Several months ago Lloyd Supervisor Dave Plavchak stated that he would discuss with the board the idea of hiring someone to administer the town’s Affordable Housing Law along with the accompanying paperwork, notifications and tracking that is needed. At the last Town Board meeting he explained why funding for this position was not included in the 2024 budget.

 

“We did not add it in to the [2024] budget. We have to figure out the right affordable housing law, as we’ve been saying, and how we administer it. I think we’ll do that as part of the Comprehensive Plan and we’ll go through the plan when we have the expert consultants that are helping us get through it. Hopefully, they can help us rewrite that law so it works for our town.”

 

Plavchak has not rescinded or replaced the current Affordable Housing Law as he said he would, nor has he publicly stated his specific objections to the law, beyond saying that the law does not work for the town.  

 

The Affordable Housing law, which has been in the town code for more than a decade, requires developers to provide 10% of the housing units they build as affordable if their proposed project has more than 10 units. To date, the town has not required any developer to provide these units. The law is designed to help people of more modest means afford housing in Lloyd. Even as the town approves residential projects with this housing requirement listed on the developer’s approved site plan, Lloyd’s Town and Planning Boards, past and present, have not taken any steps to ensure that this legal requirement is met.

 

Lenny Casabura has appeared several times before the Town Board to notify them that flooding is taking place in his yard on Christopher Avenue.  He asked what the Building Department has found out about this problem.

 

Plavchak said the Building Department has mapped out the underground pipes, saying that some of the pipes go through personal properties and there are no easements on them.  

 

“We’re trying to figure out if we can get a camera in the pipe where we can look up it to see if something is clogging it because there is a spot that we believe has an 18 inch pipe being fed by a 24 inch pipe,” he said. Casabura confirmed that the 24 inch pipe is at his property.

 

Plavchak said their engineer, Andrew Learn of CPL, is conducting measurements on a retention pond on Mile Hill Road.

 

Plavchak expects that in the next few weeks he will be meeting with Learn, the Building Department and the Highway Superintendent, “so we can discuss where we can go with this; we didn’t forget about it.”  

 

Casabura reminded Plavchak that he is willing to give the town an easement through his property, “so this way you don’t have to go behind those other people’s properties unless you find another source that would bring you right out to it. This would also make it possible to do additional drainage down the street [Christopher Avenue] instead of everything getting bottled up in the middle of the street. The water’s got really nowhere to go and builds up on the side of the road.”

 

Councilman Joe Mazzetti addressed Casabura, saying, “It is disgusting that you have been dealing with this for this long a period of time and hear we may put a camera up, we’re going to put a camera up.” Mazzetti urged the board to quickly take care of this long-standing problem.

 

“This poor guy’s been dealing with this and he came to us before it [Hudson Place] was built with his concerns. He’s got flooding, take care of it,” Mazzetti said. “It’s sad; I hear a lot of back talking about it.”

 

Plavchak denied he is back-talking on this problem.

 

“I’m taking an action on it. People have been on the Town Board for a long time and haven’t done anything with it, and I’m taking an action. I’ll work with Lenny [Casabura] as I have in the past.”

 

Casabura said there is a basin across the street where the town can look up and downstream that may help in understanding the pattern of his flooding problem.