During a shortened summer schedule of City Council Meetings with various council members and the City Administrator being out on vacations, the City Council will meet tonight (8/2/2021) for a combo-meeting. First will be a Workshop meeting to discuss the possibility of adopting laws or making decisions followed by a regular City Council Meeting, where that which was discussed can be voted upon.

Directions for how to attend via Zoom are here.

Highlights For Tonight’s Meeting Include:

Seeking Public Comment On Proposed Beacon Law To Make It Illegal To Smoke Cannabis, Tobacco or Vape In Beacon’s Public Parks.

Proposed by the City Administrator Chris White, this law would make it illegal to smoke tobacco, cannabis or vapor anywhere in Beacon’s City Parks. During his first proposal of the law, Administrator Chris pointed out that smoking tobacco is illegal on Beacon’s trails, but not in the parks, and is not strongly enforced on the trails. He told Council that he wants to give the public more “teeth” when asking people to stop smoking.

This, after the State of New York made smoking cannabis legal in order to remove room for racial discrimination to happen when law enforcement is out enforcing laws. New York State has written the law in a cannabis-friendly way, so as not to make it easy to be discriminated against when using cannabis.

The anti-smoking law could distinguish between smoking tobacco and cannabis, where smoking tobacco is illegal, but smoking cannabis is legal. But neither the Administrator or the City’s Attorney Drew spoke about that aspect in their presentation of the law. Attorney Drew did include it in her Power Point presentation of the proposed law. Read past coverage of this topic on A Little Beacon Blog here.

In order to pass the law, the City of Beacon needs to hear from the public first. Call in with your opinion, write in to your council representative, or go down to City Hall at 7pm to deliver your opinion in person. Calling and speaking in person is the best way to make sure your voice is heard. Not every email is read allowed, and not every email is published to the public record, as humans make errors.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the City of Beacon City Council will be holding the City Council Workshop and Meeting of August 2, 2021 in the Courtroom at 1 Municipal Plaza, Beacon, NY 12508. The meeting will simultaneously be streamed via Zoom. The public can attend in the Courtroom, or access the meeting via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88375353313?pwd=ZUNRTkkzdXJpbU5uQWlXeTlvSytKQT09

Webinar ID: 883 7535 3313 Passcode: 544508. To the extent internet access is not available, the public can attend and comment via telephone by dialing + 1 929 205 6099 and entering the Webinar ID: 883 7535 3313 Passcode: 544508.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE, that the City Council Meeting of August 2, 2021 at 7:00 pm can be accessed live at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvPpigGwZDeR7WYmw-SuDxg

Beacon To Sign Parking Lease For 24 Spots In Free Municipal Parking Lot With 344 Main Street

The City of Beacon aims to sign a lease tonight that puts it into contract with 344 Main Street to lease 24 spaces in the free municipal parking lot next to 344 Main Street - which is the free public parking lot behind Rite Aid. The building, 344 Main Street (new Citizens Bank location), is a 4 story building in Beacon that has been tracked as the example of how not to build in Beacon. After its parking agreement with adversary developer and owner of 364 Main Street (old Citizens Bank location) fell apart.

The spaces are proposed by be leased for $50/month, and require tenants to move their cars every 24 hours in accordance with the public parking rules. Without this lease, 344 Main Street would be in violation of its parking requirement by the City of Beacon, and could loose its Certificate of Occupancy, which is required to lease to tenants. Get caught up with this issue via the Highlands Current.

City Council Poised To Override Local Building Owners’ Objections To Properties Being Designated Historic

For the past few years, Beacon has been reshaping its zoning laws in order to better control how development was designed in Beacon. The 4 story buildings such as 344 Main Street were a driver in this effort. Designating a building as historic not only protects the building itself from being demolished and replaced with a new design, but acts as pawn in development decisions. A building with historic designation has some rights over its neighboring properties, where if a building next door wants to build up or out, the property owner of the historic building can object. Read more about this at A Little Beacon Blog here.

A New Food Truck Servicing Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park

The City of Beacon aims to sign into a license agreement with a new food truck in town to service park-goers down at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park. They City says they put out an RFP and that only 1 business answered: Mecca on Hudson.

Several other items on the Workshop Agenda and City Council Meeting agenda which you can find at those links.