Click here for an Absentee Ballot Application
Town Government Notes: 2002 2003
View the 1969 Comprehensive Plan
View the 1990 Comprehensive Plan Draft Revision (never adopted)
View Sections of the Code of the Town of Rochester
2002 Town of Rochester Property Tax Roll
2001 Town of Rochester Property Tax Roll
For purposes of privacy, the names of property owners have been deleted. Please note that property tax assessments might reflect STAR, Enhanced STAR, Veterans, Agricultural or other exemptions, which are not noted on the assessed valuation.
Emergency & Volunteer Services – Call 911 in Case of Emergency
Voting, Registration and Absentee Ballots
Freedom of Information Act & Open Government Links
New York Department of State Publications on Local Government, including ZBA and Planning Board
On Line Town of Rochester Property Map
Link to New York State Satellite Photographs
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Rochester Town Hall
50 Scenic Road
Post Office Box 65
Accord, NY 12404
845-626-7384 Telephone
845-626-3702 Fax
www.townofrochester.net
Weekday Hours
8:30 am to 12:00 pm
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Supervisor: Pam Duke (D), 2 year term expires December 31, 2007
(B) 845-626-3043
(H) 845-626-2896
Email: PamDreal@aol.com
Town Council Members: Francis Gray (D), 4 year term expires December 31, 2007
Work (845) 626-8622 Ext 111
Home (845) 626-4527
Alex Miller (D), 4 year term expires December 31, 2009
(B) 845-626-7384
Ronald Santosky (R-C), 4 year term expires December 31, 2007
(B) 845-626-7384
(H) 845-626-4314
Tony Spano (D-I), 4 year term expires December 31, 2009
(B) 845-626-7384
The Town Board meets at the Town Hall on the first Thursday (regular meeting) at 7:00 pm and the last Wednesday (audit meeting) at 4:30 pm. of each month.
Town Clerk, Registrar
& Tax Collector: Veronica I. Sommer (R), 4 year term expires December 31, 2009
(B) 845-626-7384
Fax: 626-3702
(H) 845-626-7144
Highway Superintendent: Wayne Kelder (R, C, D), 2 year term expires December 31, 2007
(B) 845-626-7221
(H) 845-626-7688
Justices: Al Babcock (R, C, D), 4 year term expires December 31, 2007
PO Box 167, 140 Samsonville Road
Kerhonkson, NY 12446
(B) 845-626-2522
Deborah Schneer (D, I, WF), 4 year term expires December 31, 2009
PO Box 167, 140 Samsonville Road
Kerhonkson, NY 12446
(B) 845-626-2522
Court is held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:00 pm at the Town Court.
Assessor: Sharon Hornbeck (Appointed, term expires 9/30/07)
(B) 845-626-0920
(H) 845-626-7476
Assessment information from the NY State Office of Real Property Services
http://www.orps.state.ny.us/MuniPro/muni_theme/muni/00fiscal.htm?514400
Zoning Inspector: Gerry Davis
Planning and Building Office
15 GLF Road, Accord
(B) 845-626-2433
(H) 845-626-2941
Building Inspector: Jerry Davis
Planning and Building Office
15 GLF Road, Accord
(B) 845-626-2433
Planning Board Steve Fornal, Chair
Nadine Carney, 626-2318
Robert Gaydos, 626-0909
Tony Kawalachuk
Mel Tapper, 626-0952, Vice Chair
Shane Ricks, 626-3613
Anthony Ullman
Becky Paddock-Stange, Secretary, 626-2434
The Planning Board meets on the third Tuesday (regular meeting) and the fourth Tuesday ( workshop meetings) of every month at 7:00 pm.
fax for pb/zba 626-0141
email for pb zba: TORPBZBA@hvc.rr.com
Zoning Board of Appeals Marijane Knudsen-Hunlock, Chair, 687-0399
Beatrice Haugen-Depuy, Vice Chair, 626-2647
Stanley Hudson, 626-0600
James Kingston
Elizabeth Kwalachuk, 626-3905
Becky Paddock-Stange, Secretary, 626-2434
fax for pb/zba 626-0141
email for pb zba: TORPBZBA@hvc.rr.com
The Zoning Board of Appeals meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm and the third Tuesday, if necessary.
Environmental Commission Max Finestone, Chair, 626-7373
Lucille Ebert, 626-4657
Brant Matises, 687-0559
The Environmental Commission meets monthly. There is no regular schedule.
Youth Commission Carol Dennin, Director, 626-2115
The Youth Commission sponsors the Rent-a-Kid Program and
various programs for younger residents.
