Stepping Stones Katonah, NY- Renovation, grants, conversions, water quality, 2 bathrooms, 200 visitors and septic tanks

Stepping Stones being part of the town of Bedford has to conform to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Law (SEQR) for any changes or revisions to the use of the property and appears to be in non-compliance to the following ordinances:

§ 125-87. Standards.

The Planning Board shall not approve a duly submitted preliminary or final site plan, unless it shall find that such plan conforms to the requirements of this chapter. In reviewing the site plan, the Planning Board shall also take into consideration the public health, safety and general welfare and shall set appropriate conditions and safeguards which are in harmony with the general purpose and intent of these regulations, particularly in regard to achieving the following:

A. An adequate, convenient and safe vehicular and pedestrian circulation system, so that traffic generated by the development will be properly handled both within the site and in relation to the adjoining street system.

B. A site layout that will have the minimum adverse effect upon the established character or potential use of any adjoining properties.

C. The reasonable screening at all seasons of the year from the view of adjacent residential properties and streets of all parking and loading areas or other features that, in the opinion of the Planning Board, require such screening.

D. A drainage system which, to the satisfaction of the Town Engineer, is designed to accommodate expected loads from the tributary watershed when developed to the maximum density permitted under the existing zoning standards.

G. Consideration of the project's impact on the natural and man-made environment, with emphasis on minimizing the adverse effects thereon.

§ 125-88. Preliminary site plan.

(8) Location and layout of proposed recreation areas, when required.

(9) General plan for buffer screening and other site landscaping.

(10) General plan showing staged development, if intended.

Source; http://www.bedfordny.com/town/code/zoning09.htm

The Katonah Village Library is planning a Friday, June 1st, 2012 Summer Benefit and the Library will be open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 2, 2012. Given the possible 750 visitors at the 61st Annual Stepping Stones Family Group Picnic on Saturday 2, 2012 this is inadvisable and they should reschedule, especially since the Library is two blocks from the Katonah Railroad Station where everyone is being told to park.

http://www.katonahlibrary.org/

The library is located 2 blocks away from the Katonah R.R. Station, on the Metro North/Harlem Line. Near & in front of the library there is only street parking for 1, 2 & 4 hours until 6 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Street Parking Rules are RIGOUROUSLY ENFORCED.

http://www.katonahlibrary.org/directions.html

The Katonah Library has a rich history and it started with the Katonah Village Improvement Society (KVIS) who donated the first books to the Library. The KVIS operates two websites.

The older one is: http://www.kvis.typepad.com/

The newer one they are migrating to: http://www.katonahvis.com/index.html

"The Water and Land Use Task Force will address the issues of water quality and supply; land use and conservation; and the planting, protection and preservation of trees. It will focus on educating and mobilizing the community to take local action in these areas. It will also work with Town officials, local utility companies and others to assess and promote the most effective short, medium and long-term measures to accomplish the goals of the (Climate Action Plan). in these areas. "

http://www.bedford2020.org/B2020Site/Water_Land.html

"As owners and operators of large buildings and real estate, local houses of worship can have a significant impact on energy consumption, transportation, waste and recycling, and water and land use. The Religious Task Force is composed of clergy and lay leaders from eight houses of worship in the Bedford community.

Goals

•Collaborate and share best practices on energy conservation, waste/recycling, improved transportation strategies, support of local food initiatives, and support of water and land use goals
•Host meetings, co-sponsor community events to educate and raise awareness among congregants and the community about Bedford 2020 environmental goals
•Support specific projects of particular interest to a parish – CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), home energy efficiency, water quality, tree planting and preservation

Projects

•Clergy Consortium in Support of the Environment
Clergy leaders from Religious Task Force have joined together in a clergy led initiative to promote environmental action and, in particular, to support Bedford 2020’s home energy efficiency program among their congregants. (Read More)

Clergy are creating a series of “house assessments” open to congregants where residents can learn first hand about home energy efficiency

•Ground for Hope Initiative
Co-Sponsor Regional Conference “Ground for Hope Initiative”, to promote religious-environmental leadership. Conference will be focused on clergy and lay members of faith-based institutions throughout Westchester as well as persons with ethical/spiritual sensibilities who are not affiliated with a house of worship

•New Projects
New projects will be taken on as we review them for fit with our goals and identify appropriate partners."

