The Peru Gazette

Call to Order at 6:01 PM

Roll Call:	PRESENT	ABSENT	EXCUSED
Garrett Mastic, Chair	X
Peter Stone, Vice Chair	X
Daniel Hamilton	X
Mark Hamilton		X
Robert LePage	X
Jerry McGovern	X
Patrick McFarlin		X
Justin Wilson, Alt.		X
Alison Webbinaro, Alt.	X
Duane Bibeau, Codes Officer	X
Matthew Favro, Esq.		X

Pledge of Allegiance

Approval of June 10^th, 2026 Meeting Minutes

Comments: Garrett Mastic shared with the Board the minutes from the last meeting. 

Mr. Mastic asked if the other Board Members had any changes, correction, deletions or additions. The Board Members did not have any suggestions on this matter.  

Motion: Peter Stone made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Garrett Mastic and the motion carried with 6 votes.

Roll Call: Garret Mastic, Chair – Y; Peter Stone, Vice Chair – Y; Daniel Hamilton – Y; Robert LePage – Y; Jerry McGovern – Y; Alison Webbinaro, Alt. – Y

Open Floor to Public Hearing

There was no public comment at this time. 

Applications:

1. 1. File # P-2026-008 – Site Plan Review – Parcel ID# 280.1-9-40 – 38 Pleasant St. – John Canning – APPLICANT SEEKS TO CHANGE FROM A DUPLEX TO A TRIPLEX APARTMENT BUILDING BY TURNING THE 2^ND FLOOR OF HOME INTO A ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT.  

This application was withdrawn by the applicant because it was discovered that the previous owners already went in front of the planning board and received approval for this project in December 2017. The codes secretary presented the official minutes from that meeting to the board as proof. The applicant submitted a letter in writing with his signature to officially withdraw his application. 

The applicant has already submitted an application and received a building permit to complete this project. The codes officer, Duane Bibeau, went over the requirements of this project with the applicant earlier today. The applicant will have to remove all the sheet rock on the ceiling of the first floor and insert 5/8 fire code sheet rock. He will need egress windows in the bedroom and escape routes upstairs. There are porches around house, so it would be less than 2-story drop in case of an emergency. The electrical will need to be inspected by a 3^rd party inspector after the fact to ensure compliance before a certificate is issued from the codes office. All the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors will be hard wired in. 

Motion: It was decided and agreed upon that the board did not need to vote to accept the withdrawal of this application. 

1. 2. File # P-2026-010 – Minor 2-Lot Subdivision – Parcel ID# 269.-1-30 – 3219 Route 22 – Lynn & Howard Manning Jr. – APPLICANT SEEKS TO CREATE A 6.04 ACRE LOT OUT OF THEIR EXISTING 22.5 ACRE PROPERTY.

The landowners were not present at this meeting. Speaking on their behalf is Marc Machabee, land surveyor from Machabee Land Surveying in Plattsburgh, NY. The owners want to give the new 6.04 acre lot to their son. There is currently an animal barn and a fenced in area on the property. Mr. Machabee told the board that would all be coming down. The board had no other comments or concerns about this application. 

It was acknowledged that a SEQRA is required. Alison Webbinaro made a motion to deem The Town of Peru as the Lead Agency and declared this as an unlisted action. Peter Stone seconded the motion and the motion carried with 6 votes. 

Roll Call: Garret Mastic, Chair – Y; Peter Stone, Vice Chair – Y; Daniel Hamilton – Y; Robert LePage – Y; Jerry McGovern – Y; Alison Webbinaro – Y

Mr. Mastic went over the SEQRA and the Board concurred there are no negative impacts.

Garrett Mastic motioned to declare a negative declaration. Peter Stone seconded the motion and the motion carried with 6 votes. 

Roll Call: Garret Mastic, Chair – Y; Peter Stone, Vice Chair – Y; Daniel Hamilton – Y; Robert LePage – Y; Jerry McGovern – Y; Alison Webbinaro – Y

Motion: Alison Webbinaro motioned to approve the minor 2-lot subdivision application as submitted. Peter Stone seconded the motion and the motion carried with 6 votes.

