BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors during its monthly meeting on April 16 expressed its intent to create a Local Law that authorizes property owners to request the removal of unlawful occupants from dwellings. 

The potential law’s stated purpose “is to protect owners of dwellings in Saratoga County from unlawful occupants commonly referred to as ‘squatters’ and to protect lawful occupants of dwellings from unlawful evictions.”

“The unlawful property and intruder law is in relation to the stories we’ve seen publicized, both in New York State and around different parts of the country,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Phil Barrett. “Generally known as squatters, these are people that take over peoples’ homes, set up shop and decide to live there.”

According to a draft of the proposed law, an “unlawful occupant” is defined as “a person who knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a dwelling having entered the dwelling without permission of a party entitled to possession.” 

Barrett said he has asked county attorneys to draft legislation for supervisors to consider. 

Additionally stated, the draft explains the proposed law “does not mean a person who entered the dwelling upon consent of a party entitled to possession even if the consent is later revoked including: tenants whose oral or written lease has expired; family members who have been in the dwelling unit for at least 30 days; roommates or other licensees of tenants and occupants who have been in the dwelling unit for at least 30 days, or workers who have been provided housing as part of their job.”

To request the immediate removal of an unlawful occupant of a dwelling, the property owner would need to submit an affidavit to law enforcement that lists 27 points, including that they had directed the unauthorized persons to leave the dwelling, but the person(s) had not done so.

Once the claim has been verified, law enforcement may then take the unlawful occupants into custody and may bring them before a local court judge to face applicable charges, including trespassing.

“We’ve had instances of this in the past in the county, and it probably will become more prevalent,” Barrett said. “It’s become increasingly concerning because it’s clearly a coordinated effort. There are organizations working to identify vacant properties and they have people they send in to take over that property.“

A Public Hearing regarding the proposal will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday May 14, at the next county Board of Supervisors meeting. A vote may follow. Meetings are held at the county complex in Ballston Spa.     

If approved, the local law is slated to go into effect 60 days after being adopted. 

BALLSTON SPA — “Your happiness is now taken away from you, like my happiness was taken from me. But I have no fear of you anymore. We are moving in different directions.”

The words of the 9-year survivor of a kidnapping and assault that occurred last fall echoed across a packed Saratoga County courtroom April 17, after the reading of her victim impact statement. 

Craig N. Ross Jr., the 47-year-old man who abducted the girl, was sentenced to serve 47 years-to-life in state prison, after pleading to kidnapping in the first-degree, and predatory sexual assault against a child.

Offered the opportunity to express remorse in front of the girl’s family, Ross declined to do so. 

The girl was with her family and enjoying a bike ride in Moreau Lake State Park when Ross approached and asked her to help him find something in his truck.

“What began as an idyllic day on September 30, 2023 turned into a living nightmare,” Saratoga County Judge James A. Murphy III told the packed courtroom where about 100 people wedged into eight long pew-like rows - more than one dozen uniformed members of law enforcement and Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen, among them. 

Once in reach, Ross snatched the girl, taking off with her in his truck and confining her in the kitchen cabinet of his camper after he reached his destination in Milton. 

“Ross began a pattern of sexual, emotional and physical abuse so horrific that this court dare not speak of the details,” Judge Murphy said.

“Because of you I can’t sleep at night. Why did you do what you did?” reads the girl’s victim impact statement. “It bothered me that you took advantage of me being nice.”

Ross was arrested Oct. 2, following the issue of an AMBER alert, and the discovery of a ransom note left in the family mailbox of the abducted girl’s home. Fingerprints on the letter were entered into the New York State database and a match was made involving a DWI in 1999 in Saratoga Springs. 

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The subsequent investigation led authorities to the camper in Milton where the girl was located by state police, and Ross taken into custody. 

“This case drew national and international attention because quite simply it shocks the conscience,” Judge Murphy said, while announcing the 47-year sentence based on the two felony charges. 

The girl’s mother read her own statement inside the courtroom. “There will never be a sentence that will be sufficient for what you did to my daughter,” she said, her voice cracked with emotion, her hands tensely turning over a tissue in her hands. 

“I don’t understand why people like you do the things you do,” the mother continued. “You took something from my daughter that cannot be replaced. And I don’t forgive you for that. You don’t deserve forgiveness.”

Ross, wearing a green flannel shirt and shackles that wrapped around his torso, stared at a fixed spot in the distance where a vacant table stood, visually expressing no emotion and saying little. 

“You probably hope that this will affect me the rest of my life,” reads the girl’s statement. “I was in prison for 2-1/2 days and now you will be in prison for 47 years. You will crumble and I will be standing tall.”

Wilton —­ A new 125,000-square-foot medical center and a 130-unit apartment and commercial development are under consideration on Maple Avenue/Route 9 in Wilton. 

The medical center would be sited at 612 Maple Ave. on property featuring 13.66 acres. The proposed two-story building would house multiple medical and surgical practices with a total floorspace of 120,000 square feet - 60,000 square feet per floor. 

The mixed-use development would stand at 631 Maple Ave. on 15.78 acres and include 17,800 square feet of commercial/retail space and 136 apartment units, according to documents submitted to the town of Wilton Planning Board. 

The project is awaiting final approval from the Wilton Planning Board in the next few months, after a public comment period and final traffic reports, according to a published report by Chelsea Diana, of the Albany Business Review. 

The Wilton Planning Board next meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 at the Wilton Town Hall, 22 Traver Road. 

WILTON — A man of many talents, it is his passion as an avid mountain climber for which Wilton resident Ray O’Conor will be featured in a documentary that will broadcastWednesday, April 24.

