The evening of 2026-03-16 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
Waste water project continues to be looked into. Of note here, we appear to need a new permit. From what was said, a quick search implies it’s the SPDES permit, but freely admit I could be wrong. Either way, just another thing that needs to be addressed on the way to the facility upgrade.
20 North Main (former Critics) has a deal pending. Sounds like they are in the dotting i’s phase. Before bringing it to the Board for approval, and by extension publicly disclosing the purchaser.
A Public Hearing was for next meeting (April 20) to update the construction start times in the Zoning Code. Start time would be 7AM during week days. I have no opinion on this. My opinion is solely around the law as written matching the law as enforced. Deliberate non-enforcement of the law is problematic at best.
During the construction discussion, reviewing the noise ordinance came up. No hearing set for that, as the changes aren’t ready. But looking to remove the decibel measurements, going with a more general harmful to community. Rick (Mayor) had some nice sounding verbiage, which I forget the exact wording of. Regardless, it came up in discussion the Village is not enforcing the current noise ordinance, as it is non-enforceable. Which points me back at the construction time. Ignoring the law begets more ignoring the law. Still, it is being looked into.
A business permit of some sort is being explored. To better ensure businesses do what they were permitted to, and don’t shift too much over time. Details to work out before implementing. Biggest detail seems to be how to deal with preexisting businesses. For some reason, ‘grandfathering’ them in is not desired. Which tell me this is likely a bad idea. But we’ll see, in due time.
There was an interesting discussion around the expected tax sharing for the new MJ Dispensary. Apparently, in other communities, the numbers the business reports and the numbers the State report don’t align. While no outright accusations were made, the implication was the State might be under reporting taxes collected. A cynic might think this was in order to pocket the difference. Which I’m sure is illegal, at least when it’s not the government doing so. Pointing back at the earlier topic, law breaking begets more law breaking. Last time I checked, cannabis was illegal, federally. Thus ‘allowing’ it in the State is breaking federal law. I offer no opinion on cannabis itself. But I do have an opinion on the rule of law. We break it at our own peril.
Budget Hearing was set for 4/7 at 6PM. Or was the repealing of the tax cap override set for 6PM and the budget itself 6:05PM? Whichever way it falls, from a practical standpoint, budget discussion is at 6PM. Followed by the Annual Meeting at 6:30PM (or thereabouts, depending on if the budget went long).
In any case, tax rate is flat. And while the tax levy is going up, it’s still below the tax cap (thus repealing the override). Budget draft is available on the Village’s website.
It was stated the Budget Hearing and Annual Meeting are on Tuesday. Which seems odd to me, as there doesn’t seem to be anything conflicting on Monday. Technically, there might be a Zoning Board meeting, but that doesn’t start until 7PM. In the past, the timing has worked well enough. Eh, maybe they just want to give Rick time for a long speech. Or more time to socialize while eating cookies.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the March 16, 2026 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.