Roll Call: Garret Mastic, Chair – Y; Peter Stone, Vice Chair – Y; Daniel Hamilton – Y; Robert LePage – Y; Jerry McGovern – Y; Alison Webbinaro – Y

Garrett Mastic signed the subdivision maps and gave them to Mr. Machabee so he can take them to the county to get stamped before returning a few copies to the codes office. 

Any Further Business: 

The Town of Peru has officially filed a grant application for a new comprehensive plan with Lake Champlain- Lake George regional development. The Town recognizes and appreciates all the hard work of the board members who went around and got letters of support for this grant from members of the community. By the end of the year, we hope to know whether or not we will receive the grant. 

It has been discovered that Clinton County has digital files of our zoning maps. We requested access to these maps in case we need to make changes in the future, but also to ensure the zoning change from 2019 is shown on all maps that we and the public have access too. In 2019, to Town Board decided to rezone a small section of the map, but it was never updated on our end. Luckily, the county has the correct, up to date maps that we can reference going forward. 

Michael Pratt from Code Navigation Services, LLC has been hired by the Town of Peru to handle the Marina. Expenses for the Marina are high, but progress is being made towards compliance. 

CEO Report

Codes Enforcement Office Report 

July 2026

• 25 Building Permits issued
• $4,849.25 in fees collected
• Attended Town Board Meeting
• Received 2 Planning Board Applications
• Received 0 Zoning Board Applications 
• 20% of time spent on Marina Project
• 51 Certificates of Compliance issued 
  • 38 Of which were Permits From 2024-2025
• 97 Inspections completed TOTAL
  • 89 Completed by Duane Bibeau, Codes Officer
• Continued inspections/site visits on open permits
• Review of plans for new construction
• Met with applicants on future construction projects
• Phone calls and emails with applicants, engineers and architects for future projects
• Received 0 new official complaints
  • Issued Apparent Violation Notices & continued to work towards resolving all violation complaints
• 25% of time spent on continued classes for required trainings 

The codes office also created a comparison spreadsheet to show the increase in productivity from 2025. There are 7 new houses this year that are currently in progress. 

There are 2 new laws that were passed by the Town Board on July 27, 2026. Campgrounds and mobile home parks are now required to submit maps to the codes office showing each site with assigned numbers. Annual inspections will be completed and tracked by the codes office. There is a $500 annual fee for mobile home parks and if any new construction happens from one inspection to the next without obtaining a permit, then the mobile home park owner gets fined as well as the tenant. The campground annual fees depend on how many sites are on the property.  If there are 0-50 campsites, the annual fee is $100. If there are 50-100 campsites, the annual fee is $250. If there are 100+ campsites, the annual fee is $500. There is an additional $50 fee per site if campers are left during the off season, which is October 15^th – May 1^st. This will increase town revenue and ensure compliance going forward. 

A new fee schedule for building permit applications was also approved by the Town Board on July 27, 2026 which has been posted on the website and is available to the public. The codes office is trying to come up with a better more efficient way to handle complaints. Thirty days after alerting a homeowner of violations, we hope to begin fining them each day they’re non-compliant unless they are in communication with the office and showing progress towards compliance. The codes office hopes to find a way to add these fines to the homeowner’s taxes rather than trying to take them to court and spending more town money and time. 

Robert LePage alerted the rest of the board members that he and his wife sold their house, so they will be moving to the Lake George area. Robert expressed how great it has been to work with everyone, but this means he will no longer be a board member. He expects to attend the September meeting, but that will most likely be his last meeting. The other members congratulated Mr. LePage and let him know he will be missed. He will send out his resignation letter before he officially moves. 

Motion: Garrett Mastic made a motion to approve and accept the CEO report as submitted. The motion was seconded by Peter Stone and the motion carried with 6 votes.

Roll Call: Garret Mastic, Chair – Y; Peter Stone, Vice Chair – Y; Daniel Hamilton – Y; Robert LePage – Y; Jerry McGovern – Y; Alison Webbinaro – Y

Adjournment: 

Motion: Garrett Mastic motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:43 PM. Alison Webbinaro seconded the motion and the motion carried with 6 votes. 

Roll Call: Garret Mastic, Chair – Y; Peter Stone, Vice Chair – Y; Daniel Hamilton – Y; Robert LePage – Y; Jerry McGovern – Y; Alison Webbinaro – Y