Dear Friends & Fellow Community Members,

The seasons changed abruptly; the clocks jolted forward; the seasons changed again; a new Citizen of the Year was crowned; the town board took action to protect Wilmington for generations to come; and the town prepared to welcome a consequential guest.

Here is some of the news from Wilmington.

1.

Congratulations to Dan Hansen, Wilmington’s Citizen of the Year!

Like everyone else, I applaud this choice.

The town will celebrate Dan at an annual soiree that has gone by various titles over the years (“Newcomers’ Dinner,” “Community Dinner,” “Town Dinner”).

In a break from tradition, the event will be held at New Vida this year.

(I remember shooting baskets at the indoor basketball court at the former Pale Face Mountain lodge when the property was owned by a coaxial cable tycoon.

Those were formative, important experiences for me: That is when I first discovered my passion for coaxial cable.

You can still see the free-throw line on the floor near New Vida’s bar.)

The community celebration is on March 24 this year. Tickets can be purchased from the Visitor’s Bureau (518-946-2255).

If you’ve never attended the town dinner and are interested, I sincerely encourage you to give it a chance. You might enjoy it a lot more than you expected.

2.

Michael Cashman, one of Wilmington’s two representatives in the state legislature, will visit Wilmington on Friday to participate in a public meeting and town hall forum. He invites you to “share your experiences, priorities, and concerns” with him.

This is a unique opportunity — I don’t know the last time a state-level leader visited Wilmington to participate in an open forum such as this.

If you would like to hear directly from your state Assemblyman, ask him questions, or tell him your thoughts about local, regional, or state-wide issues, I hope you can attend.

The forum will take place in the Community Center on Friday, March 13, starting at 6 p.m.

3.

On Tuesday, the town board passed Local Law 1 of 2026 at its regular monthly meeting.

I do not want to understate the importance of this milestone.

There may be other actions taken that I didn’t hear about or have forgotten, but, as far as I know, the last time the Wilmington town board took concerted action to tighten up the town’s zoning was in 1988, when Wilmington adopted the town’s previous zoning code.

Since then, most of the effort and movement has been in the other direction.

Most or all of the candidates in the town elections last year said they wanted to update the town’s zoning code.

Three candidates who said that they would tighten the town’s zoning code were chosen by the people of Wilmington — and in less than three months those candidates accomplished something that our recent town boards spent many hours discussing, but never did.

Local Law 1 makes a few changes to our zoning code.

To quote from a recent Daily Enterprise article, these amendments “[I]mplement retail building size restrictions; visual impact, screening and setback requirements for [new commercial] projects and change the guidelines for how site plan approvals and special use permits can be considered.

These changes are meant to give the town Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals more regulatory authority and a clearer means to evaluate projects, compared to the current zoning rules …

[T]hese [changes] were originally motivated by the 2021 proposed 10,600-square-foot Dollar General store near the State Police barracks in Wilmington. … Follos said it was a wake-up call …

“When I was running for the town board in the summer of 2021, I said, ‘We should improve our zoning code, tighten it up and give … these boards greater authority to regulate the appearance of the next big box store in Wilmington, and even give the authority to say no, and the authority to say no makes them compromise,” Follos said.

“If we can say, ‘no,’ then we can say, ‘yes, but it has to look a certain way, it has to be set back a certain distance, etc.’” …

… The final set of changes contained in the amendments focus on visual impact, screening and setbacks. They offer three general guidelines. The first is using and preserving existing vegetation and topographic features, and “employing careful siting methods,” in order to minimize the visual impact of all commercial development activities. …

… “We’re just trying to give our planning and zoning boards stronger legal grounds to protect the rights of neighboring property owners and the appearance of the community,” Follos said.

He cited the recent developments at the Kampgrounds of America property near the town beach, where some residents expressed dismay at the amount of tree cutting, eliminating what had been a strong vegetative buffer in parts between their properties and the campsites.

You can read the full article here: https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/…/wilmington…/

The public hearing on Local Law 1, along with some general discussion about the law, can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ixqhHJ-m3Y&t=14s

The complete text of Local Law 1 is at the end of this report.

4.

The town is looking to fill a few positions.

As regular attendees of the town board meetings know, we’ve been seeking a third assessor for a long time. This is a paid position. If you are interested, I can put you in touch with one of our assessors to learn more.

We are also looking for two people to serve on the Board of Assessment Review. This job requires a few days of work, and pays $400.

We are looking for someone to oversee and coordinate the town’s grant applications and assist with some additional tasks and responsibilities. This can be either a full or a part-time position. Some experience is preferred, and compensation will depend on experience.

Springtime is the busiest time of the year for our Parks Department, and we could use a few more hands. This could be a great job for the right person, with the possibility of continuing past the spring and into the summer. Pay depends on qualifications.

Please call the town hall for more information about any of these positions.

5.

I’m wary of devoting precious time or space in these reports to addressing myths, rumors, or misunderstandings.

Nevertheless …

I’ve been told that there are people who hold the misperception that I am only in my office during my open office hours — two hours a week.