Transfer Station 626-5273
The Town's transfer station is located on Airport Road in Accord. You must obtain a permit from the Town Clerk ($15.00 per calendar year) and buy tipping fee punch tickets. There is no charge for disposing of properly prepared recyclables.
Hours: Tues. - Sat. 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Freedom of Information Act Link, details on how to make requests for public information from Federal and local government agencies.
Committee on Open Government Link, details on the New York Freedom of Information Law and laws on open government and how to request information from state and local governments and their agencies.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation NYSDEC regulates hunting and fishing licenses, enforces state laws relating to environmental issues and the use of natural resources such as mining, air, noise and water permits, etc. NYSDEC issues a weekly Environmental Notice Bulletin on the web notifying interested citizens of pending permit applications in various state regions. Ulster County is in Region 3.
Burn Permits are required to burn brush and leaves. Permits are issued by the NYS DEC and may be obtained from the Town Clerk's office. All controlled burns must be reported beforehand to Ulster County's communications center at 331-1440. No controlled burning is permitted on Sundays.
Eligible citizens can register to vote in person at the Town Hall or register or request absentee ballots by mail or in person at the Ulster County Board of Elections at 284 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 (Tel. 845-334-5470 or Fax 845-334-5434) or by contacting the State’s election board at 800-FOR-VOTE. Elections for Town offices are held every odd numbered year.
Absentee ballots may be requested requesting and completing an application for absentee ballot by calling 800-FOR-VOTE or by writing to the Board of Elections no earlier than 30 days and no later than 7 days before the election. In addition to your name, the letter must contain (a) the address where you are registered, (b) an address where the ballot is to be mailed, (c) the reason for the request, and (d) your signature.
On election days, there are five polling sites in the Town:
District 1 Town Hall
District 2 Courthouse, Samsonville Rd. (Pataukunk Road)
District 3 Rochester Fire Company (Samsonville Rd.)
District 4 Alligerville Firehouse
District 4 Town Hall
The Ulster County Treasurer's Office is able to assist you in determining who owns a piece of land. You can look up the tax parcel number by looking at an area map and then cross-reference this to the related tax bill, which will show the owner's name and address. Title companies and lawyers can also do this for you. The telephone number is 845-340-3900.
EMERGENCY & VOLUNTEER SERVICES
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, CALL 911
Main Street, Accord 626-2233
State Police 626-2800
The following organizations welcome qualified volunteers. One of the greatest pleasures of out small-town living is our grass-roots government and organizations. One individual can make a difference. All meetings are open to the public and residents are encouraged to get involved.
The Volunteer Fire District consists of more than 90 dedicated volunteer members, covering 88 square miles. There are three separate fire companies, located in Accord, Alligerville and Tabasco. They are on call 24 hours a day to respond to fire emergencies. The Fire District has six fire pumpers, two water tankers, two four-wheel pumpers, a rescue van and team, Jaws of Life extraction equipment with trained teams, and a hazardous material team.
The District Office is located in the Accord Fire House on Main Street in Accord. The Board of Fire Commissioners consists of five members serving five-year terms. Elections are held on the second Tuesday of each December for one commissioner. Any registered voter is eligible to vote in this election. The Board meets at 7:30 pm on the first Wednesday of each month, and audits bills on the last Wednesday. Both meetings are open to the public.
Accord Fire District 626-3707
Alligerville Fire Co. 687-9669
Rochester Fire Co. 626-7320 (Samsonville)
Kerhonkson Fire Co. 626-7455
The Fire Police direct traffic in fire and other emergencies and for community events upon request. Fire police are selected from among fire company volunteers.
The Kerhonkson-Accord First Aid Squad’s more than 100 members are on call 24 hours a day to provide emergency medical aid for residents of Rochester and part of Wawarsing. They also loan equipment such as crutches and wheelchairs to residents (call Mary DeWitt at 845-626-2704). The First Aid Squad is a non-profit volunteer organization that is supported solely by community donations.
