The Crawford board, as a continuation to its February 22 meeting, discussed several policy updates last Thursday, May 16, notably a public hearing for dumpsters and a law that addressed vaping in public spaces.

The board opened the meeting with an introductory local law that would expand trash dumpster regulations for the entire town. If passed, property owners must properly close their dumpsters with lids, screen them with shrubbery or other scenery, and shield them from neighbors’ view. If an owner cannot meet these conditions, they must request a waiver from the planning board to modify the requirements. Additionally, owners no longer need permission from the planning board for dumpster placement or relocation.

Supervisor Charles Carnes explained that he and the board recently noticed several dumpsters popping up in the town, especially in residential areas, and they seek to keep Crawford beautiful by minimizing their appearance. The board then motioned to send the law’s draft to the town attorney for further review.

“We’re basically trying to keep the community looking nice because the community is changing; people moving in aren’t familiar with the rules,” Carnes said, referring to residents who place dumpsters without knowing the regulations. “The board’s got to do something at meetings and open houses so these new people know what’s going on.”

Next up, the board passed a local law that expanded the town’s smoking policy to include vaping. Moving forward, smoking and vaping are prohibited on or within 50 feet of town-owned properties, including buildings, parks, structures, and facilities like playgrounds and sporting fields.

Leilani Lockett, community engagement and lead coordinator of POW’R Against Tobacco, and Alayne Eisloeffel, program director and project coordinator of the Tri-County Prevention Coalition, thanked the board for passing this law and emphasized the importance of protecting children and pets from secondhand smoke.

“Vapers don’t consider themselves smokers, so we want to make sure that our parks and playgrounds are safe places, especially for our very young children and teens,” Lockett said, who offered the board free ‘no smoking’ and ‘no vaping’ signage. “We would love to partner again also to throw a celebration about how clean the air of the parks is in the Town of Crawford.”

“We’re really concerned about the littles and teens in our community, so I just want to thank you for the consideration and thank anybody who’s in support of this,” Eisloeffel said. “We’re just hoping that we can help educate our kids a little bit more and set a good example.”

After the vaping vote, the board passed a local law to maintain the town’s fire districts following the town’s transition to a coterminous town-village last December. While a village was never incorporated into the town, this law ensures that the Pine Bush Fire District and Bullville Fire District continue operating normally as if the consolidation never passed.