Peekskill Common Council Work Session and Meeting - November 10, 2025
Peekskill Common Council Work Session and Common Council Meeting - November 10, 2025
The Peekskill Common Council held a work session and regular meeting on Monday, November 10, 2025, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The agenda included a presentation on the Regeneration Farms project, discussions on community hub planning and battery storage moratorium, four public hearings (tax cap override, 2026 budget, payment in lieu of parking text amendment, and a cannabis micro-business application), and nine resolutions. Votes on the tax cap override and budget were postponed to November 24.
Public Presentation
- Regeneration Farms: Jason Angel (Co-director, Ecological Citizens Project) and Amanda Armentaros presented a five-year recap of the Peekskill Regeneration Farm at Lapore Park. Highlights: over $450,000 raised through grants, 1,000+ pounds of free organic produce distributed, seven paid youth apprentices trained, 30+ free public events engaging over 1,000 community members, a pollinator garden, a food forest, and new community infrastructure. Angel proposed transferring the license agreement (expiring end of 2025) from Ecological Citizens Project to Armentaros’ new nonprofit, Building Eden Farms (B Farms). Council members expressed strong support, praising the community impact, especially intergenerational connections (salad project with seniors and youth) and art events (Praise in the Garden festival with ~100 attendees).
Discussion Items
- Community Hub Planning: City Manager Matthew Alexander outlined a plan to use $295,000 in grants (legislative aid and Empire State Development) for a planning study and design of a downtown recreation campus that would include the Youth Bureau, Neighborhood Center, and Kylie Center. The first step is an RFP for professional design consulting services (approximately $55,000), leaving $240,000+ for design documents. Councilman Brian Facet noted the poor condition of the Youth Bureau steps and requested a separate estimate for repairs. No objections were raised.
- Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Moratorium: Corporation Counsel Eric reported that the existing moratorium on large-scale BESS (over 80 kWh) expired on November 5. He proposed a six-month extension due to ongoing fire safety concerns and pending state regulations. A public hearing was set for November 24. The council agreed; residential systems (<80 kWh) are not affected.
- Police Department Locker Room HVAC: The city seeks to hire a consultant for an energy audit and heat recovery assessment, funded 75% by NYSERTA and 25% by the city. This is part of a larger project to upgrade the police locker room in a building shared with the court, library, and neighborhood center.
Public Hearings
- Public Hearing 1 – Override NYS Tax Cap: The city’s allowed tax cap was calculated at 2.34%. The proposed levy increase of 3.5% would result in a tax rate increase of 2.98%, equating to $7.39/month for an average home (assessed at $425,000). No oral comments were received; one written comment was entered into the record. The hearing was closed. The subsequent resolution (J1) failed on a roll-call vote: 4 in favor (Facet, Douglas, Talbot, Riley), 1 opposed (Scott), 2 absent (Fernandez, McKenzie). Because a supermajority (60%) was required, the vote was adjourned to November 24.
- Public Hearing 2 – 2026 Budget: The budget summary showed 77% of expenditures are labor-related. Property tax accounts for 42% of revenue. The proposal includes a 3.5% levy increase and $500,000 appropriation of fund balance. No oral comments; one written comment. The hearing was closed. Resolution J2 (adopt budget) was also adjourned to November 24.
- Public Hearing 3 – Payment in Lieu of Parking (PILOP) Text Amendment: Continued from September 8. Planning Director Carol Samol noted that revised text was provided on November 7. No oral comments; one written comment. The hearing was adjourned to November 24.
- Public Hearing 4 – 710 Washington Street (Cannabis Micro-Business): Continued for written comments only. Samol reported that engineering firm CPL reviewed the applicant’s odor mitigation plan and found it likely effective if properly installed/maintained. CPL recommended independent VOC sensors (already proposed by applicant) and final design review before building permit. The building also has a notice to remedy for unrelated issues. Written comments remain open until November 24. The hearing was adjourned to that date.
Key Outcomes
- Resolutions Passed Unanimously:
- J2: Authorize street closures for Reindeer Run (December 6, 9–11 a.m.).
- J3: Authorize RFP for professional design consulting for community hub downtown campus planning.
- J4: Authorize Peekskill Facilities Development Corporation to approve bids for the Firehouse Kitchen Incubator (pending EDA approval).