Tel: 331-7800
Ulster County Building
244 Fair Street
PO Box 1800
Kingston, NY 12402
845-340-3900 Telephone
845-340-3651 Fax
Ulster County Website: http://www.co.ulster.ny.us
Ulster County Legislature
District No. 1
Rochester, Wawarsing and parts of Marbletown
Members: Susan Cummings (R)
12 Clair Court
Ellenville, NY 12428
(H) 845-647-8599
Leonard Distel (D)
Mary Sheeley (D)
Joseph P. Steckeler, Jr. (D)
Post Office Box 187
Ellenville, NY
(C) 914-399-0273
NY State Senate
40th Senatorial District John J. Bonacic (R)
Ulster County Office
279 Main Street, Suite 202
New Paltz, NY 12561
(T) 845-255-9656
(F) 845-255-9262
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 815
Albany, NY 12247
(T) 518-455-3181
(F) 518-426-6948
e-mail: bonacic@senate.state.ny.us
NY State Assembly
127th Assembly District Clifford Crouch (R)
Governor: Eliot Spitzer
Executive Chambers
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Email:
Website: http://www.state.ny.us
House of Maurice D. Hinchey, Jr. (D)
Representatives Website: http://www.house.gov/hinchey
New York 26th E-mail: mhinchey@mail.house.gov
Congressional District
Kingston Office
291 Wall Street
Kingston, NY 12401
(T) 845-331-4466
(F) 845-331-7456
Washington Office
2431 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(T) 202-225-6335
(F) 202-226-0774
United States
Senate: Charles Schumer (D)
Website: http://www.senate.gov
E-mail: senator@schumer.senate.gov
New York City Office:
757 Third Ave., Room 17-02
New York, NY 10017
(T) 212-486-4430
(F) 212-264-3952
Washington Office:
313 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(T) 202-224-6542
(F) 202-228-3027
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
United States Senate
E-mail: senator@clinton.senate.gov
New York City Office:
405 Lexington Ave., 62nd Floor
New York, NY 10174
(T) 212-661-5150
(F) 212-661-1395
Washington Office:
Dirkson Office Building
Room B40, Suite 6
Washington, DC 20510
(T) 202-224-4451
(F) 202-228-0282
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4451
Website: http://www.clinton.senate.gov
President: George W. Bush (R)
Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov
The White House
Washington, DC 20515
Telephone Opinion Line: 202-456-1414
Accord, 12404 626-5881
M-F 7:30 to 5:00
Sat. 8:00 to 12:00
Kerhonkson, 12446 626-5470
M-F 8:30 to 5:00
Sat. 8:30 to 12:00
High Falls, 12440 687-4271
M-F 8:30 to 11:30, 1:00 to 5:00
Sat. 8:30 to 12:00
Stone Ridge, 12484 687-4029
M-F 8:30 to 4:45
Sat. 8:30 to 11:45
The Town of Rochester does not have a public library, but taxpayer funds are allocated to libraries in two neighboring towns, Stone Ridge and Ellenville. Rochester residents are welcome to use both libraries.
The Ellenville Library is housed on Center Street in Ellenville. The library has approximately 400,000 volumes, plus periodicals and audio visual media. Terwilliger House, an elegant turn of the century house functions as a local history museum, with changing displays of products from local industries and books, pictures and documents relating to local history.
Tel: 647-5530
The Stone Ridge Library is tucked into two connecting historic stone houses and offers an on-site inventory of books, tapes, videos, records, periodicals, large print books and a local history collection. The library is a member of the Mid-Hudson Library Association and benefits from an inter-library lending program. As a community center, it features a children’s story hour, an adult lecture series, a Brown Bag Boutique and a community meeting room that features changing exhibitions of local artists’ work. The library publishes a quarterly members’ newsletter that contains library news and book reviews. The annual Library Fair is a popular fundraising event.
Tel: 687-7083
The Friends of Historic Rochester has an extensive collection of materials relating to local history that includes genealogies, old scrap books and other town memorabilia. This collection is housed at the association’s library at the Rochester Reformed Church.
The Early Childhood Community Library is a project supported by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County and hosts programs at the Rochester Reformed Church for children from birth to six years of age. Its hours are Tuesdays 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, Thursdays 9:00 am to 11:00 am and Saturdays 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. For further information write to them at 10 Westbrook Lane, Kingston, NY 12401 or call 340-3990.
Town Law does not provide for a separate executive branch of town government. Because the supervisor occupies the leader's position on the town board, and because town residents often turn to the supervisor with their problems, many people think the supervisor's position is the executive position of town government. But the supervisor is also part of the legislative branch as a member and presiding officer of the town board. He or she acts as a full member of the board, voting on all questions and having no addition tie-breaking or veto power.
The supervisor is more of an administrator than an executive. The supervisor's duties under law are to: act as treasurer and have care and custody of monies belonging to the town; disburse monies; keep an accurate and complete account of all monies; make reports as required; pay fixed salaries and other claims; and lease, sell and covey properties of the town, when so directed by the town board.
The basis source of the supervisor's power lies in the position's traditional political leadership, and the holder's ability to use this leadership. Familiarity with day-to-day problems of the town often enables the supervisor to influence the policy decisions of the town board. Some towns have changed specific provisions of the Town Law and formed an executive or administrative branch separate and apart from the legislative branch by creating offices such as town executive and town manager.
