule of Use Regulations, in its entirety, for all residential and non-residential zoning districts in the City of Beacon. The proposed amendments will greatly impact the type and scale of development permitted in each Zoning District. The moratorium will allow the City to complete and adopt these new comprehensive regulations to promote efficient and sustainable long-term growth in the City of Beacon.”

Overall, City Council cited imprudence as the justification for the moratorium: “The City is concerned that approving new development proposals while repairs are being made to Well #2 would be imprudent and it would not be fair to applicants to entertain new applications during this time of uncertainty because the success of the repairs to Well #2 will be unknown until the work is completed in three (3) months.”

The Moratorium is back-dated to start on June 11, 2019, which is when it was first proposed by Mayor Randy Casale, and expire in six months. There are exceptions to the moratorium, which you can read about in the Resolution language here.

Beacon is currently in a Stage 1 Drought, issued on October 7, 2019.