To the contrary.

I put in my time.

And I put in a lot of other time.

I would think this would be obvious.

Nevertheless …

To repeat what I wrote in my last report, “In general, if people would like to meet with me, I would prefer that they make an appointment.

However, people should be able to see their town supervisor without an appointment.

And, at least in Wilmington, they can: I will be holding open office hours for anyone who would like to speak with me without an appointment on Wednesdays, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.”

For all the apparently fervent desire expressed by a few people to be informed of my office hours, I haven’t had any visitors during my open office hours thus far. …

… As I stated at the February town board meeting: If you hear something about my beliefs that seems kooky, or something about my behavior that seems scandalous, at some point maybe — just maybe — you may want to consider the source.

If my beliefs were indeed kooky or my behavior was indeed scandalous the people of my hometown would not have elected me to their town board four-and-a-half-years ago, and they would not have elected me as their Town Supervisor last year.

It is kind of amazing: The things some people are willing to say, and the things some people are willing to believe.

But enough of this time in the much & the mire.

In less than three months the current town board accomplished a major milestone for Wilmington.

And our representative in Albany will be here tomorrow.

In Wilmington, things are looking up.

I hope to see you at the town hall forum tomorrow and/or at New Vida on the 24th, if either of the upcoming events piques your interest.

Thanks for your time.

All the best,

Tim Follos

Local Law #1 of the year 2026
A Local Law to Amend the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington

Be it enacted by the Town Board of the Town of Wilmington as follows:

Section 1. Authority.
This local law is enacted under the authority granted by the General Municipal Home Rule law of the State of New York.

Section 2. Legislative Intent.
In 2013, the town board of the Town of Wilmington, New York, adopted the town’s current municipal zoning ordinance. In the years since the adoption of that ordinance there have been developments in land use generally, with an increase in land development and building permits specifically, which were not anticipated by the town board when the town’s current municipal zoning ordinance was adopted.

The town board recognizes the impact that future developments may have on the quality of life and economic well-being of adjacent and nearby property owners specifically, as well as on the residents and the positive economic development of the township generally.
The town board also recognizes the impact that future developments may have upon existing land uses, public services, traffic, and the mutually supportive objectives of natural resource protection and economic development identified in the town’s Comprehensive Plan.

In accordance with the foregoing, the town board of the Town of Wilmington, New York, finds that the following amendments to the town’s zoning ordinance will improve the regulation of land use within the Town of Wilmington, thereby protecting and improving the general welfare of the citizens of the Town of Wilmington.

Section 3.
Article V of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington is hereby amended to add:

A. An individual retail trade use shall not exceed 8,000 square feet of floor area, whether in one building or more than one building.

B. A grouped retail business use shall not exceed a total of 40,000 square feet in all buildings that constitute the use.

C. For the purposes of the size limits set forth herein, floor area shall include floor area or floor space of any sort within the building, as well as exterior space used for the sale or storage of merchandise.

Section 4.
Article IX, §F(1) of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington is hereby amended to add:
§F(1)(f).
Site plan approvals shall not be granted if the proposed use will have a materially adverse impact upon adjoining and nearby properties, or a clearly adverse aesthetic impact upon the Town of Wilmington.

Section 5.
Article X, §C of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington is hereby amended to add:
Article X §C.8
Special use permits shall not be granted if the proposed use will have a materially adverse impact upon adjoining and nearby properties, or a clearly adverse aesthetic impact upon the Town of Wilmington.

Section 6.
The section of Article VI of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington titled “Site Improvements and Screening” is hereby amended to add:

A. Visual impact, screening, and setbacks

OBJECTIVE:
Ensure that all approved commercial projects preserve and, where possible, enhance the existing natural and aesthetic qualities of the project site and its environs.

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

1) Utilize existing vegetation and topographical features, preserve existing vegetation where possible, and employ careful siting methods so as to minimize the visual impact of all commercial development activities.

2) At least forty (40) feet of natural vegetation shall be left in its natural or improved state adjoining any public street or highway or any adjoining property not in the same ownership. The forty feet of vegetation described herein shall be a forty-feet-wide buffer that is, to the maximum extent practicable, continuous.

3) The Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals may, in their discretion, require additional measures to provide suitable screening, such as additional setbacks, planting, and fencing.

Pursuant to this Local Law, the previously existing subsection “A.” under the heading “Site Improvements and Screening” of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington, New York, shall be re-labeled as subsection “B.”

Section 7.
The Town Board hereby declares its legislative intent to supersede any provision of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington, New York, that is inconsistent with the amendments adopted hereby.

If any local laws, or parts of any local laws, are inconsistent with any of the provisions of this local law, this local law shall control.

The Town’s forms, rules, and regulations shall, to the extent necessary, be updated to reflect these amendments.

To the extent any provision of the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Wilmington, New York, is inconsistent with this Local Law, this Local Law shall control.

Section 8. Effective date.
This local law shall take effect immediately upon filing in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of New York.