Beacon's City Council will meet this evening 9/27/2021 at 7pm for a regularly scheduled Workshop meeting, which is when they discuss topics amongst themselves in public, but without opportunities for Public Comment. This type of meeting happens every other Monday.

On the agenda tonight are different topics, some of which were covered during last week's public City Council Meeting. When new information or public feedback emerges, sometimes these topics get put back onto the Workshop schedule for further discussion. Click here for the full agenda, plus links to supporting documents.

Tonight's Agenda Includes

Accessory Apartments

The City Council is perusing normalizing Accessory Apartments as a right for homeowners of single family homes in all R1, all RD and the T Zoning Districts to build and rent out without requiring a special use permit approval from the Planning Board. Mayor Kyriacou with the support of City Administrator Chris White is pursuing this in the name of renter and owner affordability during the current housing crisis throughout the nation. According to supporting documentation from the City's attorney: "The City Council is considering adopting amendments to the City Code to encourage the development of accessory apartments to promote renter and owner affordability in the City of Beacon."

This vision is led by Mayor Kyriacou and City Administrator Chris, who served on council together during the 1990s. Mayor Kyriacou is a property owner in Beacon who has renovated properties, and has served as a landlord for different properties.

Mayor Kyriacou is pursuing the right to build the Accessory Apartments bigger than they are now. City Administrator Chris is pursuing removing parking requirements for Accessory Apartments. Parking requirements can sometimes be used to stall a building project by those who disagree with a project.

For the past several years, Beacon has been unfavorable toward Accessory Apartments, even when someone wanted to build one for their parent-in-laws or caregivers required to care for an aging parent or person who required consistent medical care. This zoning edit would change that.

During tonight's meeting, the City Council will debate several changes to the existing code, including size of the unit, how any dwellings would be allowed per lot, the design scheme of the accessory apartment, increasing the maximum build, eliminating currently required inspections every two years, and removing the parking requirement.

It is not indicated how the increase in number of Accessory Apartments would guarantee lower rental prices, since the free market and current supply and demand are not yielding to lower prices in Beacon.

The City Council will also review code regulations from the Town of Cortland, the Town of Newburgh, the Town of Pound Ridge, and the Town of Wappinger.

Proposed Local Law Regarding Good Cause Eviction

Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair proposed that the City consider a law making it more difficult to evict tenants, called the Good Cause Eviction Law. The City will also look at Albany's Good Cause Eviction Law during tonight's Workshop. During last week's public City Council Meeting, a handful of people from the public called in demanding that the City put on Dan's proposed Good Cause Eviction Law onto the agenda. People told stories of people they knew who had their rents raised by several percentage points, making it difficult or impossible for them to remain in Beacon.

Last February 2020, Councilmember Terry Nelson pushed to have the Emergency Tenants Protection Act (ETPA) considered by the City. This law would legalize a rent cap, but has several requirements that the city must meet, including vacancy rate and the age of buildings. This was discussed by the Council, and Mayor Kyriacou presented reasons for not pursuing it.

Proposed Hire of Motor Equipment Operator

The Highway Department is recommending the hiring of Andi Driza for Motor Equipment Operator.

Abandonment of Paper Streets

The City of Beacon is pursuing abandoning specific, very tiny areas in Beacon that are undeveloped and slipped through the cracks of ownership decades ago, which could put them into the ownership of neighboring homeowners. During last week's Public Hearing on the topic, some of those neighboring homeowners came to speak on the issue, to say if they wanted or did not want the property that was about to be absorbed by them. The council indicated that they were not anticipating the feedback, and appreciated the input. The matter has moved back into Workshop, where the council will discuss it again.

"The Official Map of the City of Beacon contains several undeveloped paper streets identified as Ryans Avenue, BeVier Avenue, Morse Street and Levy Street. A paper street is a street established on a filed subdivision map and is included on the Official Map of the City of Beacon, but which was never subsequently developed or used as a public way."

Proposed Appointment of Montos Vakirtzis to the Zoning Board of Appeals

Montos Vakirtzis is being recommended by Joe Galbo to be on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Proposed Resolution to Certify Base Percentages and Proportions for the 2021 Assessment Roll Pursuant to Article 19 of the Real Property Tax Law

"Pursuant to Article 19 of the Real Property Tax Law, the City Council hereby adopts and establishes the Adjusted Base Proportions for the 2021 City of Beacon Assessment Roll as 69.10766% for Homestead parcels and 30.89234% for Non-homestead parcels, which are to be used for real property tax purposes;"