The film - “An Above Average Day” - tells the story of Ray O’Conor and Joe Murphy, two hikers who after a chance meeting forged a close and lasting friendship that has inspired them on a series of wilderness adventures. 

“My good buddy Joe and I have done a lot of hiking and climbing over the last 15 years. We hiked more than 400 different mountains, most of them together and more than 5,000 miles of trail,” told Saratoga TODAY as the film was nearing its completion last year. 

O’Conor was contacted several years ago by Veda Films company co-founder Katera Kapoor who told him she’d been following O’Conor’s adventures with his buddy and was interested in putting a documentary film together.  Katera and her husband Aviral subsequently began following O’Conor and Murphy on their hiking journeys capturing footage and conducting interviews. 

The film celebrated its debut screening last year at Saratoga Arts Center and on Wednesday, April 24 will be streamed into homes. The broadcast debut will take place at 5:30 p.m. on WMHT/ PBS. 

“If you had told me five years ago that the founders of Veda Films, Katera Noviello-Kapoor and Aviral Kapoor, would produce and direct a film in which my buddy Joe and I would co-star and that it would be broadcast on WMHT / PBS… I wouldn’t have believed it,” O’Conor said. 

“There are two sides to the story,” O’Conor explained. “One is the adventure side about hiking and mountain climbing. The other is about the relationship between Joe and I,” said O’Conor, whose lengthy  resume includes work as a financial consultant with a Wall Street investment firm,  a United States Border Patrol Agent and a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Defense, local bank CEO, Wilton Town Councilmember, and author of the book ‘She Called Him Raymond.’

“One of the focal points is the relationship between these two guys who met by chance and spent a lot of time together over the past 15 years on mountains and on trails.”

O’Conor’s fondness for hiking was born during an early morning climb in the late 1980s at the urging of Roy McDonald when O’Conor decided to run for the town board in Wilton, and McDonald – who later would be elected to the state assembly and senate – was town supervisor. 

Since that time he has climbed the 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks, the 32 mountains between the Catskills and the Adirondacks that have fire towers on them, and journeyed to the Lake George 12ster, the Saranac Lake 6er and the Northeast 11, while working his way through the 50 highest points and peaks in the country all across the United States. 

The rewards are many. “It’s as good for the mind and the soul as it is for the body,” O’Conor said. “There’s something special about being out in the wilderness. The Japanese have a term they call it: Forest Bathing. Being out in the woods, on the trail, in isolation. Getting away from all the world’s troubles is magical.

“An Above Average Day,” a Veda Films documentary, will broadcast on WMHT/PBS at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24. 

Image: Details of the seasonal paid parking program.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs City Council on April 2 unanimously approved the establishment of a seasonal paid parking program. 

The program will run from Memorial Day through Labor Day and affect six city-owned, off-street parking facilities. 

The paid parking program will be in effect in three parking garages - Walton/Woodlawn Parking Garage, Woodlawn Ave. Parking Garage, and Putnam St. Parking Garage, and three city surface parking lots – specifically located at Woodlawn Ave., Spring Street, and High Rock. Times of operation and parking permitted levels will vary. 

To park in any of the six facilities, fees up to $2 per hour will be charged. City residents with proof of residency may apply for a permit to park free of charge at the six facilities. An online portal where residents and downtown business owners may apply for permits is anticipated to roll out by the end of April. 

As it currently stands, downtown workers with proof of regular employment as verified by their employer, may apply for the free parking permit if their business is located in the city’s “Urban Core” District, as defined by the city’s Zoning map.       

“Registration will occur online or by working with staff at City Hall,” said DPW Business Manager Mike Veitch. “The permits themselves are linked to license plates as is when you pay for a space. It’s linked to your license plate – that’s how the system will track.” Pay stations are expected to be installed some time in May. There will be no traditional parking meters.    

The program was developed by the city’s Department of Public Works under Commissioner Jason Golub and has been scaled back from an initial plan floated last December that proposed converting more than 1,300 on-street and nearly 800 garage parking spaces into either “permit” or “paid” spots for a five-month period beginning May 1. On-street parking will remain free of charge for all, as it currently is. 

The city estimates the plan will generate a gross revenue of just under $1.6 million this summer. “It is additional revenue coming into the city,” said Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi, reasoning that numerous nearby tourist-friendly cities are already running paid parking schemes. 

Subtract from the estimated gross revenue about $450,000 in expenses to run the program in 2024 – this includes a one-time pay station installation cost of about $125,000 – resulting in an estimated net gain of just over $1.1 million.

The city says it will invest $100,000 of revenue gained in the DBA (“a dedicated marketing professional for the Downtown Business Association”), $50,000 into Parking Structure Capital Reserve, $75,000 into a Downtown Improvement Reserve, and $40,000 into a Recreation Parking program. There was no documentation presented this week regarding where the anticipated more than $850,000 in additional annual revenue may be spent.   

“We have a three-month period here to see how it works and I think it’s worth doing,” said Mayor John Safford, adding that some of the revenue generated will be earmarked to help resolve homeless issues, although how much of or where those funds would be applied was not specified. 

The City Council’s 5-0 vote in favor of the plan followed a 65-minute Public Hearing on the matter attended by more than 60 people at City Hall. Approximately 20 people addressed the council during the hearing, expressing a variety of opinions: a handful in favor of paid parking, a slightly higher number of people opposed, and some who voiced an expression akin to “let’s try it for three months and see how it goes.”

A reduced rate parking permit for Saratoga Springs School District taxpayers which would benefit those in nearby municipalities is also expected to be optioned-in at some point. The city school district stretches south to areas of Milton and Ballston Spa, west to Middle Grove and Lake Desolation, north to Porter Corners and Wilton, and east along Route 29 on the road to Schuylerville.