Newstead Town Board amends Solar Law and adopts Cell Phone Policy at their June 22 meeting

By Annie Santor

Newstead Town Board members approved the resolution to Adopt Local Law #2 amending Solar Law during their meeting Monday night.

Per the resolution, this Solar Energy Local Law is adopted to advance and protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the Town of Newstead and its residents by creating regulations for the installation and use of solar energy generating systems and equipment with these objectives. To take advantage of a safe, abundant, renewable, and nonpolluting energy source, to decrease the cost of electricity to the owners of residential and commercial properties including single-family houses, to increase employment and business development in the Town, to the extent reasonably practical, by furthering the installation of solar energy systems, and to mitigate the impacts of solar energy systems on environmental resources such as important agricultural lands, forests, wildlife, and other protected resources as well as to mitigate the impacts of solar energy systems on the use, value, and character of the parcels and residents of the Town of Newstead.

A Cell Phone Policy amendment approved by the board, states that all town cellular phones shall be provided and used for the purpose of supporting town business only. The purpose of this policy is to facilitate effective town operations relating to cellular phone usage, encourage the responsible use of town provided cellular phones, provide guidelines for appropriate cellular phone use and help manage cellular phone costs.

The resolution amending the budget for parks was approved.  The amendment increased the appropriation for parks in the budget to $15,000 for miscellaneous revenues and increased the expenditure line of $15,000 for parks contractual to reflect grant monies received and used for parks which were not anticipated at the time the budget was adopted.

The Town Board approved the resolution to Declare State Environmental Quality Review Lead on a proposed ELEA Enterprise Project. The site plan approval requested by the owner of ELEA Enterprise covers construction and operation of a 25,000 sq. ft. metalwork shop on approximately 3.1 acres of a 28.96-acre parcel in the Town of Newstead. In consultation with the Town Engineer, the Town board determined that the proposed action is a Type 1 action under State Environmental Quality Review. The Town Board declared SEQR Lead Agency Status, a coordinated review will be conducted by the Town Board, and the Town Board authorized the building department to coordinate the required mailings and notifications.

A Special Use Permit and Home based business at 6061-6063 Cummings Road was approved by the board. The Town of Newstead received a Site Plan/ Special Permit application from Rusty Roehling to operate a home-based business engaged in excavating. The conditions included in the conditional approval are that all storage containers on the parcel will be shielded from view of any roadway or neighboring property and/or encapsulated to appear as a permanent structure to the satisfaction of the Town Board and proof of completion of proposed deed filings and parcel splits/mergers in form approved by the Code Enforcement Officer and Town Attorney must be filed with the Town withing sixty days of this conditional approval. The board determined that this proposed action will not have significant impact on the environment and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared.

Motions:

A motion to purchase rotary lifts was approved by the board and the motion to cancel the June 29 work session was approved.

Public Hearings:

A public hearing of the Town Board will be held on July 13, 2026 at 7:25 p.m. regarding Buck’s Motorsports Inc. Jan Schafer has submitted an application to amend an existing site plan to construct a 3,024 sq ft storage building connected to the existing storage building located at 13090 Main Road in the C2 zoning district in the Town of Newstead.

A public hearing of the Town Board will be held on July 13, 2026 at 7:20 p.m. regarding County Line Stone. An application to amend its site plan for 4515 Crittenden Road in the R-A zoning districts in the Town of Newstead to construct a 2,438 sq ft building to be used as an office space, a locker room, restrooms, and an employee breakroom.