Source: http://www.bedford2020.org/B2020Site/Religious.html

The closest fire department to Stepping Stones on the Bedford/Katonah border is the Katonah Volunteer Fire Dept. Please help support these poor souls who will be giving up the weekend (for free) helping to protect the good TAX PAYING residents from the June 2, 2012 Stepping Stones Annual Family Group Picnic with an estimated 400-750 NON-TAX PAYING visitors . The Volunteers are planning a Carnival June 6-9 with the community, for the community.

http://www.katonahfd.org/CommunityCalendar.php

As with the Fire Department in Katonah-Bedford Hills, the good TAX PAYING citizens of these cities have banded together to VOLUNTEER their time to protecting the people of these good cities. With the possibility of 750 NON-TAX PAYING visitors at the actual Stepping Stones compound for the 61st Annual Family Group Picnic and possibly hundreds more attempting to get to the shrine in and about the area the weekend of June 2nd and 3rd, 2012, please support them.

http://kbhvac.org/

The Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester may want to consider rescheduling this event since it is on the same day as the 61st Stepping Stones Annual Family Groups Picnic which ends at 5pm and all roads in and around the Bill WIlson Spiritual, not Religious compound may be clogged.

"The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester will host its 18th Annual Humanitarian Award Dinner honoring Richard J. Smith, President, Entergy Wholesale Commodities Business on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at Lexus of Mount Kisco, 275 Kisco Avenue, Mount Kisco, NY. The John Beach Award will be presented to the Junior League of Northern Westchester. The Club’s annual Youth of the Year Award will be a featured presentation. The cocktail reception begins at 7:00p.m., followed by a sit down dinner, awards ceremony, live and silent auctions and dancing. Highlights this year include an award presentation by former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Actor Billy Baldwin will serve as Master Auctioneer. The dinner is open to all by advance registration. Individual tickets are available for $350, as well as sponsorship tables and journal ads"

http://www.westchester.com/communityhome/community-home/events/viewevent...

Katonah Valley Improvement Society (KVIS) sues Martha Stewart for using the towns name but lets the Stepping Stones compound of the Spiritualist, Occultist and Adulterer Bill Wilson become a national landmark and mecca for thousands of people a year?

"In 2005, after a 5 month stint in federal prison for lying to investigators about a stock trade, Stewart sought refuge (while completing her sentence on house arrest) in her 152-acre Katonah NY home which she had bought for $16 million five years before. In the same year, Stewart, through her company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), sought to trademark the name of the posh hamlet as her inspiration for a line of sofas, four poster beds, dining room tables, paints, and other products described on Stewart's website as "classic American style with a touch of formal refinement . . .[and] a spirit of refreshed traditionalism."

In April 2007, though, during the last phase of approval with the United States Patents & Trademarks Office, residents of the Westchester County hamlet of the same name—the one with a $916,000 average home price that prohibited Starbucks from doing business there in 1990—filed objections to the granting of the trademark. Katonah, a town of 12,400 residents about 40 miles north of New York City, was renamed in 1852 to honor the great 17th century Indian chief and leader of the Ramapough Indians in the New York/New Jersey area who sold the land to white settlers in 1680.

The first organization to object to the trademark was the Katonah Valley Improvement Society (KVIS), organized in 1887, which has started a campaign called "Nobody Owns Katonah." The group's spokesperson Lydia Landesberg has labeled the controversy a moral issue—"the right of a community to its own identity." KVIS is concerned that small local businesses could be prohibited from using their own town's name in marketing and similar activities without asking permission from MSLO. Two of those businesses are hardware stores, who have joined in the official opposition."

Source: https://www.legalzoom.com/intellectual-property-rights/trademarks/katona...