Saying goodbye to someone or something can be incredibly difficult or effortless depending on the circumstances and the time spent with the subject in question. The Town of Montgomery proved both sides of this last Wednesday, December 4 after the supervisor and council members gave their best regards to the formal planning board chairman and began preparing a send-off to a potentially hazardous storage facility.

Town Supervisor Steve Brescia opened the meeting with a bittersweet announcement: Fred Reichle, former planning board chairman, officially retired after serving 15 years on his board. For the past decade and a half, Reichle has worked with several planning members on countless projects, ensuring that each project is a good fit within the town while balancing the needs of both applicants and residents.

“We’re very sorry to see you go. We can’t say enough good things about you; I’ve been on the town board for 11 months, but I’ve seen what you’ve done over the years,” said Brescia. “You’ve always been a gentleman and scholar, you’re classy, you’ve done your research, and you’re thorough in everything you do. It’s going to be a huge loss.”

As a parting gift, Brescia presented a plaque to Reichle commemorating all his hard work over the years. Reichle thanked the town boards and residents for the opportunity to serve as planning chairman, asserting that he had a great team behind him that always strived for the best possible results.

“I’d like to thank the public and all the great members of the town board, the ZBA, and the planning board for all of the help in doing what we do. It’s been a wonderful team, and not enough is said about the input we get from the audiences and public and all the questions that we get asked,” Reichle said. “At the end of the day, we hopefully come up with a better solution. I know that we’ve tried our hardest and done everything that we can, and I’d like to thank everyone for my privilege to serve the planning board.”

Battery storage moratorium
Later in the meeting, the board held a public hearing for a three-month extension to its battery storage moratorium. The board initially established a yearlong moratorium in late September 2023 after former Councilwoman Kristen Brown warned the board about battery storage fires, which are far more dangerous and difficult to put out compared to standard fires. While the moratorium was in effect, the board agreed to learn more about handling battery storage fires and observe New York State’s response to them.

During the hearing’s public comment, a few residents questioned what the board has accomplished since passing the original moratorium and provided recommendations, including extending the moratorium to a year and training the town’s first responders to handle battery fires effectively.

“On page three of the local law, it says ‘The town will monitor the progress of statewide task force and Fire Safety Working Group established by the governor, consider amending the required provisions in the town code and related land use regulations in a manner that is consistent with the most appropriate safety plan, and protect the public interest and welfare,’” Brown said. So what happened in the last year?”

“I think our first responders need proper training on handling battery storage fires, this board needs to mandate that they get the training,” said Resident Don Berger. “And the training should come at the cost of the applicant, not from the fire companies, the police department, the ambulance corps, or this town. Not only the training but also protective equipment that they need.”

In response, Brescia asserted that wants to remove battery storage completely from allowed uses in the town’s code, and he would have rather removed them immediately than extend the moratorium again. Town Attorney Will Frank, however, reminded Brescia that the removal would require a separate public hearing at a late date, which would exceed the original moratorium’s expiration.

“I don’t think we need a year or six months. If we were voting tonight, I would vote to take this out as a special exception for the town,” Brescia said. “I have a lot of safety concerns, and Kristen mentioned some of them. I’ve read articles about the fires and how much hotter they burn than normal fires and the lack of fire equipment, and these battery fires would cost a fortune to put out.”

The board agreed to adopt a three-month moratorium for the time being and requested Frank to start working on a local law to ban battery storage from the town.