(Source: State of New York Local Government Handbook, Fifth Edition January 2000, available online at New York Department of State Publications on Local Government)
The oldest of the "inferior" courts in the state is the town justice court. Under the original town structure, justices of the peace were members of the town board and thus had legislative as well as judicial functions. The Town Law, adopted in 1934, substituted town councilmen for justices on the town board in larger towns. In smaller towns, justices remained members of town boards, although the town boards had the option -- by resolution subject to permissive referendum -- of providing that justices should not be members of the board. In 1976 the Town Law was amended again to preclude all town justices from serving on town boards during the tenure of their judicial office.
Until 1962 it was generally accepted that all justices of the peace in a town ran their courts independently, regardless of the number of justices in that town. In that year the Court Reorganization Amendment integrated the town justice courts into the unified court system, and the enactment of the Uniform Justice Court Act firmly established the single court concept in each municipality. All justices of a town are considered to be justices of the same court, and the proceedings of one justice are treated as acts of the whole court.
(Source: State of New York Local Government Handbook, Fifth Edition January 2000, available online at New York Department of State Publications on Local Government)
The local legislative bodies of towns may create planning boards in a manner provided by state statute or municipal charter, and may grant various powers to the planning board. The statutes authorize municipal legislative bodies to provide for the referral of any municipal manner to the planning board for its review and report prior to final action. While the functions of a planning board may extend beyond land use, in most municipalities the planning board performs primarily a land use control function. Many local zoning laws or ordinances establish a procedure for referral to the local planning board reports and recommendations are often of vital importance in deciding these matters. In addition, the local planning board can have an advisory role in preparing and amending comprehensive zoning plans, zoning regulations, official maps, long range capital programs, special purpose controls and compliance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Further, the local legislative body may grant the planning board such regulatory functions and control of land subdivision, site plan review and issuance of special use permits. Where these and related functions are effectively administered, the local planning board can do much to advance the land use and development policies of the local legislative body.
Comprehensive planning can (and should) be performed by all municipalities, whether or not a set of land use controls is the result. Comprehensive planning locally forms the basis of all efforts by the community to guide the development of its governmental structure as well as its natural and built environment. Nonetheless, the most significant feature of comprehensive planning in most communities is its foundation for land use controls. Most successful planning efforts begin with a survey of existing conditions and a determination of the municipality's vision for the future. This process should not be confused with zoning or other land use regulatory tools. Instead, the comprehensive plan should be thought of as a blueprint on which zoning and other land use regulations are based.
(Source: State of New York Local Government Handbook, Fifth Edition January 2000, available online at New York Department of State Publications on Local Government)
Zoning regulates the use of land, the density of land use, and the siting of development. Zoning is a land use technique that operates prospectively to help implement a municipality's comprehensive plan. It is the most commonly and extensively used local technique for regulating use of land as a means of accomplishing municipal goals. Zoning commonly consists of two components: a zoning map and a set of zoning regulations. The map divides the municipality into various land use districts, such as residential, commercial and industrial or manufacturing. The land use districts can be even more specific, such as high, medium and low density residential, general commercial, highway commercial, light industrial, heavy industrial or other. Zoning regulations commonly describe the permisable land uses in each of the various zoning districts identified on the zoning map. They also include dimensional standards for each districts, such as the height of buildings, minimum distances (setbacks) from buildings to property lines, and the density of development. These are referred to as "area" standards, as opposed to "use" standards.
The Zoning Board of Appeals serves as a "safety valve" in order to provide relief, in appropriate circumstances, from overly restrictive zoning provisions. ZBA members are appointed by the town board in a manner provided for by state statute. ZBAs function free of any oversight by the municipal legislative body. Statutes do, however, provide for review of ZBA decisions by the courts in an Article 78 proceeding.
(Source: State of New York Local Government Handbook, Fifth Edition January 2000, available online at New York Department of State Publications on Local Government)
A fire district is a public corporation established for the purpose of providing fire protection and response to certain other emergencies. The New York State Constitution recognizes that fire districts have certain characteristics of general purpose municipal corporations. A fire district has the power both to incur indebtedness and to require the levy of taxes. A fire district is an almost completely autonomous political entity; it has its own elected governing body, its own administrative officers, and it must observe its own expenditure limitations, it is dependent upon the parent town or towns as a means to its initial creation, extension and dissolution; and, generally fire district taxes are levied by the county and collected by the town or towns where the district exists.
(Source: State of New York Local Government Handbook, Fifth Edition January 2000, available online at New York Department of State Publications on Local Government)
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2003
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November 16, 2004 (draft)
2005
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