- J5: Approve cable franchise renewal agreement with Verizon.
- J6: Set public hearing for November 24 on extending BESS moratorium.
- J7: Authorize intermunicipal agreement with Westchester County for STOP-DWI Patrol/Datamaster Program (2025–2030).
- J8: Authorize acceptance of donations for emergency SNAP meal preparation/distribution (due to federal shutdown starting November 1).
- J9: Authorize agreement with Wendel Energy Services for police locker room HVAC audit.
- Postponed to November 24:
- Local Law to override the NYS tax cap (J1) – vote failed to reach 60% supermajority.
- Adoption of the 2026 City Budget (J2) – automatically postponed with J1, as the budget depends on the tax cap decision.
- Executive Session: The council voted to enter executive session to discuss personnel matters.
Public Comments
- One resident, Beverly Chang of Popular Circle, thanked the city for providing food to residents affected by the SNAP cuts and congratulated Councilman-elect Charlie DeGrisio. No other comments were offered.
The meeting adjourned into executive session.
Meeting Transcript
And a short agenda and then an executive session. The mayor is out of town, so I will be leading the meeting tonight. So I'm going to get started with a presentation. So Matt. Okay. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council. Good evening. Hi. First up tonight, I have regeneration farms. And we've got Jason Angel and Amanda Armentaros from Regeneration Farms. And they're gonna do a presentation. And Jason, you want to introduce a little presentation lined up on the computer, but do I? I'm not the most technically. How do I get it to show up on the screen? Here. Thank you. I share screen. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Um I will just quickly give a brief overview. How are you all this evening? Good. Good. Uh we'll give a brief overview of the Peace Gill Regeneration Farm, but then very quickly pass it over to Amanda Armentaros. Uh my name is Jason Angel. I'm co-director of the Ecological Citizens Project. And uh we are here tonight to celebrate five years of partnership with the city of Peakskill on the Peace Gill Regeneration Farm. So uh we we signed the initial license agreement to use that city owned land at Lapore Park five years ago. That current license agreement ends at the end of this year. Uh and so we wanted to give a little bit of an overview of community impact over five years, and then we wanted to pass it over to Amanda Armentaros, who has been uh managing and stewarding that space over the last two years plus. Uh and as we discussed with the city renegotiating a second license agreement, the ecological citizens project has proposed um that that license agreement finds its way to Amanda Armentaros and the new nonprofit organization that she has founded called Bee Farms, uh, which you will talk a little bit more about. But we've always hoped that the license agreement would pass to a community-based organization in Peakskill. So, very just very briefly, this is a picture of the Peaks Gill Regeneration Farm at Lapore Park. Uh it was established in 2020 uh on an underused green section of Lapor Park. It's a public food garden open to all city residents with food provided at no cost to city residents, and educational and cultural programs also provided at no cost. And I'm just gonna give a little summary of impact before I hand it over to Amanda. Um the highlights over the last five years are that um that that space has been supported by over 450,000 raised through state and private grants uh to invest in the no-cost food access programs and cultural events and job training, uh, more of which Amanda will talk about. A thousand plus pounds of free organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers have been distributed uh over those five growing seasons to Peak Skill residents supporting food access, particularly in these times when um food access is a real need. Uh a urban youth apprenticeship jobs program launched by Amanda in 2023, has so far trained seven paid youth apprentices who are paid to learn urban agricultural skills on that farm site. The site has offered over 30 free public events and workshops, engaging over a thousand community members. Uh there has been a new pollinator garden uh established in collaboration with the Peak Skill Conservation Advisory Council and other community organizations, a public food forest has been planted where all of the fruit is available to community members at no cost, and there's been investments in in community infrastructure at the park, including community picnic tables for people to be there, um public signage, raised garden beds to improve accessibility for seniors, public art, and a tool shed. Uh and so um we have really uh valued the partnership with the city of Peakskill. We think it's proven to be a great model, uh, and we valued that partnership over that first license agreement. And as the Ecological Citizens Project, we just say we have so much confidence in Amanda. Uh she's raised in Peakskill and has done such an amazing job creating community collaborations, and we really hope the city considers um Amanda's new organization, B Farms, which is incorporated as a nonprofit uh as the second Lisi. But with that, I'll pass it over to Maine Event, Amanda. Please. Yes. Thank you.
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